Tag: sports

The San Benito High girls’ soccer team’s identity for the 2013-14 season will revolve around its ability to outlast teams from an endurance standpoint.

The hallmark of a successful season — for any team — is defined by whether or not it reached its potential.

Every once in a while, Marisa Villegas will do something that makes longtime San Benito High girls’ volleyball coach Dean Askanas shake his head in amazement.

Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is dominating an opponent when you’re expected to do it.

The Gavilan volleyball team swept Monterey Peninsula College 3-0 Friday in a Conference Crossover game at home. 

If the San Benito High girls’ volleyball team ends up winning the Central Coast Section Division I final later in the season, it will know exactly what jump-started the championship run.

The Haybalers (9-5) weren’t exactly on life support heading into last Saturday’s Harbor Invitational, but they needed a jolt to turn around their season. And that’s exactly what the Balers got as a result of going 5-1 and reaching the finals of the Harbor Invitational for the first time in school history.

“If you told me before the tournament started that we were going to reach the finals, I don’t know if I would’ve believed you,” Balers coach Dean Askanas said. “We put all of our chips on the table.”

Did they ever. A couple of days before the team’s first match in the tournament against Palo Alto — the fourth-ranked team in the CCS — Askanas told his players it was now or never.

“I told them that if we did not win the match versus Palo Alto, we weren’t going to get anything done for the rest of the season,” Askanas said. “That we wouldn’t win a league title or anything else. It was a bit of a risk to say something so bold, because of course we were huge underdogs against Palo Alto. But I believe we have a very talented team, and the girls needed to dig deep and do some soul-searching.”

After upsetting Palo Alto in three sets to open up pool play, San Benito rolled to straight-set wins over Ripon Christian and San Lorenzo Valley before pulling out a nail-biting, three-set win over Notre Dame-Salinas.

The Haybalers followed that up with a victory over Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton before falling in the championship match to a superior Granite Bay squad, one of the best teams in Northern California.

Askanas was particularly pleased with the team’s ability to prevail in two matches that went the distance.

“They showed the ability to fight through things when things weren’t going their way, and that’s always a good sign,” Askanas said.

Outside hitters Alexandria Smallwood and Marisa Villegas earned all-tournament honors, and middle blocker Haley Leifheit had a breakout performance, coming up huge against Palo Alto.

The Balers were down a match point at 15-14 when Askanas called Leifheit’s number, and the 5-foot-10 sophomore delivered. Leifheit’s kill made it 15-15, and San Benito won the next two points to take the match.

“Beating Palo Alto was our first good win of the season,” Askanas said. “At that point we were 4-4, and the victory gave us the confidence to not be satisfied unless we made it all the way to the finals. It was like medicine for our souls because we had to show we could play well against a capable opponent, and Palo Alto is an ultra capable opponent.”

San Benito had a full week of practice before the tournament, and it worked on a number of things, including receiving tougher play from its middle blockers and improving its serving percentage.

The Balers received inspired play from libero Allyson Murphy, who time and again managed to dig up balls that would normally land for points. Running a two-setter offense with Erica Chapa and Serena Adame, San Benito’s offense has become more diversified.

However, Askanas said his setters need to be a little more accurate — especially when it comes to sets close to the net — when they set up Smallwood, Villegas and Leifheit.

Talk about upside: The Balers have made tremendous strides just a month into the season, and they don’t plan on letting up anytime soon.

“If we were going to accomplish anything, we had to do it now,” Askanas said. “There was no tomorrow, it had to happen at that very moment.”

And it did.

With only 10 players on his roster, San Benito High girls volleyball coach Dean Askanas has to pull up a junior varsity player and use one of the assistant coaches just to hold an intra-squad scrimmage.

But make no mistake: The Haybalers — despite their somewhat thin roster — won’t be making any excuses. That’s not the way Askanas operates.

“We have a very athletic group, athleticism at almost every position,” said Askanas, who is in his ninth year as San Benito’s coach. “This is the smallest roster I’ve had here, and 13 would be an ideal number. But it just didn’t work out that way this year because some girls from the JV weren’t ready to come up, and we had another player who tore her ACL over the summer.”

