To understand how tall of order it will be for the Sobrato boys volleyball team to win a second straight conference title, look to the 6-foot, 5-inch Telfer twins, Russell and Kris.
Behind them, Prospect planted a major roadblock in front of the Bulldogs on Tuesday.
Kris Telfer went for 11 kills, five blocks and five aces, his brother chipped in three kills, four digs and three kills, and the visiting Panthers won 25-18, 21-25, 25-16, 25-19 in an early Santa Teresa Division tilt.
Sobrato coach Todd Anderson knew his seniorless team needed to play “big” to have any chance. The Bulldogs did so at times, mounting a spirited rally to win Game 2 after Prospect scored five straight points to tie it, 18-all. But the Panthers were too crisp, and the Telfers too much.
“They’ve got a really big front line with those twins,” said Sobrato freshman Andre Vigano, who had 11 kills, 20 assists and 14 digs. “They can block. They can elevate. They make it pretty tough.”
Sobrato kept it interesting early on, as outside hitters Logan Mosher and Scott Mercado played tough at the net, and Drew Mammen and Vigano set each other for quality hits. Mammen scored eight of his game-high 12 kills in games 1 and 2, while Vigano totaled seven kills, eight assists and five digs.
Prospect made sound adjustments, though, and was off and running by Game 3.
“What they did was start keying on Drew and Andre,” Anderson said. “If we had more down-the-line hits instead of going crosscourt, we would have done a lot better.”
The Bulldogs (1-1 league) committed more passing and service errors than they would have liked but showed much improvement from their last few games.
“We did a lot better than I expected,” Anderson said. “We didn’t have the overall aggressiveness, but we definitely picked it up. We had some good plays, played a lot more of our game. We would set up and be ready to hit. I was actually pleased with the guys. If we made a few more digs in the back and stuff, we might have had a better chance.”
Mosher finished with six digs, three kills and two blocks, while Mercado matched Vigano with 11 kills to go with six digs and a pair of blocks.
Mercado kept the Bulldogs alive in Game 4 with four kills and three digs, but Kris Telfer answered with six kills and four momentum-quelling blocks.
“We needed to move our feet and just try to keep our spirits up,” Mosher said. “They were tall, but it was possible to get some points. You just have to be quick. Scott was definitely big for us tonight, since he can hit with both hands. Andre was, too. He had some amazing sets.”
Anderson was optimistic for the teams’ next meeting on April 19 at Prospect (2-0). His Bulldogs are set up nicely until then with three home matches and road games at Live Oak (0-2) on Thursday and Gunderson (0-3) on March 29.
“I think they’ll react positively to this,” Anderson said of his players. “I think they can take it as a positive, seeing that they can play with this team. We were never out of any of the games. We definitely came back. We’ve just got to keep it together the whole night.”
