Sobrato had just battled to keep the ball alive in a long volley only to see Harker’s Jarrett Anderson score a kill to go up 19-17 in a bid to take Game 3 and force a fourth.
But the Bulldogs didn’t let it faze them.
Zach Morris had a kill and a block to get the Bulldogs the lead at 20-19 and Sobrato went for the kill.
That sparked an 8-2 scoring run that denied the Eagles a chance to steal Game 3 to complete a CCS Division II Round 1 sweep 25-15, 25-17, 25-21.
“In the past games we were playing solid but in the third game, Harker started to fight back,” Morris said. “We just had to step it up to the next level and turn it up a little bit and bring the fire to beat them a little bit.”
Sobrato advances to play Pacific Collegiate 7 p.m. Thursday at Harbor High School.
Jason Rhoads had 14 kills in the win, followed by Morris who had 10 with three blocks.
Mirko Macura had five blocks and two kills.
The finish was fitting of how the match started: with Sobrato in complete control.
The Bulldogs went down 16-13 midway through the third, but managed to keep the game close despite Harker winning a couple of long volleys and seeming to steal the momentum several times.
Sobrato, however, outscored the Eagles 12-5 down the stretch to put the match away.
And in so doing, the Bulldogs erased a horrific start which saw the Eagles go up 11-2 thanks to four aces in the stretch.
Harker’s Charlie Molin got a stretch of five-straight points going when he recorded a kill and then went to the server’s line where he served up three straight aces for an eventual 8-1 lead.
After Molin finally mis-hit a serve, Harker got the ball back on a kill from Jarrett Anderson setting up a 3-0 run capped with an ace from Chris Gong.
But Sobrato found a way to keep the set from getting out of hand.
Coach Teresa Hodges said she just told her team to simplify the game and to put pressure on Harker to make good plays.
“I was letting them know that we just need to get the ball over. Let the make the mistakes,” Hodges said. “The problem is we started to make the mistakes on our side and that’s when we started to get behind. I just wanted the ball over. I didn’t care how they did it, I just wanted it on their side.”
Hodges also said the tandem of Peyton Raab and Morris together on the front row helped to calm things down and allowed Sobrato to run its normal sets that stunted Harker’s advance.
Morris said it was important to lot let a single point dictate how the rest of the set was going to go and have the team stay focused on what they needed to do to win.
“Those plays are definitely exhausting,” Morris said of Harker winning in long volleys. “To not give them momentum, once that point is done just refocus on the next point. Just know that point is in the past and the next point is yours.”
Rhoads had two kills with kills from Rhys Dimla and Morris to get the deficit down to two.
From there, Macura had a kill and a block plus an ace from Peyton Raab that finally tied the set at 13.
After a 3-0 run that put the score at 16-13, Sobrato put the hammer down and didn’t look back.
To close out the match, Raab had a block with a kill from Rhoads to set up match point. Macura came up with a block for the 25th and final point.
He let out a cheer as Rhoads gave a fist pump and the entire Bulldogs team started to celebrate.
The match didn’t look like it was going to be as tight at the finish when it started.
Sobrato was near flawless to open the match, going up 13-4 on two kills from Jared Raab and Dimla.
Harker never managed a run of more than two points in the first set as Sobrato just wore the Eagles down to a 25-15 win.
In the second set, Harker found its rhythm early with a quick 5-0 run forcing a quick timeout from Sobrato.
Although Harker did go up 6-1, the bit of a refocusing from Hodges and a monster stretch from Rhoads rallied the team and propelled them to a convincing win.
That run was facilitated by a 7-0 stretch where Rhoads had four kills. He eventually had six to help push Sobrato to a 20-11 lead that Harker wasn’t going to recover from.
Rhoads finished with seven kills and an ace in the second set to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.
“Any runs that gives us momentum, I’ll take it,” Hodges said. “It definitely gave us some good momentum to get going.”
Sobrato’s next opponent is going to be a beast, according to Morris and Hodges.
They credited Pacific Collegiate with some high caliber hitters who know how to throw it down.
The two teams met in the Battle of the Bay tournament where the Pumas edged out Sobrato in straight sets 25-22, 25-20.
Hodges said she was going to keep the work load light on Wednesday to make sure the boys are loose and focused going into Thursday’s match.
“I want them to not be pressured this week and just let it all out there, especially because of all eight seniors, I just want them to end it on a good note,” Hodges said.
Senior night
Sobrato closed out the regular season on a high note on May 4, assuring a tie for second atop the Mt. Hamilton Division Standings thanks to Leigh losing to Branham the same evening.
Dimla had nine kills, Rhoads had eight kill and Morris added five kills and six blocks to pull out a sweep of Leland.
The evening started with a farewell to eight seniors who had come up through the ranks and were playing in their final regular season game in the Sobrato gym.
Afterwards, Hodges was nearly at a loss for words describing what the seniors meant to the team and to her.
“I can’t even talk about it. These eight seniors have been a lot of fun,” Hodges said. “They have just been a fun team this year. These eight guys just have the biggest hearts and we’ve worked really well together this year.”
In the first set, Sobrato made sure all the seniors got on the floor, allowing different rotations to play together at different times.
“I think this is what they wanted. They played so well,” Hodges said.
