The boys volleyball team pushed through in a narrow victory against the San Mateo Bearcats in a long five sets, 25-15, 25-22, 18-25, 26-28, and 15-9, on Wednesday night.
Before the match, the Bears celebrated their six seniors with flowers and family photos.
“The senior night ceremonies, probably walking out with my family, [was the best part]. My grandparents came for this game, so I got to take pictures with them, and spending time with them was awesome,” senior opposite hitter Quinn Robbins said.
M-A began the first set with an immediate burst of energy, fueled by the excitement of the senior night celebration. Senior defensive specialist Jaden Clark set the tone from the service line, allowing senior outside hitter Ben Warner* to find an early kill. Shortly after, junior setter Coen Chou and senior middle blocker Diego Ramirez Corona established an intimidating presence at the net with a quick block.
The momentum stayed with the Bears as sophomore libero Nicolas Sandoval took over serving. His consistent pressure pushed the Bearcats to commit multiple errors, and junior middle blocker Ryan Cunningham added on to this, hammering a kill to extend the lead. Overwhelmed by M-A’s energy, San Mateo took an early timeout trailing 6-2.
Although the Bearcats managed a small push to get within three at 9-6, the Bears responded with a high-effort rally, with Cunningham and Warner teaming up for a commanding block. Following a spike from Warner that pushed the lead to 16-11, Cunningham and Chou shut down a San Mateo attack with a stuff block, leading the Bearcats to call another timeout.
Robbins fueled the closing stretch with a powerful smash to make it 22-15. The Bears reached set point after a combined block by Chou and Ramirez Corona, and Warner finished the set with a thundering half-court kill to secure a 25-15 first set victory.
The second set was much more contested as the Bearcats adjusted their defense. M-A found themselves in an early hole, trailing 6-2 after a series of defensive miscommunications and a blocked hit at the net.
Cunningham took the service line and delivered a high-velocity ace to level the score at 7-7, and the momentum shifted during a gritty rally. After a save by Sandoval, Robbins rose for a smash, and Chou eventually tipped the ball over to win the point. Senior opposite hitter James Anderson and Chou teamed up for a crucial block, with Warner performing two kills to push M-A ahead 14-11. Errors from the Bearcats forced a San Mateo timeout at 17-12.
The Bearcats fought back with a 4-0 run to pull within two, but Warner stopped them with a kill to make it 19-16. Cunningham and Chou added another stuff block shortly after. Robbins delivered a clutch ace to reach match point at 24-19, and after a final rally, M-A secured the 25-22 win.
The third set opened with a back-and-forth battle, with Ramirez Corona establishing an early presence at the net with a combined block alongside Chou to help the Bears keep pace. Both teams traded leads through the early rotations, but Cunningham’s service pressure helped Rutsky deliver a kill to give M-A a 10-6 lead. A clean setter dump by Chou kept the Bears up 11-9.
The gym erupted at 13-10 when Robbins made an unbelievable diving save from the floor, somehow sending the ball back over the net for an unexpected point that caught the Bearcats completely off-guard. Still, the Bearcats were able to take a 16-14 lead, and M-A called a timeout to regroup.
“My favorite part of the actual game was my butt set,” Robbins said.
Despite a smash through the block by Warner to keep the score within reach, the Bears’ rhythm started to fall under a series of defensive miscommunications. San Mateo capitalized on the errors to build a four-point lead, prompting a second M-A timeout trailing 22-18. The break wasn’t enough to stop the run, and the Bearcats’ blockers shut down the Bears’ final attacks to take the set 25-18.
The fourth set was a marathon from start to finish, with neither team able to pull away. After an early deficit, Warner came back with a kill to tie the game at 5-5. The middle of the set remained a tactical battle, where Chou kept the San Mateo defense guessing with a perfectly timed setter dump for a 9-8 lead and a clever fake-out to tie the game again at 12-12.
M-A and San Mateo traded points until a service run by Sandoval forced a timeout at 16-13. The Bearcats scrambled back to tie it at 16-16 despite a near pancake save, but the Bears regained the lead 21-18 following a combined block by Chou and Cunningham and a smash from Robbins.
Going into extra points, the lead was changing at every serve. Warner hammered down kills to reach match points at 24-23 and 26-25, but the Bearcats refused to break. A series of narrow outs allowed San Mateo to steal the set 28-26, forcing a tiebreaker.
M-A left no room for error going into the fifth set, opening with a dominant 6-1 run. Although the Bearcats utilized a string of errors by the Bears to narrow the gap to 9-8, Chou executed a setter dump to regain the energy.
Warner and Rutsky took over the closing moments, hammering down consecutive kills to push the lead to 14-9. On the final play, a defensive error by the Bearcats sealed the 15-9 victory, securing a hard-fought 3-2 match win for M-A to cap off senior night.
“We had been winning, and then we went on a loss streak, and then we managed to crawl our way back and kind of sweep,” Anderson said.
The Bears will face off against Archbishop Riordan in the Ayers Gym on Thursday at 5:45 p.m.
*Ben Warner is a journalist for the M-A Chronicle.
