While a date with top-seeded Bellarmine waited in the wings, the
No. 8 Balers had to first dispatch No. 9 Monta Vista at Hollister’s
Mattson Gym on Tuesday night. But with miscommunications on the
floor and a poor percentage from the service line only plaguing San
Benito’s efforts, the visiting Matadors easily capitalized in three
sets (25-15, 25-16, 25-15) by simply playing sound, consistent
volleyball.
HOLLISTER
The point of motivation was there. The execution was not.
The San Benito Haybalers are still searching for the program’s very first win in the Central Coast Section Boys’ Volleyball Championships.
“We wanted to make history tonight,” said interim head coach Sam Klauer, referring to the history that would have been made had the Balers been able to advance to the second round on Tuesday night.
While a date with top-seeded Bellarmine waited in the wings, the No. 8 Balers had to first dispatch No. 9 Monta Vista at Hollister’s Mattson Gym. But with miscommunications on the floor and a poor percentage from the service line only plaguing San Benito’s efforts, the visiting Matadors easily capitalized in three sets (25-15, 25-16, 25-15) by simply playing sound, consistent volleyball.
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“They were a solid team,” Klauer said.
It wasn’t as if the Balers were unable to play with Monta Vista (20-14), which advances to Thursday’s CCS quarterfinal against No. 1 Bellarmine (32-7).
No, San Benito (19-10) was just simply unable to keep pace.
The Matadors, who had previously defeated the Tri-County Athletic League’s Monterey, Seaside and Watsonville in two sets each during tournament play earlier this season, limited their hitting errors both at the net and at the service line on Tuesday night, and forced the Balers to do the same.
It wasn’t necessarily typical of the way Monta Vista has played this season, head coach Paul Chiu said. But it is something they strive for each and every match.
“We probably played our three most consistent games of the year, in terms of not making mistakes, not giving up cheap points and getting our serves in,” Chiu said afterward. “I think that was a big deal today. We got a high percentage of our serves in. We told our kids to make the other team play.
“That’s what we strive for. The objective here is get the ball in play. We can be really aggressive jump-serving at times, but we were very consistent today, and I think that was a big reason why we played so well.”
Monta Vista freshman Ryan Manley, who was just recently called up to the varsity level, led the Matadors Tuesday with a team-high 10 kills, while senior teammates Ryan Michelfelder and Zach Lamm each provided eight kills apiece.
As for the Balers, they wrap up their season at 19-10 overall, having qualified to the CCS postseason for just the fifth time in school history.
The program’s first postseason win, however, remains the goal for another year.
“They played a good game today and we just weren’t executing as well as we do,” said San Benito junior setter David Hawks, who was frustrated to end the season with a loss.
“They’re a good team that came out and played hard, and I felt we played hard too,” he added. “But we just weren’t able to reach the level that we had been [playing] at this year.”
Hawks suffered a sprain to his right ankle during a match about two weeks ago, and took two matches off at the end of the regular season before returning to the Balers for last week’s TCAL Tournament.
Although he wasn’t exactly 100 percent, Hawks continued to play on his injured ankle, even after he noticeably tweaked it during Tuesday’s match with Monta Vista.
“He played his heart out,” Klauer said. “He just loves this game.”
San Benito senior James Flook said the Balers had difficulty getting Hawks proper passes, however.
“We didn’t communicate. We just didn’t bring it today,” Flook said. “We didn’t play as a team.”
San Benito battled through the TCAL Tournament last week to finish in third place, falling to Monterey on Thursday but picking up a must-win match against Seaside on Friday in order to advance to the CCS postseason.
But exchanging points in each set with Monta Vista on Tuesday night, the Balers could not continue with their recent play that helped them earn a playoff bid.
“When we played against Monterey, we gave it everything we had,” Klauer said. “I think we fell short of that tonight.
“Service errors in the first and second game is what killed us.”
Each game Tuesday had a similar feel. San Benito and Monta Vista would literally go back-and-forth to about a 10-10 score, when the Matadors would capitalize on their near-error-free game and grab a small yet growing lead.
In Game 1, it was 9-9 following a kill by Flook, when Monta Vista received consecutive kills from Michelfelder and Lamm, as well as a service ace by Derrick Chiu, to take a 12-9 lead it would not relinquish.
In Game 2, it was 10-10 following a strong down block by Baler Robert Henderson. But the Matadors scored the next three points, aided in part by a San Benito service error and another kill by Lamm, and never looked back.
“When the cookie starts to crumble, we just watch it crumble instead of stopping it,” Klauer said. “We get down on ourselves too easy.”
Statistics for San Benito were not provided at press time.
The team is expected to graduate seven seniors from this year’s team, including Eric Adams, John Adams, Kevin Thome, Tanner Lomanto, Eric Martinez, Tino Granados and James Flook.
“That’s what we were using as motivation — just making it out of the first round,” Klauer said. “So we were using that as motivation, but I just think we looked past these guys.”
MV — 25 25 25
SB — 15 16 15
