Boys Varsity Volleyball

Griffins beat Jags in three-set thriller

The International boys varisty volleyball team faced a strong and steady challenge from Cooperative in their game Tuesday in the Griffins gym, but bore down and kept its undefeated status, winning 2-1.
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AIR WAR -- Jaguar Jorge Rojas and Griffin Jose Maria Landivar battle for ball atop the net. Jonatan Muñoz, International


The Jaguars started flat, and ceded a 3-0 lead in the first set on a sequence of unforced errors. The Jaguars then seemed to recover, and had the lead at 8-5, but those three points would come back to haunt them at the end of the set.
International had by then recovered the lead, and stayed ahead by about three points as the game went into its closing phase, though Cooperative pulled within two at 23-21.
At that point, however, Griffin Martin Gonzales served two consecutive aces, rifle shots that hit an open spot right in the middle of the court, to give the Griffins the set 25-21.
The Jaguars got off to the faster start in the second set, but the Griffins evened the score at 17-17. After that the score teetered back and forth with ties at 21-21 and 22-22.
Gonzales had a chance to repeat his heroics of the first set when he returned to the service line with the score 24-22 in favor of Cooperative. This time he could win only one point, however, and the Jaguars took the set 25-23.
It was the Griffins turn to jump out on top in the third set, and got in front 13-9. At that point the Jaguars, trying just a little too hard to get back even in a hurry, hit two balls out, giving the Griffins a 15-9 win in the set, and the match.



Eagles outplay Knights, win 2-0

In recent girls varsity and JV boys contests Cambridge has announced that it no longer wants to be considered the league doormat in volleyball -- but the Knights are not quite ready to play in the big boys' league.
The Christian Learning boys varsity had only nominal difficulty defeating the Knights Tuesday in a game played at Cooperative.
The Eagles won the first game 25-11, and then took the second with only marginally greater difficulty 25-16.