On senior night, the boy’s volleyball team cherished a win as they survived a late-game scare to come out victorious over the Burlingame Panthers. The night spotlighted seniors Andrew Bernardicou, Aden Swartzberg, and Zach Gosler both on and off the court, each of them showing up in big ways to secure the win.
The Bears pulled ahead in the first set thanks to their offense led by junior setter Peter Chriss. A stellar performance throughout the night from Chriss kept the Panthers struggling to defend, with a series of successful dumps catching the Panthers defense off guard. The strong start forced the Panthers to take an early time out, M-A up 8-3.
The Bears continued to dominate the game, with Swartzberg raining down a series of consecutive serves that included a perfectly placed ace.
M-A’s run soon faltered, letting a couple of points go, but remained in control of the game, still up 15-5,.
With juniors Millo Skhiri and Johnny Carr continuing to stuff the Panthers’ chances, the Bears went up 22-10, and, after giving up a few points in a row, senior Andrew Bernardicou reignited a spark in the offense with a deafening spike, the Panthers’ attempt at a receive bouncing off into the stands. Not long after, the Bears rounded out the setup 25-13.
Gosler reflected on his time in the program, saying “The win was fulfilling. I’ve been in the program all four years of high school and I’m glad that so much positive change has happened.”
The Bears carried on this momentum into the second set, earning the first point off a kill from Carr. Not too long after, he sent the Bears up 8-2, continuing a dominant performance.
Sophomore Ben Warner finished off a long rally with a kill of his own, and a point later, the Panthers called their second timeout of the match in an attempt to halt the Bears’ momentum, with M-A up 10-2.
As the Panthers began to claw back the set, coming back to 16-14, a cross-spike from Carr turned the momentum back in M-A’s favor, and with the trio of Chriss, Fuerte, and Warner in the front court, M-A went ahead 22-15. However, with Bernardicou returning to the front on the subsequent rotation and a clever dump from Chriss, M-A went up to game point. Taking their time to secure the win, Warner found a sweet spike a few points later to secure a 25-17 second set win.
The Bears went down early in the third set, down 11-6 before a kill from Bernardicou put the Bears back into the game. M-A’s defense continued to struggle to find its previous dominance. A few impressive digs from Swartzberg weren’t enough to turn the momentum, forcing M-A to take its first time out, down 11-18. With the Bears offense finding its groove, they clawed it back to 16-20, before they were forced to take a second timeout, down 22-16. Their efforts fizzled out, losing their third set 18-25.
The Bears found their groove in the fourth set, starting off close, with a 5-4 lead, before pulling ahead off of some outstanding offense as Warner landed a kill and Chriss landed a strong dump. Going on a run,
