Notre Dame defeats San Benito in four games
SALINAS
It was not the way they wanted to return to league play, not after going 0-5 at a tournament in Menlo last weekend. But the San Benito girls volleyball team may have fallen into a funk on Tuesday night, and its positioned them behind both Notre Dame and Salinas in the Tri-County Athletic League.
The Lady ‘Balers, against a Notre Dame team that lost in four games to Salinas, fell in four to the host Spirits Tuesday (7-25, 10-25, 25-21, 13-25), and fell to 4-2 in the TCAL this season.
San Benito previously lost in five games to Salinas, which currently stands undefeated atop the TCAL standings.
“I think there was a little bit of a hangover from the weekend, and their confidence got taken down a notch,” said coach Dean Askanas, whose team lost to section powerhouses Menlo, Harker, Mountain View and Harbor last weekend.
“I definitely believe that was a factor,” Askanas said. “That tournament didn’t do us any good, in that respect.
“But I also believe that Notre Dame is really a pretty good team. They hit with authority through the middle and they play very enthusiastic defense, so they deserved it.”
San Benito will need to quickly move on from their recent stretch, though, and they’ll face Alisal (1-5 TCAL) Thursday night at Mattson Gym in Hollister.
In a game based almost purely on momentum, however, Notre Dame quickly stole the energy when they jumped out to an 8-2 lead in Game 1. Askanas called a timeout, and although San Benito scored a point on a Spirit error, Notre Dame increased their lead in the opening game to 19-5, and eventually took the 25-7 win.
“I don’t know if you can say that one specific thing happened, but it was the definition of an off day,” said setter Justine Hunter, who finished with 19 assists and 23 digs. “I don’t think we necessarily carry emotion over from the weekend, but maybe a whole day of playing flat when compared to our competition made us kind of get used to that.
“Definitely a funk.”
Askanas has recently been trying to implement more offense into his defensive-minded rotation, and he started Chelsea Freitas and Courtney Scarlett at the outside hitter positions on Tuesday. Each hitter contributed a team-high six kills, with Scarlett adding eight digs as well.
Early on, though, San Benito had a tough time stopping Notre Dame’s middle blocker Shanae Gasperson, who added to the Spirits momentum with each resounding kill she delivered.
“We got off to a real slow start (in Game 1),” Askanas said. “They were able to pass well enough to get to their middles, and the middles were very explosive.”
Askanas said middle blocker Megan Halstead did a nice job slowing down Notre Dame’s middles in Game 3, which San Benito won 25-21, but the Lady ‘Balers couldn’t power their way toward a comeback and fell in the deciding fourth.
Sam Klauer tied a team-high with 23 digs, and teammates Shayna Nakata and Sara Yamasaki supplied the Lady ‘Balers with 19 and 15 digs, respectively. Nakata added four kills as well.
San Benito (10-18) will play both Notre Dame (Nov. 6) and Salinas (Oct. 28) again later this season. They’ll welcome Alisal Thursday to Hollister.
