Bonita Vista High (BVH) boys’ varsity volleyball team warms up and prepares to take on the first game of the season. The Barons match up against the Santa Fe Christian (SFC) Eagles in a home non-league game. Both teams begin the game with confidence, the game seemingly could have gone either way.
BVH takes the first point of the game with middle blocker and sophomore Adam Mitchell (5), spiking the ball down through the Eagle’s defense. The next four points are also taken by BVH by varying means. One of those being co-captain, outside hitter and senior Daniel Robitaille (22), who Head boys’ varsity volleyball coach Luis Contreras highlighted as a valuable player in this game.
“He’s always a force when he’s on the field. He’s very hard to ignore, especially when you’re playing against him. He really helped us in dominating the first two sets and helped us push through the fourth one.” Contreras said.
As the first set progressed, the Barons continued to gain momentum and kept a large score gap between the two teams. One valuable factor in keeping the gap in place is the defensive performance of co-captain, libero and senior Noah Kircher (3). BVH played clean while the Eagles struggled to keep pace, with dives and narrow saves being their only saving graces. opposite, outside hitter, and Senior Hector Silva De Guzman (9) scores the final point of the set with a solid block.
“I think our defense stood up great against this team, we executed what we needed to execute. Even in the moments where [SFC] provided a strong attack, we did what we needed to do to keep the ball in play,” Contreras said.
The second set of the game begins with the Barons once again taking the first point because of a missed serve from the Eagles. BVH continues to assert their dominance in their home turf with co-captain and junior Luke Janssen (13) smacking the ball down through blocks in serves as well as spikes.
“As a team I think our best set was the second set, we were able to step it up and get scrappy to hold our lead and keep each other motivated,” Janssen said. “We carried over our momentum from winning the first set to winning the second set to not only win, but dominate the second set.”
For a moment during this set it seemed that BVH had lost momentum, as the Eagles score became dangerously close to the home team’s. Janssen and Mitchell kickstart BVH’s streak of excellence with impressive moves from both of them. Mitchell scoring by putting the ball down using his non-dominant left hand, and Janssen acing one of his serves.
“I think this game was a great test to see where we are at and how we match up against higher level teams such as [SFC]. We were also able to find things we needed to improve on, but overall see these guys push through,” Contreras said.
In the third set the Barons struggle to keep the high standard of playing performance they set in the first two sets. According to Contreras some of the Barons most reliable players fumbled multiple opportunities to score. With the Barons lacking communication, the Eagles were able to maintain a lead throughout this set until taking it despite them playing just as sloppy.
“I think our team could improve our communication, that is a key factor in volleyball and why we lost the third set, despite the other team’s less than excellent attacks” Aryes said.
The fourth set opened up with high tension, since this was their game set – if the Barons won it – and would tie up the game if the Eagles took it. The Barons were able to push through and concentrate despite the high pressure of this set. BVH’s blocks, specifically those that came from Ayres (7), Mitchell (6, and senior Sean Savoie (8) shut down the Eagle’s offense.
“Our last set was a great set for us, we were able to keep our energy up as a team and push through despite feeling a bit down after losing the previous set,” Janssen said.
As the set’s points climbed higher and higher into the ten’s and then creeping into the low twenty’s tensions rose with them. The crowd filled with students and parents alike grew louder and louder as the game neared its end. BVH worked in cohesion for the last few points and won the game with the fourth set’s score finaling at 25-21 in favor of the Barons.
“When the pressure was on, these kids [were] not phased and they continued to fight the whole way through. Their persistence definitely shows character and displays how hard they can push themselves and how much better we can get,” Contreras said.
