Gilroy falls in five games to San Benito after taking two-game lead, lose sole possession of TCAL
n By Ana Patejdl Sports Editor
Gilroy – Judging by the way the night started against San Benito, no one would have guessed that it would be the Gilroy boys volleyball players hanging their heads once the meeting between the Tri-County Athletic League’s top teams came to an end in Gilroy Tuesday night.
Before fans could get settled into their seats, the Mustangs were up two games on the ‘Balers in a matchup crucial for Gilroy’s league championship and postseason hopes.
But for the second time this season, the ‘Balers would spoil Gilroy’s party. San Benito came back to win the final three sets to beat the Mustangs 25-9, 25-18, 21-25, 22-25, 8-15.
“It has to do with kids performing on the court,” said Gilroy head coach Craig Martin. “Hollister wanted it more in the third, fourth and fifth games.”
After a disappointing loss to Palma on Monday knocked them down to second place, the ‘Balers (13-10, 10-2 TCAL) needed a win against the Mustangs (22-9, 11-2 TCAL) to keep their own championship hopes alive.
In the first two games, Gilroy started to run away with the match in dominant fashion. The Mustangs sprinted to a 19-8 lead in the first game to win easily 25-9 and kept a steady lead in the second to win 25-18. Game 3 looked like it would just be a formality.
“We just came out hitting and digging,” Martin said. “We should have finished it off in Game 3.”
The quick start signaled good things, considering the Mustangs have struggled early in recent matches, including Monday’s tilt with Seaside.
“It was like exactly opposite,” said senior middle hitter Ryan Chisolm, who had 13 kills, six down blocks and four aces. “We started slow last game.”
But the ‘Balers took the pressure of having to win three straight sets and used it to their advantage. A hitting error and a lift called on Gilroy late in the third game extended San Benito’s lead from 22-20 to 24-20. After Gilroy outside hitter Vinny DeLorenzo got a kill, San Benito senior outside hitter Jon Crepeau answered with a game-ending kill to force Game 4.
DeLorenzo had 20 kills and six aces to lead Gilroy.
“I’ll give them a hand. They played awesome,” said Crepeau, who had a game-high 21 kills. “I think our conditioning and desire put us higher today.”
In Game 4, the Mustangs took an 8-4 lead and extended it to 11-4 after Chisolm served three consecutive aces. But the ‘Balers battled back to tie the game at 12. The score would be tied five more times until Crepeau blasted a kill to give the ‘Balers the lead for good at 22-21. The senior put down three more kills to seal the 25-22 win.
In the fifth game, Gilroy could not break San Benito’s momentum to come up with key points.
“It seemed like at critical points, we’d lose,” said Chisolm of the Mustangs’ breakdown, which slowly took the air out of a quick start. “We found out this morning that they had lost to Palma (Monday) and we came out smoking.”
There are several things that must happen for the Mustangs to win the TCAL outright. Both the ‘Balers and the Mustangs have Monterey, another tough TCAL team with two losses, left on their schedules. Gilroy needs San Benito to lose to Monterey next Tuesday. In addition, the Mustangs need to beat the Toreadors themselves in the last game of the season on May 5 to come away with sole ownership of the league championship and an automatic bid into the CCS playoffs.
But first, Martin said the team has to play like a championship is on the line.
“We had an opportunity to make a strong point,” the coach said. “They have to want to win the championship and if they don’t win, the rest is just fluff.”
Gilroy hosts Sobrato Thursday at 6:30pm.
