Sobrato hosts its first boys volleyball playoff at 7 p.m.
Tuesday against Pacific Collegiate
SAN JOSE
As a reward for not tanking its regular-season finale, the Sobrato boys volleyball team will feel right at home for its postseason debut.
The Bulldogs received the nine seed in the Division II Central Coast Sectional on Saturday and will host No. 8 Pacific Collegiate at 7 p.m. today at Sobrato High School, a billing that was influenced by the Bulldogs’ 25-17, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16 victory over Prospect on the final night of Santa Teresa Division play.
Sobrato (15-9, 9-1) was in the clear Thursday, having already clinched its first league championship. Though the Bulldogs let off the gas at times, with their reserves playing parts of Game 2 and most of Game 3, they pulled it together for an impressive win in Game 4 to send their seniors out on a fitting note.
“We just kind of put an exclamation point as league champs,” setter Ethan Lines said. “We didn’t push the whole way through, but it was still a great game. We won — can’t be too upset about that.”
Even the letdown in Game 3 had its upside, according to Estevan Santiago.
“I think it’s good we lost because we were on such a winning streak,” the senior outside hitter/setter said. “We needed to see that we can lose that mental mistakes can hurt us if we let up.”
The evening began with a proper send-off for SHS seniors Miles Mammen, Sergio Mihai, Cavan Howay, Lines and Santiago and proceeded with all five contributing in a seventh straight victory for the Bulldogs.
Freshman Drew Mammen stole the show with 12 kills, 24 assists, nine aces and two digs. His older brother, Miles, collected eight kills three digs and two aces. Lines had five kills and two blocks, and Howay added four kills.
Santiago, who will keep his school logo the same next year at Stanford, led his team with a career-best 14 kills in 16 attempts and 23 assists.
“He was on top of everything,” said Mihai, who had six kills and two stuffblocks. “The guy’s amazing.”
Allan Isenberg totaled 11 kills and four stuffblocks, and Boris Galonja had 10 and eight to lead the second place Panthers (7-13, 6-4).
Santiago was serenaded periodically with chants of “Stan-ford.” He has a 4.4 cumulative grade point average but was shocked when he received his acceptance letter.
“I don’t know what to say. It’s just been an incredible year,” he said. “(This season) was one of the highlights of high school. We wanted this for so long, and we made history.”
The Bulldogs can build on to that, plus their turnaround from a 2-12 finish in 2010, today against Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League runner-up Pacific Collegiate (21-9, 11-3). The winner advances to play at top seed Mount Madonna in the quarterfinals May 12.
Sobrato hearkened back to its limited experience against A league teams at practice Monday.
“We played against some of them in tournaments, and it definitely showed how we need to play to be successful in CCS,” Lines said. “We’ve got to bring our A game.”
NOTE: Tuesday’s other first-round game pits No. 7 Harker against No. 10 Aptos.
