Hollister High girls volleyball coach Larry Nabzeska knows the
tears will flow tonight when the Balers play their last match of
the year at Mattson Gym. The opponent is none other than Notre Dame
and it’s homecoming, to boot.
Hollister High girls volleyball coach Larry Nabzeska knows the tears will flow tonight when the Balers play their last match of the year at Mattson Gym. The opponent is none other than Notre Dame and it’s homecoming, to boot.
Nabzeska has even more reasons to shed drops for it will be his last match as Baler coach at Mattson Gym. Nabzeska, who is winding down his fifth year at Hollister, has already announced his retirement from coaching at the end of the season.
“I know I’ll cry,” he said. “Probably after the match. I’m an emotional guy. I like to think that I’m taking care of 12 children. People don’t realize that, but I do.”
Nabzeska was all smiles Wednesday night as the Balers put together one of their best all-around perfmances in spanking visiting Aptos 15-5, 15-3, 15-8.
“I didn’t play my subs because I wanted to be ready for CCS,” said Nabzeska. “And (tonight’s) match will be treated like a CCS match. Notre Dame has nothing to lose. They’re going to come in second by themselves if they beat us, or they’re going to finish tied for second. The pressure’s on us, not on them.”
The Balers (28-4) played loose Wednesday night against the Mariners (19-10), who might very well be their first round Central Coast Section Division I opponent when the action begins for the Balers on Nov. 16. If the same teams do meet, Aptos coach Daryl Kapis hopes his team plays better than it did Wednesday night.
“I’m really disapponted with the way we played,” said Kapis, who coaches the Balers Kim Dabo and Kaylie Kortsen on his club team. “We’ve been stressing in practice that we have to compete. I don’t know if it was the hour bus ride or what, but we didn’t come ready to play tonight. They played consistent, but Hollister didn’t kill us. We killed ourselves. We played lousy.”
Nabzeska disagreed.
“We have a tendency to make teams look bad,” said Nabzeska. “We served and blocked tonight. We served them off the court. We played almost as good as we can play.”
The Balers had 14 aces and they were spread out. Nashia Alvarez had a team-high four aces, while Jacky and Jenny Denton and Kortsen had three each. Kortsen had a match-high nine kills. The Balers as a team had 15 blocks, nine of them kill blocks, which is a season-high for a three-game match.
Game three was tied at 4-apiece when Kortsen and Jenny Denton combined for a block on the Mariners’ lanky outside hitter Audra Dent, who is ticketed for San Diego State next year. Jacky Denton jump served back-to-back aces for 7-4.
A flying left-handed dink by Dabo got sideout at 9-6 Balers. Melissa Moore and Jenny Denton went straight up two different times for blocks, the second a registered kill block for 10-6. Kortsen chipped in two straight jump serves for aces for 12-6.
Sarah Groman’s dink brought 13-6. Match point was an O.B. hit by the Mariners.
“I expected a better match,” said Nabzeska, matter-of-factly.
Now the focus switches mightily on tonight’s match with the Spirits, who beat Live Oak in three games on Tuesday.
“It’s my last game here as a senior,” said Dabo. “I’m so excited. And it’s Notre Dame.”
Bring lots of handkerchiefs.
