Trailing 2-1 after three sets to the Chardon Hilltoppers on April 2, the Berkshire Badgers Boys volleyball team made a great comeback attempt as they won set four to force a decisive fifth set.
Game photos click here.
Trailing 2-1 after three sets to the Chardon Hilltoppers on April 2, the Berkshire Badgers Boys volleyball team made a great comeback attempt as they won set four to force a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth and deciding set, the Hilltoppers got out to an early lead. However, the Badgers showed great mental toughness and rallied back to tie the set at 15-15.
However, the Hilltoppers were able to hold off the Badgers by winning the final two points to take the set and win the match, 3-2.
Afterward, Hilltoppers senior captain, Logan Bryant, said that the team would have preferred to win in three sets, but sometimes that is not always possible.
Bryant felt that the team was a little rusty as they were coming back from Spring Break and did not have as much practice leading up to the match with the Badgers.
Overall, Bryant was happy with how the Hilltoppers performed against the Badgers and mentioned that he believed noteworthy performances were turned in by sophomore Ian Galati and his brother, senior Noah Galati.
“Ian Galati’s hitting (was a highlight against the Badgers),” said Bryant. “He’s only a sophomore, he can hit, he can serve, he can play back row, it’s really great. His brother, who’s a senior, Noah Galati, in the middle (was also a highlight). He’s just a machine with the block’s. He just gets up there, stuffs people all day.”
As Bryant noted, Ian Galati had a great game against the Badgers as he had 16 kills throughout the match.
For the season, Ian Galati now leads the Hilltoppers with 84 kills as he averages 2.9 kills per set and has a 38.2 percent kill average.
Just as Ian Galati leads the team in kills, his brother Noah leads the Hilltoppers in blocks at the net. Against the Badgers, Noah Galati led the Hilltoppers with five blocks.
In addition to Noah Galati and Ian Galati’s excellent match, also having a great game at the net against the Badgers was Stone Fawcett who had 11 Kills.
So far this season, Fawcett, who also plays catcher for the Hilltoppers Baseball team this spring, has 69 kills through the first seven games.
After the contest, Fawcett mentioned that he really likes hitting at the net.
“When it comes to hitting, that’s my bread and butter,” said Fawcett. “When we have a good setter like Avery (Laux), it really comes together.”
In addition to the great game played by the Hilltoppers, the Badgers have improved greatly since the start of the season.
Badgers Head Coach Tim Percic said that the Badgers got off to a slow start this season since they had a lot of players in new positions.
“It’s cool to see them build each game,” said Coach Percic. “We were 3-3 coming in here. I really didn’t have high expectations for this match. The fact that we went five into extra points in the deciding game, I am over the moon with that.”
Coach Percic emphasized that he really focuses on improvement during the season so that his team is ready to compete and be successful in the playoffs.
The great improvement Coach Percic has seen from his team this season, he attributes to the confidence the players have developed as the season has progressed.
In particular, in the match against the Hilltoppers, Coach Percic said that he was happy with the excellent serving.
“Our senior libero Trent Hornak has a serve that he brings out in practice (that is great),” said Coach Percic. When he goes back to serve he’s just got to grip it and rip it, and he did. He rattled off (many points in the fourth set).”
He continued: “Chardon is no pushover, so the fact that he was getting balls through and his team was supporting him by getting the plays that we need to keep him (serving) was huge. That to me was the big inspiration from this.”
With both the Hilltoppers and Badgers playing great volleyball it appears that there will be an intense rivalry on the volleyball court between these two schools for years to come.
