Surviving 5
The Lincoln High boys’ volleyball team carded a 5-set win over Toll Gate, improving to 4-1 on the year.
LINCOLN – Aidan Enright paid particular attention to talented Division II foe Toll Gate High during its pre-match warmups on Tuesday night.
The Lincoln High senior cocaptain said later he didn’t have a choice, as the Titans’ hitters packed a wallop.
“We’ve never played them before, so I was kind of intimidated,” he confessed. “We had struggled against power teams like this in the past.”
At times, the Lions struggled again, but utilized timely hitting and serving in the critical fifth game to claim an extremely-difficult but satisfying 3-2 marathon triumph before perhaps 80-90 fans at the Lions’Den.
The verdict, captured by scores of 25-19, 27-29, 25-22, 18-25, 15-7, pushed Lincoln to 4-2 overall and, more importantly, 4-1 in league action.
“My sophomore year, we only had one win all season, so we’ve come a long way,” stated Enright, who manufactured a match-high 21 kills, not to mention three blocks, three aces and two digs. In that fifth game, we talked more on the floor, communicated better and played to our strengths.”
The folks in attendance witnessed two ties and a pair of lead changes in the final set before the Lions began to settle into their rhythm. After a freaky point that caromed off the head official, the hosts gained a 7-5 lead, and senior co-captain Charles (“Chuck”) Fish managed four straight points on his service to make it 11-5, that last point on an Enright carom.
The Titans gained the sideout, but not for long, as Enright’s smoked spike gave LHS the 12-7 advantage. Enright then took to the stripe and collected a near-ace before Toll Gate’s defense buckled.
Referees whistled it for four hits on the penultimate point, and junior Eric Ruiz’ kill try off the cord ended it positively for Lincoln.
Besides Enright, senior Zach Carvalho fashioned 12 kills, three aces and a dig; Fish 15 set-assists, five aces and two spikes; and junior Dan Hasegawa 16 set-assists, two blocks, two kills and a dig.
For Toll Gate (3-3 overall and in league action), senior leaper Rory Dobbins led the way with 16 kills, while junior Max Laiter chipped in a dozen more.
“We thought they would be at the same level that we are based on our records, and that they would provide our greatest competition so far, excepting Classical,” noted LHS head coach Jane Fish. “We were really inconsistent at times because we lost our focus, and that’s something we’ve worked on diligently in practice.
“Obviously, we need some work, but we played pretty well overall,” she added. “We just need to play smarter, not stronger. At times during the match, we were playing too hard, trying to muscle it instead of finding the open spots on the floor. We needed to play more chess-like, and we did that in the final game.”
The Lions opened that first set on fire, roaring to leads of 9-2 and 17-5 before the Titans began to chisel into their deficit. Senior Alexis Beltran collected two points on his serve, and Dobbins four more (following a Laiter spike) to make it 18-13.
The visitors cut it to as close as four (21-17) before Lincoln regained momentum. Fish’s fantastic fake on a direct set to the floor and a Toll Gate unforced error resulted in a home 25-19 win.
The second set proved far different, as there were a total of 19 deadlocks and nine lead switches before a Dobbins kill and Carvalho’s spike gone awry gave the Titans the 29-27 decision.
“Nip-and-tuck” is the best way to describe the third game, though LHS took the lead for good at 13-12. In the end, three straight service points from Carvalho ignited a 2419 flurry, and the Lions eventually sealed that, 25-22, on Enright’s wicked spike.
The Titans commanded the fourth game after two ties, especially when junior Matt Walsh assembled seven service points to turn a still-tight 1310 advantage into a 21-10 lead. Immediately after that run, Enright took the line and racked up seven consecutive points, the last two on a healthy Carvalho rip and Ruiz’ kill try sailed long. Dobbins’ massive spike and a Lincoln double-hit, though, yielded the 25-18 TG victory.
“We kept our errors low in the fourth; volleyball is pretty much how you feast on an opponent’s unforced errors,” explained Titans’ mentor Ryan Garno. “In the games we won, we simply didn’t make as many.”