San Benito defeats Salinas in three games
Hollister – A playoff crowd filled Mattson Gym for Tuesday’s Tri-County Athletic League matchup against Salinas High.
Although it was just the third league game of the season, it could had been a playoff game the way it was treated by players and fans.
San Benito (18-3, 3-0 TCAL) defeated Salinas 25-18, 26-24, 25-12. Although the Haybalers are in the driver’s seat for now, they face another big test against Notre Dame in Salinas Thursday.
“I’m so excited,” said senior Kat McCullough, who had six kills. “I didn’t know we would beat them in three because they have a good team. We kept up the pace, and everyone was on tonight.”
San Benito used a strong defensive effort and an almost error-free game to defeat the Cowboys. Unlike in the previous tournament game in which San Benito lost 25-23, 25-20 to finish second in the Westmont tournament, the Balers came out fired up behind a boisterous home crowd. Salinas had lost just once coming in – to Aptos.
“Tournaments are a whole different game,” said first-year Salinas coach Josh Gentle, whose team is 20-2 overall and 2-1 in league. “We came out flat, and it showed.”
“I don’t think they were used to being behind,” said Baler coach Jennifer Beall. “So they might not have known how to react.”
In the final two games Tuesday, Salinas had at least three balls that fell untouched after a pass.
“We changed our defensive positioning a little, but it was what we were trying to incorporate into our game anyway,” said Beall about the difference between the two meetings. “We were able to stay in our system and forced them out of theirs.”
San Benito was behind 23-21 in the second game before rallying back to win. Jamie Temperino had a block to tie the game at 23.
Salinas let a couple balls fall to floor, and then Temperino and Chelsea Fowles combined for a big stuff block to secure the victory.
The teams traded points in the third game before San Benito gained some momentum with back-to-back spikes by Leslie Schipper, who had 11 kills, and a hammer by Temperino.
While serving, Schipper went corner to corner with a serve that fell in untouched for another point.
Defensive specialist Michelle Sanchez had a couple nice digs on a long rally before Alyssa Fowles finished with a kill to make it 18-11.
Fowles, who had 15 kills, 15 digs and three aces, had several hard spikes from the back row that force Salinas to make adjustments. San Benito had nine team aces.
“After looking at the film, we saw there was a hole,” Fowles said. “I just tried to hit it between their blockers. We wanted to beat them in three. We outright played them.”
Schipper and Sanchez both had 10 digs, while Jenny Fowles had seven. Chelsea Fowles had 32 assists and had several nice jump serves down the stretch to keep Salinas off balance.
