Crepeau racks up 24 kills, Hawks gets 36 assists as Balers
improve to 3-0
Hollister – The Haybalers got a good fight out of the visiting Acorns of Live Oak on Tuesday night but they held on to take the match 3-1 and remain defeated in Tri-County Athletic League play with a record of 3-0.
“I think that the whole team felt a little bit iffy about how well we were going to do once league started,” said Hollister outsider Jonathan Crepeau, whose cannon of a right arm represents a good portion of the Haybalers’ offense. “But we knew it was going to be a good game today and it was. We’re just going out and playing our hardest.”
The first game of the match was an all-out dogfight as neither team was able to open up any sort of comfortable lead early on. But with the score tied at 7-7, the Balers got momentum on their side after a big dig from Eduardo Gutierrez, following a kill attempt from a Live Oak hitter, turned into a big kill from Anthony Parcell.
The Balers streaked out to a 16-11 lead, highlighted by more clutch digging from the team’s back line, before going on to take the opening game 25-20.
“They didn’t give me enough, that’s it,” said Live Oak head coach Keith Tungate, whose team is now 1-2 in TCAL play.
The Acorns certainly looked like they were giving enough in the match’s second game.
Game two started out a lot like the first, with both teams doing all they could to gain more than a two-point advantage over the other on the scoreboard. Live Oak’s Royce Newcomb broke an 8-8 tie with a well-placed shot, a score that sparked a 3-0 Acorn run. Newcomb, along with teammate Joel Seibert, continued to apply pressure to Hollister’s front line with a combination of finesse and power at the net and the Acorns went on to win the game, 25-19.
“We’ve had a lot of close games (this season) and I think that’s helping us now,” said fourth-year coach Henke Mao. “It’s helping the team develop.”
The third game of the match stayed true to form with both teams looking very evenly matched. The Acorns took the 20-19 lead late after a handful of errors from Hollister. But San Benito’s Jeff Hawks, who racked up 36 assists in the contest, scored a point with a crafty block on the next point to even things up.
The seesaw battle continued and Live Oak got the benefit of a little bit of luck as Newcomb, his team down at game point, 24-23, rifled a cross-court kill that was on its way out of bounds but hit a Baler in the head before it could get there.
Crepeau set Hollister up with another game point at 26-25 with a massive kill shot before the Acorns hit a shot out of bounds on the next point to give the game to the home team.
The Balers took control of the fourth game right away, jumping out to an 11-4 lead thanks to more aggressive play at the net from the likes of Crepeau and Parcell and then went on to take a 15-9 advantage off of a string of mis hits and errors from Live Oak.
San Benito wrapped up the match with a convincing 24-19 win in the fourth game.
The Haybalers will be looking to improve to 4-0 on the year in league when they travel to Alisal tomorrow.
