GHS falls to visiting Notre Dame 25-22, 25-15, 25-22
A similar scene outlined the Gilroy High girls volleyball match against Notre Dame on Tuesday night.
“Every team that we are going up against is bigger,” GHS head coach Josh Corioso said. “We just don’t have the size that a volleyball program should have.”
Knowing they were looking up toward a victory against their Tri-County Athletic League counterparts, the Mustangs implemented facets of their game that bode best: a strong service game and hustle.
“We have a lot of heart,” Corioso said. “We are going to play our tails off and hopefully pull away with some games.”
Down two-sets-to-none, Gilroy bolted out to a 5-0 lead in the third set behind two aces from Nicole Green, and led 14-11 midway through. However, the Spirits shook off the deficit down the stretch, closing out the set and the match 25-22, 25-15, 25-22.
“We just have to find that little extra fire,” Corioso said. “We have it. There just needs to be a little more.”
Green’s aces added to her team-high five on the evening. The Mustangs (0-4 overall, 0-2 TCAL) had seven aces in the match.
“I’ve been telling the girls to go out there and serve tough,” Corioso said. “If we go after them and serve hard, try to get aces or get the offense out of sync, that helps us out a lot.”
With exception of the second set, the Mustangs had their chances at flipping the script in sets one and three.
Tied 10-all in the first, the Spirits rattled off a 10-3 run to grab a seemingly commanding advantage. But Gilroy galloped back with a pair of kills from Meghan Adams and Ashley McDermott, two Green aces and a Samantha Una Dia kill that pushed it to 22-21 Spirits.
Following a Notre Dame timeout, though, the visitors collected the final four points necessary to wrap up the set.
Despite it ending unfavorably for the Mustangs, the second set was highlighted by a frenzied point late in the proceedings, which was finished by a Gabby Flores kill.
“We are the type of team that has to play together and put points together,” Corioso said.
McDermott posted a team-high eight kills, Una Dia, filling in at middle, recorded three kills, Adams had four and Flores three.
The Mustangs travel to Hollister to face rival San Benito on Thursday. First serve is slated for 6:30 p.m.
