Sobrato learning the hard way in Mount Hamilton Division
MORGAN HILL — An 0-4 start has seldom looked better.
In a baptisizing debut at the top level of Blossom Valley Athletic League boys volleyball, Sobrato has shown some of the same elements that made the team a success in the Santa Teresa Division last year. Taylor Schilling is setting, Jared Mammen is spiking, and the Bulldogs have battled in each contest.
But the close games aren’t going their way this year — a problem first-year coach Laura Coleman hopes to remedy heading into the team’s two-week break from Mount Hamilton Division play.
“The hard thing is, they don’t play club where a lot of teams in our league do,” she said Wednesday. “We’re still learning, and they want to listen and improve. We just need to figure out how to win.”
In each of their losses, the latest coming Wednesday in a 15-25, 18-25, 20-25 setback at Leigh, the Bulldogs have been missing a different piece of the puzzle. Against Willow Glen, it was passing. Against Leland, it was blocking.
“We played our best game against Leland and probably could have won if we didn’t commit so many blocking errors,” Coleman said. “We didn’t lose because of defense or bad passing, we just had bad blocking technique. That’s tough to correct.”
Mammen, a senior outside hitter, has led the team in kills in each game he’s played in. Mammen scored 10 kills against Leigh, each off an assist from Schilling.
“They’ve done very well working with each other,” Coleman said. “If they keep doing what they’re doing and our passing and blocking come around, things should pick up for us.”
