Mustang spikers fall in fifth game to Live Oak in fight for
first place
MORGAN HILL – The Gilroy High boys volleyball team was flying high heading into the fifth rally game in Friday night’s ‘Battle of the Unbeatens’ against neighboring rival Live Oak. The Mustang spikers had just won game-four in commanding fashion, 15-3, to even the match at 2-2 and then jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the decisive fifth game.
But just when everything was going right for Gilroy, a few hitting errors shifted the momentum over to the host Acorns – who soaked it in and rallied back in dramatic style to claim game-five, 15-10. Live Oak (6-0) remained undefeated in T-CAL, while the Mustangs (5-1) suffered their first league loss – 8-15, 15-12, 13-15, 15-3, 10-15.
“It felt good (after the fourth game) and then we were up 7-2 (in the fifth game) and it felt like we were in control. All of sudden, I don’t know what happened,” said co-head coach Craig Martin, following the near three-hour match. “They’re not happy and they have a reason not to be happy.”
The fifth game of a boys high school volleyball match is done in rally format. Both teams can score points no matter whose turn it is to serve. In the first four games, however, only the serving team can gain points.
“We were swinging,” said co-head coach Jay Baksa as he listed the spike attempts for his top hitters. “It just wasn’t going down.”
Senior Jason Medenceles tallied a team-high 22 kills on 59 attempts and senior Scott Martin recorded 14 kills on 34 attempts as well as 10 digs. Senior John Bowe managed 10 kills on 31 attempts in addition to three blocks for kills.
But in the fifth rally game, the Gilroy attack got knocked out of its groove and, before the Mustangs knew it, they were forced to battle back from behind.
After jumping out to a 7-2 advantage, the Mustang run ended when Live Oak senior Drew Pearson’s spike was blocked out of bounds by the Gilroy defense. The Acorns then benefited from some Mustang miscues and surged to come within one before Gilroy called a time-out.
“We were trying to settle them down,” Martin said. “We were telling them to get one good bump, one good set, one good hit.”
But Live Oak maintained the momentum – evening the score at 8-8 and taking the lead at 10-8. Following a Bowe kill to get Gilroy back on track, the Acorns rambled off two straight points to the Mustangs’ one to make it a 12-10 ball-game down the stretch.
With Gilroy’s back against the wall, Live Oak proceeded to score the final three points to clinch the match and become the only remaining undefeated T-CAL team.
“It’s on their home court. They got up for it,” Martin said. “They took it to us in the first game, but no team won two games in a row.”
The Acorns played ahead the entire night – winning games one, three and then five – as the Mustangs battled from behind all match – claiming games two and four.
“That fourth game we came back and took control,” Martin said. “We just lost our pressure in the fifth game.”
The fourth game was the quickest of the night. Gilroy – which fell victim to a pair of margin calls that cost them the third game – came out smoking in the next one. Senior Matt Largo (31 assists) served the Mustangs to three straight points and then Gilroy just went on a run – claiming a 7-0 advantage. Live Oak came as close as 7-3 before the Mustangs scored the final eight points to force a fifth game.
With exception to the lopsided 15-3 game-four result, every game was full of back-and-forth, non-stop action with tons of saving digs and big blocks from both sides.
Live Oak’s big men – Pearson (6’9″), senior Maciej Bratkowski (6’10) and junior Chris Deem (6’9″) – were strong up front. Gilroy’s trio of top hitters – Medenceles, Martin and Bowe – sent powerful spikes either through the taller blockers or off their hands and out of bounds.
Senior Tucker Baksa set up his hitters for 16 assists and also showed his relentless defense with 13 digs. Senior Josh Gravell (6’3″) also registered two blocks for kills.
Gilroy – which will play host Wednesday to Palma at 6 p.m. – will get another crack at its neighboring rival Acorns with a May 7 home match that is sure to be as action-packed as the first.
“We have to play absolutely mistake-free from here on out. We can’t afford to lose another game. We have to go 8-0,” said Martin, not knowing how many T-CAL teams will receive CCS playoff bids at season’s end. “If we go 8-0, we can at least be co-champs and then we don’t know where we’ll stand CCS-wise.”
