For Sobrato, the match was a little bit of revenge. For Anzar,
the match will point them in the right direction.
San Juan Bautista – For Sobrato, the match was a little bit of revenge. For Anzar, the match will point them in the right direction.
The Sobrato Bulldogs defeated the host Anzar Hawks on Tuesday in San Juan Bautista 25-10, 25-15, 25-21, one year after the Hawks defeated Sobrato 3-1 in non-league play.
In the end, the match gave both teams – Anzar of the Mission Trail Athletic League and Sobrato of the Blossom Valley Athletic League – an idea of where they stack up.
“It’s that measuring stick for us, to see how much we’ve grown, how much we’ve improved,” said Kevin Miller, who, along with Rosemary Miller, coach Sobrato. “We know [Anzar’s] a quality program year after year.”
Anzar Coach Chris Wardlaw said Sobrato has been the team’s toughest competition so far, so while they did lose, the loss showed the Hawks what needs to be corrected.
“We played OK. What it allowed me to do is that it exposed our defense,” Wardlaw said. “Now I can see where we have some holes and prepare for league.”
Sobrato opened up a sizable lead in the first game and walked to an easy 25-10 victory.
In the second game, while the end result was 25-15, the Hawks battled the Bulldogs until the very end, and only until the end did Sobrato advance with the game-two win.
Sobrato took a 2-1 lead in game two but jumped out to an 8-1 cushion behind the serving of Nicole Simoneau. But after a pair of aces by Christina Flores and Christina Tanouye, as well as a block by Tanouye and Shealyn Bissell, Anzar cut Sobrato’s lead to just 10-7.
But a three-point deficit was as close as the Hawks would come in game two, as Sobrato pulled ahead in the end, and finished the game on a pair of tipped hits by Bulldog Cheyenne Hambey.
“Playing a team like Anzar, it’ll help us with our confidence in the league,” Miller said.
In game three, the closest game of the three, the two teams battled back and forth. Sobrato worked out to a 23-15 lead late in the game, and just when it seemed out of reach for Anzar, the Hawks began to mount a comeback, highlighted by a pair of kills from Flores. But Anzar couldn’t quite complete the come-from-behind victory, and Sobrato took the third game.
“That was a demonstration that our team was a mentally-strong team,” Wardlaw said of his Hawks’ play in the third game. “It’ll help us out with some of the tougher teams in our league.”
Bulldog Hambey had nine kills and two blocks on the night, and teammate Simoneau added 18 digs and 21 assists.
“To prepare for teams that we’ve never seen before, it helps,” Hambey said. “We moved up in divisions, so this will prepare us for what’s to come.”
Anzar’s Flores had seven kills and two blocks, Kerstin Tuning added nine assists and a kill, and Erin Deleissegues contributed three kills, two digs and an ace.
“I’m not worried about the loss,” Wardlaw said. “They finished strong … Our mantra is ‘play beautiful volleyball.’ And in that last game, we did.”
The Hawks will host King City on Tuesday at 6pm, while Sobrato will host Los Gatos on Thursday.
