San Benito boys volleyball team is looking for turnaround
game
The San Benito boys volleyball team is looking for that spark, that kill, that set that will turn their season around.
As cliched as it may sound, the Haybalers are taking it one game at a time now after dropping their first four matches to start the season – including their league opener on Tuesday to Gilroy – in an effort to string enough points together and gain some consistency.
San Benito played at Seaside on Thursday, although no score was reported by press time.
“It’s frustrating, but the one thing about this sport is that we play all the teams twice,” coach Luis Espinoza said of the Tri-County Athletic League schedule. “It just depends on when we turn it around.
“We’re a service point away, a block away. It’s just trying to get everything to work together.”
San Benito lost five seniors to graduation last year, including Luis Rosales (254 kills, 36 aces), Sterling Wilson (147 assists, 118 blocks) and Chris Flippo (102 digs), among others. Said Espinoza, “There was a lot of leadership right there, and that’s what we’re lacking.”
On Tuesday, San Benito dropped their TCAL opener to Gilroy in four games (25-22, 22-25, 26-24, 25-15) at Mattson Gym in Hollister.
San Benito’s Erik Rodriguez had a match-high 16 kills, Adrian Rodriguez added 25 assists and David De La Cruz had 19 digs.
But Espinoza said Tuesday that it’s “hit-or-miss right now” for his San Benito squad.
“It’s all a team effort,” Espinoza said. “You see glimpses of them doing pretty well, and other times not so well … They don’t have that killer instinct yet.”
After Gilroy and San Benito split their first two games with matching 25-22 wins, the match hinged on the all-important third game.
The ‘Balers took an early 4-2 lead behind a kill from Erik Rodriguez, but the Mustangs marched back to grab a 6-4 lead on a Steven Valdez kill. Despite holding a narrow margin throughout the third game, however, Gilroy never relinquished the slim lead.
San Benito did manage to tie the contest at 16-16, and even with Gilroy at game-point with a 24-20 lead, the ‘Balers came right back to tie it at 24.
But in the end, with Gilroy clinging to a one-point lead, a miscommunication between San Benito players allowed the ball to drop and supplied Gilroy a 26-24 third-game win.
“I have a young team right now,” Espinoza said. “We put something together in the second game when we won the set, and I was happy about that, but we’re inconsistent.”
Seeking big seasons from Erik Rodriguez and Brian Hawkes, among others, Espinoza feels the team needs improvement on their serving, and hopefully, will be able to score that turnaround game.
Said Espinoza, “I think we’re one game away from working everything out.”
