GHS boys volleyball dismantles Monterey in only three games,
15-4, 15-6, 15-13; Live Oak next.
GILROY – “Anything you can do, I can do better” was the phrase of Friday for the Gilroy High boys volleyball team as the Mustang spikers kept pace with neighboring rival Live Oak by matching a three-game sweep of league-foe Monterey, 15-4, 15-6, 15-13.
“I wasn’t surprised. We were expecting to do it,” said senior hitter Scott Martin, who finished with six kills. “We wanted to send a message to Live Oak that we can beat (Monterey) in three games, too. (But) our two scores in the first two games were surprising, but we came out on fire.”
Behind the serve of senior setter Matt Largo (as well as going 100 percent from the service line for the match), the Mustangs jumped on visiting Monterey early in the first game – taking a 7-0 lead to start and never letting the Toreadors back in the match.
“I just picked out their weakest point,” said Largo, who caused trouble all night long for the Toreador diggers, while tallying a team-high 16 assists and five digs. “I just look over their team and pick someone. He looked a little anxious. I just look out for the guy who looks really nervous.”
Largo found his man and went right at him.
“Monterey was one of the best digging teams we’ve seen all year. We were putting them down and we couldn’t hit the floor,” co-head coach Jay Baksa said. “We were thinking four, five games tonight.”
But Gilroy kept on taking it to Monterey – pulling away with a late 6-0 run after a back-and-forth start in the second game for a lopsided 15-6 nod and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match.
Senior hitter Jason Medenceles was flying high throughout – punishing Monterey with a team-high 11 kills as well as five digs. And senior middle Josh Gravell controlled the net play – recording three blocks for kills.
“He’s just a stud in there,” said co-head coach Craig Martin of Gravell. “He controls the middle.”
In addition, senior setter Tucker Baksa contributed eight assists and three digs on a night that was all Gilroy – which not only went perfect at the service line, but played error-free volleyball for most of the night.
“That’s been something Jay and I started four years ago when we took over the program. After watching some games, you see at the varsity level you can always stay in a game if you eliminate your mistakes,” said Martin, whose squad is undefeated in T-CAL at 4-0 and 12-7 overall with road games against Seaside on Tuesday and Live Oak on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The Mustangs closed out their night early with a closely-contested 15-13 win in game-three to complete the sweep. After falling behind for the first time in the match at 2-1 and trailing up to 13-11, Gilroy finished strong – using a 5-0 spurt to seal the victory.
