IN YOUR FACE . . . NO, IN YOURS! -- Griffin Waldo Bernal and Jaguar Juan Alfredo Abuawad do battle at the net.Jonatan Muñoz, International School
International wins 25-17, 25-15
Griffins flawless against Jaguars
From coaches' reports
The International boys varsity volleyball team put on a fearsome, flawless performance as it defeated Co-operative in straight sets before an enthusiastic crowd Tuesday in the Griffins gym.
The key fact to know about this game is that the Jaguars did not play badly. They played well enough to win most of the games played this year, and they came out at the start with some daring plays, sometimes setting the ball from one side of the court to the other.
The problem was that the Grffins ultimately were playing better, not only hitting home winners, but displaying awesome consistency.
"When you're playing against a team that's really good, that's really on, you just can't make mistakes," said Co-operative athletic director Nicolaas Mostert. "And today Co-operative made too many mistakes, while International was putting it in the right place every time."
Something -- no one seems quite sure what -- went wrong with the International machine in the second half of the season, when the boys varsity lost matches to both Co-operative and Christian Learning. But whatever the problem was, Coach Eli Vilar has apparently gone under the hood and fixed it.
It's hard to single out individual players when everyone was making amazing digs, artful sets, and high velocity spikes.
The thing was, it seemed like Co-operative was doing the same thing. Indeed, Co-operative held a two- or three-point lead through the first half of the first set. International didn't get its first lead in the game until the score stood at 14-13.
But after that, while there was no overt sign that the dynamics of the game had changed, the Griffins gradually widened the margin to the final eight-point advantage the held at the end of the set.
Jaguars Juan Alfredo Abuawad, a ninth grader, and Cristobal Roda, a senior, repeatedly fired spikes across the net, and sometimes they´d hit the floor for a point, but more often International players dug them out, set the ball up, and fired it back.
Often the ball was hit back by Griffin senior Pablo Muñoz, who is usually International's main spiker, but even some of International's smaller players, such as 9th grader Chris Saltzieder, were leaping high, and hitting the ball hard.
The line-up for the Griffins was: Christopher Saltzieder, Juan Sebastien Narvaez, Enzo Fortuny, Jose Landivar, Alex Roempler, Martin Gonzalez, Rodrigo Bernal, Waldo Bernal, and Pablo Muñoz.
For the Jaguars: Juan Alfredo Abuawad, Juan Pablo Roda, David Shin, Cristobal Roda, Esteban Gomez, Diego Morales, Rafael Marsilla, Mateus de Carvalho, Wilson Salvatierra, and Juan Casares.
Christian Learning triumphs, 25-20, 25-14
Knights give Eagles a (mild) scare
By Ana L. Saavedra Banzer
Cambridge College
The Christian Learning boys varsity volleyball team let a scrappy Cambridge team almost catch up with it in the first set, but then turned on the energy and won the match in straight sets Tuesday at the Eagles gym.
The Eagles won the first set 25-20, the closest set in the semi-finals, and then prevailed more easily in the second set, 25-14.
After the game Eagle coach Bob Friesen praised his team's aggressive serving, the way players talked to each other, and the way they worked together as a team. A key to the second game, he said, was blocking Knight Manfred Grote´s spikes, which had been troublesome for the Eagles in the first game.
Twice Eagle David Lotz was able to stuff an attempted kill by Grote. Esteban Eguez was able to do the same to Knight Jorge Yuan.
Cambridge coach Eduardo "Presi" de la Riva said his team had not lived up to its potential in part because they were concentrating on soccer, but he felt they had shown improvement Tuesday, and that it should be good training for next week's game for third place against Co-operative. He felt the team needed to work more on communication and defense. "They can do it, and they know it, but sometimes they don't try hard enough," he said.
Both teams started off Tuesday playing really well. They were very excited, and demonstrated good teamwork. The Eagles fashioned a three-point lead with great defense, but the game stayed close.
Cambridge, strengthened by players who hadn't taken to the court since the early games of the season, seemed to be more confident than in previous games. They did not make it easy for the Eagles, and the match began to get quite interesting.
But although they could almost catch up, they couldn't quite take the lead. They needed needed to take things more seriously, and apply more concentration to do that.
The Knights finally put on a push, and got the score to 21-19. However, at that point the Eagles, who were definitely taking things quite seriously, pulled away and won 25-20.
The second set started out as if it was going to be even more exciting, with ties at 3-all and 4-all. But after a few minutes the Eagles seemed to decide that they were going to win, and moved out to an 11-6 lead. The Knights, realizing that they were not making the all-out effort they needed to, took a time out.
However, they would not challenge the Eagles again. The Eagles were doing an excellent job, and totally knew what they were doing. The Knights often made good plays, but the Eagle players were playing smarter, and seemed to have learned how to manipulate the Knights. Cambridge seemed to tire. The Eagle lead grew to 20-11.
After this the game was very exciting for the large, mostly pro-Eagles crowd, and boring for the Cambridge fans. The Knights basically surrendered, losing 25-14.
Jeff Stabler and Esteban Eguez were the outstanding players for the Eagles, though Stabler's spiking was not as sharp as it has been in other games. Grote and Martin Pacor distinguished themselves in the Knights' losing effort.
The line-up for Christian Learning was Fabricio Encina, David Lotz, Tim Swope, Jeff Stabler, Esteban Eguez, Frankin Chou, Kyle Swope, Danny Canaviri, Mark Salinas, and Jesse Hallock.
For Cambridge: Nicolas Gamboa, Remi Ottaviani, Martin Pacor, Juan Manuel Salas, Jorge Yuan, Christopher Cocianni, Manfred Grote, Oscar Mariscal, Sergio Palazuelos, and Andres Cirigliano.