Askanas would love nothing more than to make a return appearance in a Central Coast Section tournament championship match.

The Haybalers — who were 4-3 entering Thursday night’s match at Homestead-Cupertino — last reached the CCS finals in 2008, when they finished as the Division I runner-up for the second straight year after winning it all in ’06.

“We want to be playing for that championship again,” Askanas said. “If we can improve our middle blocker position and get healthy, we’ll be a real contender.”

San Benito has two big-time offensive talents in senior outside hitter Alexandria Smallwood and freshman outside hitter Marisa Villegas, who rank first and second on the team in kills, with 57 and 55, respectively.

“Allie is probably the strongest hitter on our team,” Askanas said. “She’s also passing really well and is mentally tough. Marisa is probably the most talented and strongest freshman I’ve had in my 22 years of coaching. She’s exceptionally fast, she’s got great hand-eye coordination and she doesn’t get fazed mentally, either.”

Senior setter Erica Chapa has elevated the level of her teammates’ play by making sound decisions and playing at a quick pace that keeps the opposing team on its heels and constantly guessing defensively.

Chapa plays all six rotations — meaning she never leaves the floor. The Balers have also been buoyed by the play of sophomore middle blocker Haley Leifheit and senior opposite Serena Adame.

“Haley still has to work on her blocking skills, but if she sticks with it, she’s a potential collegiate player,” Askanas said.

After the Homestead match, the Balers won’t have another match until they play in the Harbor Invitational on Sept. 21.

Gavilan men’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the young season, falling 5-0 to Modesto College Tuesday.

The Anzar High girls volleyball program is the only sports team at the school that plays in an upper-tier division while also fielding a junior varsity team — no small feat considering the Hawks are perennial contenders in the Central Coast Section playoffs.

“We take pride in being that one team sport that has both a varsity and JV team at Anzar,” said Anzar co-coach Chris Wardlaw, who has been with the program since 2001 and is in his third separate coaching stint with the team after not leading the squad in 2005 and last season. Tom Schatz is Anzar’s other co-coach.

“Our feeder schools know we’re good, and the younger girls on those teams see their older sisters playing at Anzar, and they want to do it. It’s a cycle that repeats itself, and that’s why we rarely have a bad season.”

No kidding. The Hawks have missed the playoffs just twice in the last 12 years and notched another solid season in 2012. Anzar finished 23-6 overall — 12-2 in the Mission Trail Athletic League — and advanced to the quarterfinals of the CCS Division V tournament. 

Simply put, the Hawks are buoyed by an influx of fresh talent every season. That’s why Wardlaw wasn’t worried even after he lost every single starter off last year’s team, along with a number of key reserves who saw significant action.

“It’s a unique situation having to replace your entire starting lineup,” Wardlaw said. “We lost some players to graduation, but we also lost a number of players who were expected to be impact starters for this season. Three girls moved (out of the area), one is doing independent studies and another transferred. We’ll still be fine, though. We have a lot of raw talent, and the question is how quickly can we mold it.”

Most of — if not all — of the players on Anzar’s roster play club volleyball, meaning the Hawks are loaded with experienced athletes who play the sport year-round.

“We’ve got a lot of height and some great athletes,” Wardlaw said. “Almost all of the great girl athletes at our school, we can get on our team.”

Key impact players on this year’s team include junior libero Emily Papenhausen, junior outside hitter Karina Campos and senior opposite Kris Johnson-Powell. Last year, Papenhausen finished with 336 digs and 25 service aces, ranking third and fourth, respectively, in those categories.   

"She's the best ball control player on our team," Wardlaw said. "She will undoubtedly lead our team in passing and digs."

Wardlaw feels confident he'll receive steady production from his taller frontline players, even though they lack varsity experience. Ashley Devery, Mariah Dugas, Tera Reed and Leslie Martinez are all 5-foot-10 or taller and possessing vast offensive hitting potential.

 

 

Gavilan volleyball dropped a pair of matches at the Santa Rosa Tournament Saturday, losing 3-1 against Feather River College and 3-2 against Santa Rosa.