Mustang spikers fall in five to OG
GILROY – Injuries have plagued the Gilroy High boys volleyball team in the early going this season – but the show must go on and the Mustangs have a deep enough bench to bring it.
But in Thursday’s home match against Oak Grove, the garlic spikers depleted line-up was a glaring factor as they fell in five long games, 11-15, 15-9, 15-12, 6-15, 13-15,
“The whole night it seemed like we were playing behind the eight-ball looking for things to work,” said head coach Craig Martin, whose squad is 3-3 in non-league against all A-level teams. “We didn’t have that jump in our legs tonight.”
Still Gilroy made it interesting despite an injured list that includes junior setter Jason Ahumada (broken ankle), sophomore setter Patrick Largo (finger), junior middle blocker Nick Mason (sprained ankle) and, most recently, senior big hitter John Bowe (knee).
“Losing Ahumada, Mason and now Bowe, we’re having a little trouble finding that rhythm,” Martin said. “Our practices were not the best this week. We had a kid (Bowe) with a sore knee who’s just killing the ball early.”
Bowe sat out the first game – but was called on to take the floor in the second game and thereafter, accumulating 11 kills.
“Bowe’s knee is just really, really sore,” Martin said. “As the night went on, it got worse. If we finish in three games, his knee is fine.”
Senior hitter Jason Medenceles finished with a team-high 18 kills with senior hitter Scott Martin tallied 11 kills at night’s end. Senior setter Tucker Baksa had a team-high 18 assists, while senior setter Matt Largo added 15 assists.
But the Mustangs looked flat in the opening game before settling in with wins in the next two games. Both teams had to work for every point, as neither club could string together points instead trading one point between side-outs.
“They’re a good, scrappy team with a couple of big hitters,” said Martin of Oak Grove (4-0), which only dropped one game prior to losing two to Gilroy. “The third game was a pivotal game to take from them, but we lost our press in the fourth game.”
The Eagles went up 8-0 in game-four before Gilroy scored its first point and quickly forced a game-five rally – where both teams score points no matter which one is serving.
The rally game was neck-and-neck like the first three games – as Oak Grove held an 8-4 advantage until Gilroy tied things up at 12-12. The Eagles, however, scored three of the next four points to finish off the Mustangs on their home court.
T-CAL action starts up Wednesday, March 19 on the road against Salinas at 5:30 p.m.
