A fairly strict professor would grade Hollister High’s
three-game sweep over Live Oak in Saturday’s Central Coast Section
Division I volleyball quarterfinal an A-minus.
SALINAS – A fairly strict professor would grade Hollister High’s three-game sweep over Live Oak in Saturday’s Central Coast Section Division I volleyball quarterfinal an A-minus.
The No. 3-seed Balers eliminated the No. 6 Acorns 15-4, 15-6, 15-12 at North Salinas, looking sharp for the majority of the match, sluggish in the rest.
Should the Balers defeat No. 2 seed Archbishop Mitty in Thursday’s semifinal at Santa Clara High at 6 p.m., said professor would have to award an A-plus, no matter if the Balers win in three, four or five games.
The Balers (30-4) will, indeed, have to bring their A-plus game to beat the defending Division I state champ Monarchs (30-4), a team they knocked out of the Presentation Tournament a few weeks ago, giving credence to their cause.
“Yeah! We can beat Mitty,” said Baler coach Larry Nabzeska. “We’ll have to play our best volleyball. We’ll have to change strategy throughout the match, serve them tough.”
The Balers served the Acorns (31-7) extremely tough, which really was the difference. Nashia Alvarez, as she has down several times this year, started the match with a low-liner serve for an ace. A Jenny Denton dump and another Alvarez ace and the Balers were off to a 3-0 start. It was 7-0 on a big swing by Jacky Denton, who had a match-high 10 kills and five aces.
The Balers held a 10-2 lead when Live Oak finally called timeout. A Jenny Denton ace and an ace on a jump serve by Jacky Denton and it was 13-3 Balers. Kim Dabo’s kill brought sideout. Jacky Denton found a hole for 14-4. Sarah Groman executed a block at the net and Balers had earned a grade of A.
Game two brought the curve down somewhat, even though the final score looked comfortable. The game was tied 6-6. The Balers rattled off nine straight points. At 10-6, Dabo served one of her three aces. Acorns coach Laura Coleman burned a timeout.
Melissa Moore pushed the score to 12-6 with a dink. Jenny Denton’s dump, a non-returned serve and a Jacky Denton swing put the game away.
The Acorns, to their credit, didn’t quit. With game three knotted at 9-9, Dabo’s best swing of the evening gave Hollister a one-point lead. Groman contributed a swing for 11-9. Moore adjusted in mid-air, switching to her left hand, for a winner and 12-9. The Acorns chipped away to 12-11. An ace from Alvarez gave the Balers match point. Jenny Denton, symbolic of the way the Balers served all day, ended the match with an ace.
“There’s not many weaknesses in Hollister’s lineup,” said Coleman. “It wasn’t one of our best matches. They served us tough and played good defense.”
The Acorns booming hitter, Kristina Conrad, who had a team-high nine kills, stated the Balers are hard to play against.
“They have so many weapons,” said Conrad. “A lot more than we do.”
The Balers will have to use all their weapons on Thursday to achieve that coveted A-plus grade.
Baler bits: The Balers’ Kaylie Kortsen was effective, but used sparingly. Kortsen had seven kills. Dabo had nine kills, while Jenny Denton had 27 assists with five kills and two aces.
CCS D-V: Anzar High now knows which will be its opponent in Thursday’s semis at Mitty High. The top-seeded Hawks (23-11) play No. 4 Redwood Christian (17-9), the very school which eliminated the Hawks in the first round a year ago. First serve is at 6 p.m.
