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| BIG HIT --´Jaguar Mateus DeCarvalho (4) prepares to give the ball a whack in second set. Jonatan Muñoz, International |
Jaguars emerge victorious over Griffins
In a championship match that will be remembered as one of the best played in League history, the Cooperative boys varsity volleyball team finally outlasted International in an epic, thrill-packed three-set match on the Griffins court Monday to secure its second straight title.
International took the first set 28-26, after trailing by as much as five points before tying the game at 19-19. After that the teams tied on every point until 24-24. Cooperative took the second set 25-23 in which many rallies went back and forth across the net 20 times or more with many spectacular spikes, blocks, gets, and returns often leaving the small but enthusiastic crowd wondering what a team had to do to win a point.
The third set was almost an anti-climax in that Cooperative was able to take the lead and hold it after the teams tied at 5-5, gradually widening the margin until they won 15-10.
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HAIL TO THE CHAMPIONS -- Jaguars take possession of their second consecutive League trophy. Jonatan Muñoz, International |
However, initially it seemed as if the Griffins might have opened one too many cans of energy drink as the first three points were spikes that went long. Cooperative stretched that 3-0 lead out to 7-1 before the Griffins began to hit with more precision and cut into the Jaguar lead.
Both teams adopted a more risk-averse stye, while concentrating on flawless receptions, and intrepid retrievals. The Griffins then began to get some effective spikes by Francisco Gonzalez, Andre MacLean, and Juan Narvaez. (It was not enough in this game to just hist the ball hard and straight. An astounding number of attempted kills were blocked, sometimes double-blocked.)
At this point either team could have won the set, but it was International that did, 28-26, with the winning point coming on a hotly disputed out-of-bounds call.
In the second set Cooperative again jumped out to an early three-point advantage, but the Griffins came back much more quickly to tie the game at 7-all, and then take a narrow lead with some brilliant spiking and blocking.
Cooperative got the lead back 9-8 when Juan Alfredo Abuawad's teammates set him up for three consecutive full-force smashes. The first two were blocked; the third was the charm.
As the two teams battled on trading points it became increasingly clear how important it was for Cooperative to have Mateus de Carvalho, who had hurt his ankle earlier in the season, back in the line-up. As he threaded in several spikes for points, and then put Cooperative up 17-15 with a nifty little tap to an undefended spot. He followed those moves up with two intimidating blocks.
But the score evened out again at 19-19 and 22-22.
But International's cause was damaged in this end game by three bad serves and an out of bounds spike as the Griffins seemed almost to be trying too hard. A mis-handled reception let Cooperative take the game, and even the set count at 1-1.
International did not let Cooperative jump ahead in the third set as the Jaguars had in the first two, using two big blocks to check the Jaguar juggernaut. The teams tied at 5-5, but the Cooperative started to edge ahead, first with two big spikes by DeCarvalho that moved the count to 7-5. A ball hit long, and a bad serve by International helped widen the Jaguar advantage to 12-8. Cooperative held that advantage though to the end, winning 15-10 when Juan Alfredo Abuawad uncorked one final magnificent spike to wrap it up
Playing for the victorious Jaguars were Juan Alfredo Abuawad and Josue Abuawad, Juan Pablo Roda, Jorge Melgar, Jorge Zankis, De Carvalho, Alejandro Rosas, Rodrigo Adriazola, Jose Mozza, and Eduardo Ribera.
For International: Federico Matus, MacLean, Eric Takayama, Narvaez,Santiago Maldonado, Gonzalez, Christian Maldonado, and Daniel Roempler.
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