Cougars Volleyball rolls over Soquel…again

For the second time in five days, the San Lorenzo Valley High boy’s volleyball team beat the Knights of Soquel High. This time it was a playoff game.
The Cougars opened the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League tournament on May 3 against Soquel High, whom they had defeated April 28 (3-1) in the final game of SCCAL play. The Cougars won in three games 25-20, 29-27, 25-20 but it was anything but easy.
The Cougars kept a small lead in game one, maintained by the surprising play of freshman hitter Derek Wolf and help from some solid offensive pressure and eked out a 25-23 win.
In game two the Cougars fell behind early and seemed to lose a bit of their early luster. Soquel served two aces and disrupted the SLV rhythm, hitting back row kills and sliding back sets around the Cougar block.
“We always get the game two blues,” senior opposite Nick Gorman said. “They played really fundamental volleyball and caught us in our mistakes. Just something we have to get over.”
Gorman found a way to lift the SLV moral and deflate the Knights rising confidence. He crushed a set from Xavier Chavez through the Soquel block and off the face of a Knights player in the back row. From there the Cougars rebounded from a five point deficit and took the game into extra frames, winning game two, 29-27.
The Cougars then took the third game 25-20 for the match.
The Cougars played quality volleyball against but depth and defense will be a challenge in the remaining games of the SCCAL tournament.
“We have to keep our confidence up,” coach Nate Hill said. “These guys are limping and hurting, going into a very tough game against (Pacific Collegiate School). I have no back ups for any of them.”
The SLV bench is completely void as the team consists of six players. Hence all of them are on the floor at all times, and they can’t afford a single injury.
SLV plays PCS in the semi-finals on Thursday, May 12 after press time.