Griffins flawless against Jaguars
From coaches' reports
The International boys varsity volleyball team put on a fearsome, flawless performance as it defeated Co-operative in straight sets before an enthusiastic crowd Tuesday in the Griffins gym.
The key fact to know about this game is that the Jaguars did not play badly. They played well enough to win most of the games played this year, and they came out at the start with some daring plays, sometimes setting the ball from one side of the court to the other.
The problem was that the Grffins ultimately were playing better, not only hitting home winners, but displaying awesome consistency.
"When you're playing against a team that's really good, that's really on, you just can't make mistakes," said Co-operative athletic director Nicolaas Mostert. "And today Co-operative made too many mistakes, while International was putting it in the right place every time."
Something -- no one seems quite sure what -- went wrong with the International machine in the second half of the season, when the boys varsity lost matches to both Co-operative and Christian Learning. But whatever the problem was, Coach Eli Vilar has apparently gone under the hood and fixed it.
It's hard to single out individual players when everyone was making amazing digs, artful sets, and high velocity spikes.
The thing was, it seemed like Co-operative was doing the same thing. Indeed, Co-operative held a two- or three-point lead through the first half of the first set. International didn't get its first lead in the game until the score stood at 14-13.
But after that, while there was no overt sign that the dynamics of the game had changed, the Griffins gradually widened the margin to the final eight-point advantage the held at the end of the set.
Jaguars Juan Alfredo Abuawad, a ninth grader, and Cristobal Roda, a senior, repeatedly fired spikes across the net, and sometimes they´d hit the floor for a point, but more often International players dug them out, set the ball up, and fired it back.
Often the ball was hit back by Griffin senior Pablo Muñoz, who is usually International's main spiker, but even some of International's smaller players, such as 9th grader Chris Saltzieder, were leaping high, and hitting the ball hard.
The line-up for the Griffins was: Christopher Saltzieder, Juan Sebastien Narvaez, Enzo Fortuny, Jose Landivar, Alex Roempler, Martin Gonzalez, Rodrigo Bernal, Waldo Bernal, and Pablo Muñoz.
For the Jaguars: Juan Alfredo Abuawad, Juan Pablo Roda, David Shin, Cristobal Roda, Esteban Gomez, Diego Morales, Rafael Marsilla, Mateus de Carvalho, Wilson Salvatierra, and Juan Casares.
Christian Learning triumphs, 25-20, 25-14
Knights give Eagles a (mild) scare
By Ana L. Saavedra Banzer
Cambridge College
The Christian Learning boys varsity volleyball team let a scrappy Cambridge team almost catch up with it in the first set, but then turned on the energy and won the match in straight sets Tuesday at the Eagles gym.
The Eagles won the first set 25-20, the closest set in the semi-finals, and then prevailed more easily in the second set, 25-14.
After the game Eagle coach Bob Friesen praised his team's aggressive serving, the way players talked to each other, and the way they worked together as a team. A key to the second game, he said, was blocking Knight Manfred Grote´s spikes, which had been troublesome for the Eagles in the first game.
Twice Eagle David Lotz was able to stuff an attempted kill by Grote. Esteban Eguez was able to do the same to Knight Jorge Yuan.
Cambridge coach Eduardo "Presi" de la Riva said his team had not lived up to its potential in part because they were concentrating on soccer, but he felt they had shown improvement Tuesday, and that it should be good training for next week's game for third place against Co-operative. He felt the team needed to work more on communication and defense. "They can do it, and they know it, but sometimes they don't try hard enough," he said.
Both teams started off Tuesday playing really well. They were very excited, and demonstrated good teamwork. The Eagles fashioned a three-point lead with great defense, but the game stayed close.
Cambridge, strengthened by players who hadn't taken to the court since the early games of the season, seemed to be more confident than in previous games. They did not make it easy for the Eagles, and the match began to get quite interesting.
But although they could almost catch up, they couldn't quite take the lead. They needed needed to take things more seriously, and apply more concentration to do that.
The Knights finally put on a push, and got the score to 21-19. However, at that point the Eagles, who were definitely taking things quite seriously, pulled away and won 25-20.
The second set started out as if it was going to be even more exciting, with ties at 3-all and 4-all. But after a few minutes the Eagles seemed to decide that they were going to win, and moved out to an 11-6 lead. The Knights, realizing that they were not making the all-out effort they needed to, took a time out.
However, they would not challenge the Eagles again. The Eagles were doing an excellent job, and totally knew what they were doing. The Knights often made good plays, but the Eagle players were playing smarter, and seemed to have learned how to manipulate the Knights. Cambridge seemed to tire. The Eagle lead grew to 20-11.
After this the game was very exciting for the large, mostly pro-Eagles crowd, and boring for the Cambridge fans. The Knights basically surrendered, losing 25-14.
Jeff Stabler and Esteban Eguez were the outstanding players for the Eagles, though Stabler's spiking was not as sharp as it has been in other games. Grote and Martin Pacor distinguished themselves in the Knights' losing effort.
The line-up for Christian Learning was Fabricio Encina, David Lotz, Tim Swope, Jeff Stabler, Esteban Eguez, Frankin Chou, Kyle Swope, Danny Canaviri, Mark Salinas, and Jesse Hallock.
For Cambridge: Nicolas Gamboa, Remi Ottaviani, Martin Pacor, Juan Manuel Salas, Jorge Yuan, Christopher Cocianni, Manfred Grote, Oscar Mariscal, Sergio Palazuelos, and Andres Cirigliano.
