Christopher’s seniors may have made the difference against Gilroy, but the Mustangs made them work for it.
The Cougars dropped the first set to Gilroy, but came back to sweep the next three for a 3-1 win: 22-25, 25-9, 25-22, 25-22.
“I put in a few more of my seniors, some of my experienced players. They were able to settle the game down and take control,” said assistant coach Kevin Bruce.
Both sides were pleased with how they played, particularly Gilroy who got some confidence by being able to hang with a Gabilan Division team.
“As a coach and knowing their players, I expect them to win their league or at least finish Top 2, but that’s good for my boys to keep up with a team like this,” said GHS coach Craig Martin. “To (not just) keep up with a team but also force them to make changes on the fly and adapt to what I’m doing. If I can keep up with an A League, I should do well in my league.”
The Mustangs jumped out quickly against Christopher, pulling off a 25-22 win thanks in large part to hold off a Cougar rally at the end.
“They’re a scrappy team. They’ll throw pretty much anything over,” Bruce said.
Christopher outscored Gilroy 7-5 down the stretch, including going on a 4-0 run before Gilroy finally scored the set-clinching point.
Gilroy couldn’t hold the momentum in the second game as Christopher jumped out quickly and never looked back.
Bruce said one of the big things was getting his boys to communicate on the floor and help each other get into a flow against teams.
“We’re getting them to open up and play freely as a group,” Bruce said.
The Mustangs held a 3-3 tie early, but behind the offense and serving of Alec Menacho, Christopher allowed Christopher to take off.
Menacho had three kills, two aces and a block in the second set to lead Christopher on a 22-6 run to close out the set.
The third game seemed to be going the same way as Christopher jumped out to a 16-7 lead, just like it had in the second game.
But Gilroy fought back, to pull within 16-11.
Christopher did retake a nine-point lead at 20-11 thanks to a pair of kills from Menacho and kill and a block from
Brevin Zollinger.
Both sides went back-and-forth for a couple of points before the Mustangs went on a 7-2 run to pull within two points of Christopher.
Jonathan Peña and Ryan Nguyen both had points in the run.
But a double-hit finally ended the run.
In the fourth set, Gilroy took an 11-7 lead behind aces from Eric Heiser and kills from Peña.
Ultimately, Christopher found it stroke with Zollinger getting a pair of kills along with Tyler Galloway and an ace
from Menacho.
Bruce said he put in a freshman setter to get some experience during Gilroy’s runs, but was overall pleased with how he held up.
Christopher will next open league play at Monterey 6:30 p.m. on
March 17.
Gilroy, meanwhile, travels to Alvarez 6:30 p.m. March 10 to open Pacific Division action.
