They ribbed each other after their mistakes. They ooh-ed after their big plays – off the backboard, to Andre Vigano, to Drew Mammen, kill. They even called out who should get the next set.
The Sobrato Bulldogs were locked in but still had a good Tuesday against Lincoln, one of the weaker teams in the Santa Teresa Division for boys volleyball.
The Bulldogs earned it. With their 25-13, 25-19, 25-20 victory at Sobrato High School, they moved within a win of securing at least a .500 finish in league and becoming eligible to receive their second Central Coast Section playoff berth in program history.
While that wouldn’t guarantee anything – just ask the Sobrato girls team – the Bulldogs are one step closer to a significant feat, one that would do wonders for a young group.
“I think it’d be very important,” SHS coach Todd Anderson said of making sectionals. “They would understand that they can definitely do a lot more than what they’re doing.”
To make CCS, the Bulldogs will likely have to win four of their remaining five league matches, which include road contests against first-place Prospect (Thursday) and second-place Branham (April 26), who have handed them their only two losses in league. Sobrato will be heavily favored against the other three opponents, Live Oak, Gunderson and James Lick.
Winners of five straight, the Bulldogs (11-10, 5-2) could use a strong showing in the April 28 Surf City Invitational.
“We just have to keep winning games,” said Mammen, who led the Bulldogs with seven kills, six aces and 11 assists Tuesday. “This (match) I wasn’t too worried about, but (Prospect and Branham) are the ones we got to worry about. … They probably practiced over the break, which we did not do. So they’re probably even harder to beat now.”
Like any young team, the Bulldogs lacked focus early in the season but have keyed in as of late, with the light at the end of the tunnel growing brighter. They have not lost a set since March 31; a 12-0 stretch that includes a bracket-championship run at the Salinas Wildcat Tournament.
“We’re taking practice and games a lot more serious than we did at the beginning of the season,” middle blocker Ryan Mitchell said.
Mammen added, “We have a lot more energy now. It’s a lot more fun.”
To compensate for his team’s dearth “of a killer instinct,” Anderson has awarded playing time for aggressiveness. The Bulldogs continued to respond well Tuesday, as seven different players recorded kills, including six by Scott Mercado and Vigano, who added 12 assists, five aces and two blocks.
As the game went on, cheers from Sobrato’s bench grew louder and louder after each SHS point, be it a cannon-like serve by Mammen, or a deafening spike by Mercado or Vigano.
“They had nice passing, nice flow, and we had a few quirks here and there, but we ran decent plays, some clean plays,” Anderson said. “We didn’t have to rely on our three main guys. Everyone contributed; Logan (Mosher) stepped up, Ryan stepped up, Darren (McElvy) stepped up. That takes a lot of pressure off of the other guys.”
Sobrato approached Lincoln (2-9, 2-6) the same way it would for Prospect or Branham.
“You have to go out there like you’re going to play the best team, because you don’t know how they’ve gotten better,” Mammen said. “A lot of things can change. When you do play the best teams, you better be ready.”
Anderson said his team is starting to come together like it did in 2011, when the Bulldogs road a big senior class to their first league title and first trip to sectionals.
“Last year’s team was more aggressive in that they wanted to win more, and that’s why they did it,” Anderson said. “They were better in the beginning. This year, they’re learning, hey, they don’t have to have seniors to be a winner.”
