GILROY—Christopher’s slow start led to a quick sweep as it fell 10-25, 15-25, 17-25 to San Benito Thursday at home.
The Cougars struggled through the first two sets but found their groove in the third. The two teams traded leads five times in the back-and-forth set. A kill by Marielle Gomez and a Baler error gave Christopher its first lead of the game at 10-9.
San Benito’s Lauren Sabbatini packed on kill after kill to help the Balers pull away, but moments later Katelyn Viray helped swing the momentum back in Christopher’s favor. Viray led the Cougars with six kills and the team’s lone ace.
The junior middle hitter laid down a hard kill and served up an ace to tie the game at 15-all. San Benito’s Madisyn Guttierez-Urban followed suite with a kill and ace of her own to lead 17-16, but the Balers hit the ball out on the next play to tie the game again.
Kieley Hoskins notched two kills to help San Benito team pull away and Marisa Villegas shut the door by recording two aces, one of which was for set point.
“We still probably haven’t gotten over the mental block that we can play with the best,” Cougar coach Brian Calimpong said. “They started to show the team that they are in that last set, but we just didn’t have enough points.”
San Benito left few holes in its coverage. As a result, the powerful swings of the Cougars often ended with the ball hit out of bounds and further frustration for the home team.
“They put it in the right spots and were making us struggle,” Calimpong said. “We couldn’t get a pass, so we couldn’t run the offense the way we’re used to…It’s real hard for our middles to be effective when we’re running 15 to 20 feet off the net the entire match.”
Christopher fell behind early in set one as Hollister scored 10 unanswered points. The Cougars went on a scoring streak of their own that started with a perfectly placed Kiely Roden kill and ended with two points off the hands of Grace Gundy. It was too little, too late as Christopher trailed 20-7.
“Balers are on the top of our list of competitors,” senior outside hitter Samantha Dolan said. “We’re a good team; we have great chemistry. I think we just came in with the wrong mindset. We came back a couple times but it was just in short bursts.”
Senior libero Gomez spread herself all over the court in Set 2, fighting for any dig she could get. She helped her team get within five at 18-13 midway through the set. Two plays later, Hoskins smashed the ball over the net for San Benito but it was just out of reach for Gomez to grab as it hit the floor for a kill. An ace, Cougar errors and a kill from Nikki Andrade sealed the deal for San Benito as it claimed Set 1.
“(San Benito) can pick everything up and get in our heads,” Christopher junior opposite hitter Roden said. “We had to shake it off and keep going.”
Christopher is 13-6 overall, 3-2 in league play. The team will square off with Notre Dame-Salinas at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at home.
