With no seniors on last year’s 16-14 team, Todd Anderson and the Bulldogs entered 2013 with the same team and heightened expectations. After a slow start, Sobrato High is finally starting to realize those goals.
After losing three consecutive matches to close the nonleague season, the Bulldogs have gone 3-0 inside the Blossom Valley Athletic League Santa Teresa Division standings, losing only one set. On Tuesday, the Bulldogs overwhelmed Lincoln, beating the Lions 3-0 (25-18, 25-7, 25-20).
“We are doing really well,” Anderson said. “The nice part was that we actually got our passing down. Once we get our passing down, we are really good at our sets and getting our hits. That’s truly what we need to continue to work on. We have a lot of good hitters. We have a lot depth – a lot more than other years.”
The Bulldogs rely on junior Drew Mammen, who leads the league in kills. The 6-foot-2 hitter has taken over offensively for the Bulldogs, Anderson said.
“As long as we get him good sets, he is doing really well,” Anderson said.
But overall, the team’s early success is because of the players’ familiarity with each other, Mammen said.
“It’s easy because we have the same team as last year,” he said. “We already know how to play together. It’s just a good start. It helps so much. We don’t even have to … yeah it helps a lot. We just know how to play together, Just, the team is a lot better. We know each other. It just works already. We’ve had a whole year of experience.”
Despite that early success, there are still improvements the team needs, Anderson said.
“I would like to see a little bit more leadership from them,” Anderson said. “They have definitely stepped up because they didn’t have a senior last year to show them what they should be doing. So it makes it a little bit harder for them. We’ve got most of our guys back from last year. They are staring to jell.”
And it shows on the court. Celebrating after every point, the team works together with ease. That combined with skill has the Bulldogs looking for a league title.
“It helps,” Mammen said. “I know the chemistry is just a lot better – a lot better. We just know how to play together better. We want to win league. Definitely to win league and move on to CCS.”
On Tuesday, that chemistry worked to perfection. The Bulldogs got off to a slow start, allowing Lincoln to jump out to an early 11-4 lead in the first set. It didn’t last long, though. Behind Mammen, Logan Mosher and Marcus Valenzuela, Sobrato took over. The Bulldogs scored 21 of the set’s last 28 points to earn a convincing win. The rest was rather easy for the Bulldogs, who only trailed once in the third set.
It should be only a sign of things to come for Sobrato.
“What I hope to see from this team is that we don’t lose any league games,” Anderson said. “I think we have the talent to win them all as long as we play as a team and continue to get that … senior experience working for us. If we can keep that together we will do well, and that’s what I expect. They are a great bunch of kids, and hopefully we will play like that.”
