Wildcats swat Bulldogs
CALEXICO — The Brawley Union High School volleyball team over prepared for its match against Calexico High School and straightforwardly
shook off the second-place Bulldogs in straight sets winning 25-21, 25-13 and 25-13 here on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats went into the Imperial Valley League matchup with a perfect record of 7-0, while the Bulldogs sat just one game behind at 6-1 after previously falling to Brawley on Sept. 14.
“It’s tough playing here,” noted Wildcat head coach Phil Finnell. “I was telling the girls that was a big game for us. They’re the second place team.”
Finnell’s words clearly resonated with his players, who worked through a rough opening game enroute to the three-game sweep.
“We did come out a little sluggish,” he said. “We had four or five serving errors and about four or five hitting errors, but we made the plays when we had to and worked out of it.”
While the Wildcats struggled a
bit to find their serves, so did the Bulldogs, which kept the opening game quite close.
It was not until Brawley’s Dylan Gill stepped up to the service line that she was able to create separation between the Wildcats and the Bulldogs after helping her team to a 17-14 advantage that forced Calexico to call the first timeout of the game.
The three-point cushion gave the Wildcats all the confidence and drive they needed to hold off the Bulldogs for the first game and the rest of the match as they opened the second game with a 10-4 run highlighted by Gill’s continued effort from the service line and Logan Nemlowill’s presence at the net.
“Logan has really improved,” note Finnell. “If the set’s coming from the back row, or wherever, she’ll do what’s needed to put it away. She’s worked very hard to get where she is.”
In addition to Nemlowill, the Wildcats used the front and back-row efforts of Emily Godsey and Jennah Rodriguez, respectively, to improve to 15-7 overall.
Brawley has a league bye on Thursday and will return to action on Friday to compete in the So Cal invite at Westview High School.
Calexico moves to 8-10 overall on the year and returns to action at 6 p.m. on Thursday to host Southwest High School.