Team takes a more competitive stance in play
These aren’t the Lady Balers of 2007.
The names are a little bit different and the style of play is
night and day.
After losing the bulk of last season’s offense, including
outside hitters Emily Kortsen and Bri Romero
– who combined for 873 kills last season – the San Benito girls
volleyball team was forced to redefine themselves.
Team takes a more competitive stance in play
These aren’t the Lady Balers of 2007.
The names are a little bit different and the style of play is night and day.
After losing the bulk of last season’s offense, including outside hitters Emily Kortsen and Bri Romero – who combined for 873 kills last season – the San Benito girls volleyball team was forced to redefine themselves.
Gone were the days of a sit-back-and-attack approach, where the Lady Balers revolved around a select few. Today’s team revolves around each individual member contributing; today’s team is defensive minded, and so far, the numbers speak for themselves.
Through their first 10 non-tournament matches last season, the Lady Balers had a little more than 500 digs total. This year, they’re approaching 800 already, with a 124-dig performance through five games against Salinas earlier this season.
And prior to that match, San Benito delivered 91 digs in a three-game sweep of North Salinas.
“We’ve definitely improved from where we started. We’re a more competitive team than when we started,” coach Dean Askanas said. “But we have to keep improving. We have to be a thousand times better in the second half [of the season] than we were in the first half.
“You can never be satisfied with losing matches and we lost a lot of matches.”
Askanas peppered the preseason schedule with some of the best competition in the Central Coast Section, including Harbor, Valley Christian and Homestead. Just last weekend at a tournament in Menlo, San Benito played five different opponents, four of which were ranked in the top 15 by the San Jose Mercury News.
The Lady Balers are 10-18 overall at The Pinnacle’s press time.
“In the second half, we just have to work on our confidence and learn how to win as a team,” setter Justine Hunter said. “Even when we’re down, we have to learn how to fight through the tough games … We need to know, when we have competition, how to bring our game.”
At the midway point, competition appears to be in the form of Notre Dame and Salinas, each of which has defeated San Benito this season.
But no one said defending the Tri-County Athletic League title was going to be easy, and at 4-2 in league, the Lady Balers still have their sights set on the crown.
“Our goals are in tact. The goal is to win league and make it back to the CCS finals,” said Askanas on Monday night. “Those goals are in tact. But talk is cheap and we have to keep improving.”
San Benito’s goals took a bit of a hit on Tuesday night when they lost to host Notre Dame in four games (7-25, 10-25, 25-21, 13-25). They currently sit behind both Salinas (6-0) and Notre Dame (5-1) in league.
The Lady Balers will play each team again later in the season. By then, Askanas is hoping the latest scheme is set in place and working well enough so the Lady Balers can repeat as league champs.
After going all-out defensive earlier this season, where there were sometimes three “defensive specialists” on the floor, Askanas has tried adding some pieces to the offensive attack, but without jeopardizing the defense.
“It’s a constant juggling act and that’s where we’re at now,” Askanas said. “There’s a definite learning curve and each time we add an offensive player, it adds to the learning curve.
“We found a nice defense. We found a nice serve-receive. So now let’s see if we can add a little bit of offense. But it’s very delicate.”
On Tuesday against Notre Dame, the Lady Balers used Courtney Scarlett and Chelsea Freitas on the outside, and each contributed a team-high six kills.
But make no doubt about it, the team’s defensive approach will remain as the go-to strategy for the second half of the season. It is what has brought San Benito to their current 4-2 TCAL record, and with one eye on the league championship, it’s their only ticket back.
“I’m not ruling out the possibility that we go back to the old lineup, too,” Askanas said. “But it has to stay defensive-minded. That’s step one. If you don’t have defense, you don’t have anything. You don’t have a prayer.”
