The boys volleyball team pulled off a remarkable comeback to beat the Nueva Mavericks in four sets, 22-25, 25-15, 25-16, and 25-8, on Thursday evening.
Nueva started off the game with a bang, immediately delivering an ace. However, a crushing kill from senior outside hitter Ben Warner* put M-A on the board and shifted momentum towards the Bears. Junior setter Coen Chou continued this hot streak with an ace of his own, giving M-A an early 4-2 advantage.
The Bears attempted to widen their lead with offensive efforts led by Warner and junior middle blocker Ryan Cunningham. Despite their dominance at the net, M-A continued to be plagued by service errors and miscommunication, resulting in the set being tied at 12-12.
This pattern persisted as the Bears sent multiple attacks out of bounds, and the Mavericks capitalized on these mistakes with accurate hits and solid blocks. M-A struggled to regain energy and composure and called a timeout to regroup, facing a 21-16 deficit.
The Bears emerged from the timeout on fire, with junior middle blocker Julian Haddaway delivering a destructive kill, followed by Chou executing a tactical setter dump. However, M-A couldn’t grasp this momentum for long, as Nueva retaliated with a run of their own. Despite a series of cross-court cannons by Warner, the Mavericks had answers. Nueva came out on top, winning the first set 25-22.
The next set began out with more back-and-forth play, as both teams traded unforced errors to tie it up early, 2-2. Despite the slow start, the Bears blew the game open almost immediately. Explosive swings from Warner, accompanied by consistent serving by Chou, forced the Mavericks to call a timeout with the Bears ahead 7-2.
“At the start, we kind of underestimated how good they were going to be, and then when we decided to start trying, then we started winning,” Chou said.
M-A continued to blaze out of the timeout. The Bears showcased rock-solid defense through blocks by Cunningham and Warner, and a series of misplaced hits by Nueva put M-A comfortably in the lead, 15-5.
Both teams began showing signs of fatigue, reflected in misfires out of bounds and service errors. However, the Bears pushed through with help from well-placed kills by Warner and tips by Chou to pull out a 25-15 victory.
The Mavericks struck first in the third set, but it wasn’t long before an ace by sophomore libero Nicolas Sandoval flipped the game around, making way for a four-point run for M-A. The Bears kept up this trend, widening the gap to 10-4 with forceful attacks by Warner and Cunningham.
However, M-A continued to encounter struggles at the service line, sparking a small run for Nueva. Senior opposite hitter Quinn Robbins answered with a push of his own, and senior defensive specialist Jaden Clark backed him up with clutch digs to put the Bears ahead 12-10.
“We really locked in on the passing, that was the main thing. We got our passes up, and we were able to get a lot better hits off that,” Clark said.
M-A didn’t look back from there, pulling further ahead with daggers by Warner and assertive communication by Sandoval to secure the third set for the Bears, 25-16.
M-A carried all their momentum, and more, to the fourth set. The Bears turned up the intensity to create a gap immediately, consisting of several aces by Clark. Nueva’s panicked attempt to stop Warner proved unsuccessful as he hammered down kill after kill, and M-A blazed to a 7-0 advantage.
The Bears did not take their foot off the gas as Cunningham delivered multiple aces, accompanied by destructive hits by Robbins and senior outside hitter Owen Rutsky, furthering M-A to a 19-5 lead. The Mavericks failed to find a response, and an authoritative kill by Warner concluded their best set yet, 25-8.
“We started to communicate more. We made less mistakes, especially on the hitting side,” Cunningham said. “On the first couple sets, we made way too many hitting errors, hitting it out. And I think we really cleaned it up.”
The Bears will face off against San Mateo away on Wednesday at 5:45 p.m.
*Ben Warner is a journalist for the M-A Chronicle.
