Neither team deserved to lose, but when a tiebreaker is
involved, one team always has to.
Neither team deserved to lose, but when a tiebreaker is involved, one team always has to.
Wednesday night was part heartbreak, part deja-vu for the Gilroy varsity girls volleyball team as the Mustangs lost a first-round Central Coast Section game at home (25-13, 28-30, 25-19, 22-25, 14-16) for the second year in a row. The main difference this season being that it was the Milpitas Trojans who ended Gilroy’s season. Last year it was Andrew Hill.
Evenly matched throughout, the difference in score was a matter of momentum. In the three games Gilroy lost, the Mustangs were painstaingly close to closing the door on the Trojans before a small mistake would snowball into a series of points for Milpitas.
The Mustangs had a 22-19 advantage in game four but gave up six straight points to force a fifth and final set.
Game five was even tougher to stomach for Gilroy fans, as the team led 14-13, one point away from advancing to the next round, but three-straight Milpitas points gave the visitors a shot at No. 1 seed Homestead in the CCS quarterfinals Saturday.
“It was pretty intense,” said GHS’ Loryn Ferreira. “We wanted this game. We’ve been talking about this all week … A lot of the girls went in [the locker room] and cried their hearts out.”
Milpitas coach Jeff Lamb couldn’t help but feel bad for the Mustangs.
“It was very even,” he said. “Probably if we play ten times, it would be 5 to 5.”
Gilroy finished the season with a 16-18 record.
“Overall, I think they gave everything that they had,” Gilroy Coach Sue Grogan said.
For seniors Caitlin Chisolm (14 kills, 11 digs) and Katelin Faria (12 digs, 3 aces), it was the final game in the pair’s GHS careers.
“Katelin Faria and Caitlin Chisolm were our leaders (this season),” Grogan said. “They both have played volleyball a really long time … They love the game, it’s obvious.”
Melissa Avila was second on the Mustangs in kills with 11 (she also had seven digs), while Ferreira and Lindsey Foster each had six. Jasmine Perez led Gilroy with 24 digs while Lindsay Meazell had 13 to go with two kills.
For a team of only ten players that should return eight next season, some of whom are sophomores, Grogan has high hopes for the future.
“We’ve got an incredible amount of talent coming back year,” she said.
