The San Benito High girls volleyball team was facing its worst-case scenario last Saturday in a Central Coast Section Division I playoff quarterfinal—down two games to none and in danger of getting swept out of the postseason in front of its own fans.
Then the Haybalers shifted into another gear, and visiting Sequoia-Redwood City couldn’t do anything about it. Playing the last three games with a sense of poise and urgency that wasn’t evident at the start, the Balers rallied to win three straight games and post an impressive comeback victory, 15-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-17, 15-8. The No. 4 seed Balers (20-15) played a semifinal contest against top-seed Menlo-Atherton (26-3) on Wednesday (the result was not available when this edition went to press).
“This was a huge, huge win for us against a very good team,” said coach Dean Askanas, who was recently named the MBL Gabilan Division Coach of the Year. “We’re definitely battle tested.”
Indeed, the Balers have been involved in 12 matches this season with a winner-take-all set (most pool-play tournament matches are a best-of-three instead of a best-of-five for a regular-season match), going 4-8 in those contests.
However, San Benito has won the last two matches that have gone the distance, including an epic 16-14 Game 5 win over Notre Dame-Salinas three weeks ago that gave the team a nice confidence boost.
The Balers’ mettle was on display in the final three games against Sequoia, which cruised to a Game 1 win before holding off the Balers in the second game. San Benito lost the first three points in Game 3, and something had to change if it wanted to keep its season alive.
Something did. The Balers cut down on their unforced errors, and balls that weren’t finding the floor in the first two games suddenly started dropping. The Cherokees were able to dig every San Benito attack in the first two games, even off of big swings from outside hitters Ally Murphy and Marisa Villegas, who finished with eight kills each.
However, once the Balers got rolling, Sequoia couldn’t do anything to stop them.
“Volleyball is a very emotional game,” Askanas said.
Case in point: Despite paying the price for starting flat in several matches this season, the Balers didn’t come out with a ton of emotion against Sequoia.
“We started off so slow, so flat and missed so many serves and hits and made so many unforced errors,” Askanas said. “Then we just stopped making the unforced errors and gave ourselves a chance. I’m really proud of the girls and how they came back because I was so disappointed with our start. We know better than to start off slow, and we had been practicing and playing so well that there was no reason to play like that at the beginning. It was good for them to find themselves at a key, key time.”
San Benito had another balanced attack, as junior standout Lexi Chavarria came up big with a team-high nine kills. Middle blocker Camille Finley had some booming hits and finished with six kills, the same number Annie Breger finished with.
The teams were tied at 14 in Game 3 when the Balers closed the set on a 11-4 run, and the Cherokees were never the same. San Benito started Game 4 on a commanding 6-1 run, then delivered the hammer in Game 5, winning seven of the game’s first eight points.
“It’s awesome we were able to pull it out,” Villegas said. “This was a big win for us, and it showed we definitely fight to the end no matter what.”
Villegas was actually pulled out of the match early in Game 2 for subpar play, but once she was re-inserted into the match late in Game 2, she was a different player.
“It was good for me that Dean pulled me out, because I got my mindset back and I knew what I did wrong,” Villegas said. “I knew I had to fix it, and when he put me back in the game, I knew I had to be on my game.”
Villegas and the rest of her teammates found their rhythm, pulling out another clutch victory in the process.
Note: Murphy, Villegas earned all-MBL Gabilan First-Team honors, and Finley and Lexi Chavarria were named to the second team. Breger earned the sportsmanship award, given to one player from each team in the division.
