San Jose Emotions ran high as the No. 6 seed Aragon Dons upset
the No. 3 seed Sobrato Bulldogs on Saturday in the quarter finals
of the 2007 Central Coast Section girls volleyball championships at
Harker School.
San Jose
Emotions ran high as the No. 6 seed Aragon Dons upset the No. 3 seed Sobrato Bulldogs on Saturday in the quarter finals of the 2007 Central Coast Section girls volleyball championships at Harker School.
The Dons convincingly won in three games, 25-17, 25-23 and 25-9, shattering any hopes the Bulldogs had of making a playoff run.
The Bulldogs were quickly surprised by the Dons’ ability to spike the ball, and overwhelmed by their tenacity.
Aragon defeated No. 11 seed San Mateo High School on Wednesday to advance to the quarter-final game against Sobrato.
The Bulldogs, however, earned a first-round bye for winning the Santa Teresa Division title, giving them a week to practice and prepare.
Co-coach Rosemary Miller said having a week with no games was one of the reasons the Bulldogs came out a little rusty.
“We had a lot of mental mistakes … we practiced hard all week, but they forgot the basics of volleyball,” Miller said. “Not everybody came to play.”
Senior Cheyenne Hambey led the Bulldogs with four blocks while sophomore Kelsey Westall had three.
“Everyone wanted it so bad, but we didn’t communicate well and the chemistry was just off,” Westall said.
Westall led Sobrato with five kills while junior Laura Billos had four, but the Bulldogs couldn’t gather any offensive momentum as the Dons controlled the pace of each game.
Aragon scored early and often, maintaining leads throughout the first and last games.
In the middle game, the Bulldogs went point for point with the Dons taking a 21-19 lead down the stretch, but an Aragon time out killed any momentum Sobrato had gathered.
Aragon came out of their huddle and scored four straight points to take lead 24-21, on their way to a 25-23 win.
Billos, Vanessa Hernandez and Lisa Schroedter each had seven digs to lead the Bulldogs.
Senior Nicole Simoneau had a team-high, nine-set assists to lead Sobrato.
“They were a little more prepared than we were, but we had a week to practice,” Simoneau said. “We had a great season and we came pretty far.
“CCS was our goal and we reached it, but I’m proud of the way we worked together this season.”
Miller re-iterated Simoneau’s thoughts on an overall successful season.
“The girls had a great time, and we’re all happy that we are the division champs … we had a good season, and the goal was to seed and that’s what we did,” Miller said.
The Bulldogs finish the season as league champions of the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL with an overall record of 22-5.
The Dons advance to the semi-finals on Thursday where they will take on No. 7 seed St. Ignatius High School.
