Morgan Hill – With a 3-0 record early in league play, the
Sobrato High School girl’s volleyball team looks much like last
year’s undefeated championship team.
Morgan Hill – With a 3-0 record early in league play, the Sobrato High School girl’s volleyball team looks much like last year’s undefeated championship team.
Facing the Willow Glen Rams Tuesday at home, the Bulldogs showed fire, calm, power, and cool in defeating their league opponent in three close games 25-17, 25-22, and 25-19.
Whether balls hit the net or were bumped up to the ceiling, Sobrato scrambled and dove to get every ball back over to the Rams.
Willow Glen jumped to an early 9-11 lead over Sobrato led by tough middle blockers who kept the Bulldogs’ Kelsey Westall and Laura Billos working at the net.
Billos showed her dominance all over the court, however, leading the Bulldog offense to a 16-13 lead with hard-hit kills, one-handed digs and strong serves.
Willow Glen came back and tied Sobrato at 17-17 until senior Cheyenne Hambey took over the game with serves and never looked back, leading Sobrato to a 25-17 victory.
In game two the Sobrato crowd became rowdy as the Willow Glen rallied and came back from a seven point deficit late in game that Sobrato seemed to have locked up.
The Bulldogs pulled ahead to a 13-5 lead, and then a 15-7 lead, thanks to the skillful and crafty net play of Hambey, Billos, and Westall, and the steady setting of senior Nicole Simoneau, but Willow Glen wasn’t going away with out making it a game first.
Hambey had a kill to make the score 24-17, and at game point made a block to secure game two for Sobrato, but the point was overturned when the referee called Bulldogs blockers for hitting the net.
This gave Willow Glen a chance to mount a come back.
Building momentum on a number of strong serves the Rams made five straight points to cut the Bulldogs lead to 24-22.
Sobrato regained their focus and composure, however, ending the Rams’ chanes and taking game two 25-22.
Game three was as equally close as the first two, as Willow Glen matched Sobrato point for point, but the home crowd helped the Bulldogs win the game to capture the match.
Supported by the cheers, chants and yells of members of the Sobrato football team and other students and fans, the Bulldogs tried to pull away, but the Rams kept the game close.
Tying the game at 6-6, at 9-9, at 14-14, at 16-16, and at 18-18, the Bulldogs couldn’t break away until Billos rotated in to serve.
Billos led the Bulldogs to a three point lead, and Hambey fittingly hit the game winning kill to give Sobrato the 25-19 victory.
“I didn’t feel that the team was clicking at first, but we have great chemistry, and once we found a rhythm and got things moving we did great,” Hambey said.
Hambey finished the night with 10 kills and three aces, and Billos finished with 18 digs, 11 kills, and two aces.
“Everyone played incredibly hard,” Billos said. “And once we got our passes down it came together.”
Co-coach Rosemary Miller was proud of how her team stayed focused and fought to come back, but recognizes the need to improve.
“We made so many mistakes,” she said. “We’re still trying girls at different positions and using different rotations, and we got a lot to keep working on.”
Nicole Simoneau had 11 digs, 19 assists and one kill.
Lisa Schroeder had 10 digs.
Kelsey Westall had four blocks, five kills, and two aces.
Kayla Unger had four kills.
