Live Oak finishes the jobs in Thursday rematch with Bulldogs
MORGAN HILL — The Lady Acorns were in trouble again versus their cross-town rival. Sobrato overcame a nine-point deficit and was one point away from sending Thursday’s Mount Hamilton Division volleyball match to a decisive fifth game.
There wasn’t a thing Live Oak’s acting head coach, James Uthes, could do about it. He was out of timeouts. The crowd noise inside the Acorns’ gym was drowning out the referees’ whistles, much less all communication.
“I needed to talk to my girls, but I couldn’t. All I could do was stand there and hope for the best,” Uthes said.
If not for a crucial kill scored by Live Oak freshman Fa Saulala, who knows when the match would have ended. The last time the Acorns and Bulldogs met, Sept. 29, Sobrato scored seven of the last nine points in the final game to win three sets to two.
Thursday’s rematch had the look of another five-game, cardiac clash until Saulala spiked a set from Alyssa Brusaschetti to tie Game 4, 24-24, prompting Sobrato coach Diana Melendez to call timeout.
Uthes made a beeline toward his senior setter, Jenna Robertson.
“Set up Gabi,” he said.
Robertson dialed the Acorns’ hot-handed southpaw, Gabi Cinkova, for a go-ahead kill, then drove home a game-winning service ace to help Live Oak finish the job this time against the Bulldogs, 13-25, 25-16, 25-19, 26-24.
Cinkova had much to do with it. The 6-foot junior hitter totaled 11 kills and half a dozen blocks, including three stuff blocks. But it took all of the Acorns to put away Sobrato.
“They’re like Kryptonite. We can’t kill them,” Uthes joked.
“We did this together,” Cinkova said. “We couldn’t do this without everyone doing their part.”
Live Oak might have more of these moments in store this fall. The Acorns are 6-4 in league play and still in the hunt for a Central Coast Section playoff spot with four division contests left.
“It feels great right now. We’re getting better each game,” said sophomore middle blocker Katie Obbema, who tallied five stuff blocks and four kills. “Tonight, we played like we need to the rest of the season.”
Saulala ended with a game-high 13 kills, and Robertson collected 18 assists, six digs and three aces. Live Oak also received 10 kills and three aces from Annie Reyes-Ortiz, 16 assists from Brusaschetti and seven digs from Guilia Seminatore.
Sobrato senior Kayla Unger amassed two aces, four digs and five of her team-best 10 kills in Game 1, when the Bulldogs jumped ahead in imposing fashion. Trailing 4-2, they put together a 21-5 scoring run that gave them the largest lead of the night.
Unger finished with nine digs and four aces at outside hitter, and Brenda Trevizan totaled 14 assists for Sobrato (3-7 league).
“I thought we played very well tonight. The girls always play their best against Live Oak,” Melendez said. “We’ve been up and down this year, but the girls have showed they can come back from anything. They’re never out of the game.”
A change in momentum was evident during an electrifying exchange toward the end of the first set. Reyes-Ortiz, a senior outside hitter, launched three straight spikes that were stopped by Unger but scored on a fourth attempt.
After Saulala’s back-to-back kills tied the score, 7-7, in Game 2, the Acorns went on an 18-9 run to even the series.
“Both teams played like they really wanted it,” said Sobrato middle blocker Kelly Kreulen, who had five kills. “Whenever Live Oak and Sobrato play each other, it’s going to be a great game.”
Live Oak scored 14 of the first 20 points in the third set, but the Bulldogs didn’t go away. They reaped two kills by Andreya Simoneau and aces by Unger and Kelsey Westall during a 12-9 stretch that cut Live Oak’s lead to 23-18.
The Acorns clinched Game 3 with kills by Cinkova and Reyes-Ortiz.
“A lot of people stepped up for us tonight,” Uthes said.
Live Oak built another big lead — 13-4 — in Game 4 only to watch Sobrato claw back again. The Bulldogs scored six consecutive points to go in front, 15-14, and appeared in command when Unger’s final ace extended their lead to 19-17.
The margin became 21-19 before the Acorns seized control for good. Obbema and Reyes-Ortiz strung together kills to tie it, and the teams traded points until Cinkova and Robertson’s big finale.
“We were expecting a fight,” Uthes said. “After we had that huge lead in the third game, we though, ‘maybe we’ll run away with this one.’ That didn’t happen.”
