Photo credits to Bob Dahlberg
On Monday, the boys’ volleyball team beat the Serra Padres in three sets. This dominant victory added to the Bears’ excellent 17-4 record this season.
The Bears started off strong, winning their first set 25-16. Senior libero Aden Swartzberg set the team up for success with his point-winning digs and consistent passes, shown in his 200 receptions this season.
In the second set, M-A took an early 12-4 lead before the Bears’ coach Michael Manalo called a second timeout. Sophomore Ben Warner frequently blocked attempted shots from the Padres with powerful jumps and spikes. Warner said, “I had a couple of good hits at the end of long sets that got us the points.”
Approaching the timeout, M-A reached a 15-8 lead with their defense putting up blocks on every hit. Warner elaborated, “The teamwork on our defense was the main reason for our win today.”
The second set concluded with a 25-15 win for the Bears. Senior Andrew Bernadicou, one of the team captains, whose dominant net play and great serving by M-A carried them through the set. M-A’s performance in the second set helped their confidence as they entered the third set.
The third set started off rocky, as Serra took an early 5-2 lead. However, junior co-captain and star setter Peter Chriss helped tie the game 7-7 with an impressive set play that allowed junior Jonny Kerr to hit the ball down on the other court. Chriss said, “Everyone’s serving was great today, I also had a couple of shutdown blocks that felt really good.”
The Bears then took their biggest lead of the set at 18-14, sealing their road to success. With a clean sweep, they won the third and final set 25-19. Sophomore and middle blocker Millo Skhiri, reflected on their performance saying, “It was an exhilarating game today with a lot of fun moments. Our team captains do a great job at uniting the team and hyping everyone up for these matches.”
