GILROY — Like a closer in baseball, Manny Salcedo took the reigns to finish the job against Salinas.
The senior outside hitter racked up four aces to end the first set en route to a 3-0 sweep of the Cowboys at home Tuesday. The Cougars won 25-11, 25-19, 25-21 behind stellar serving and dominant ball control — especially by Salcedo. He led the team with his four aces in addition to 10 kills—redemption for Christopher’s lone league loss in which they fell 3-2 at Salinas March 6.
“I just wanted to get it together,” he said. “Yesterday, I had an OK practice. Today was a little revenge because they beat us the first game. We just had the mindset of staying forward and being dominate.”
While the first two set displayed the controlled, clean play typical of the Cougars this season, the third was a different story. The Cowboys took their biggest lead of the game, 16-12, before Christopher went on a four-point tear to tie it 16-16. Salinas regained the lead twice more before a misplayed ball and back-to-back kills from Connor McConkie and Kevin Costa gave the Cougars the lead for good.
“We just kind of fell apart towards the middle, but we picked it up as a team,” Salcedo said of the third set. “We got a little frustrated when we mess(ed) up a bit, but we tend to get it together in the game.”
McConkie dominated with 13 kills and two aces in the game. Marcus Torres added five kills and an ace and two blocks.
The Cougars have yet to lose a league game since falling to Salinas and boast an impressive 21-9 overall record and have won 11 straight league contests for sole possession of first place in the in the Monterey Bay League. Only one loss separates Christopher and Palma, who will face off at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. With just four games remaining in the regular season, every win is vital.
“(We) just have to keep working hard as a team,” Salcedo said. “We’ve got a big week this week and there’s a couple teams that are hungry for us. We want the first place spot. We’re not going to let down. We’re going to keep moving forward and take it one game at a time.”
