CALEXICO VOLLEY BALL
CALEXICO — In a performance that would put even the most fastidious of janitors to shame, the Bulldogs Varsity volleyball squad swept the San Luis Sidewinders clean off the floor Tuesday night, in a game played at De Anza 9th Grade Academy’s David Tessada Gym.
Volleyball is a noisy game, one full of sudden herky-jerky movements, scuffles, squeals and screeches. There are players diving onto the floor, trying to pop the ball up into the air with nothing but a couple of tightly clenched fists. There are others taking running, leaping swipes at it. It feels like chaos has a very real potential to reign, is the point.
But last night the Bulldogs were able to bottle the bedlam. It never really felt as though the Sidewinders had much of a chance to win the day. They were constantly on the defensive as Calexico pounded them from all sides.
The same couple of scenes played over and over again. If Calexico was on the serve (as they usually were) they would hit a sharp strike that San Luis would either misplay immediately or struggle to float over after a couple of weak hits. And if San Luis was on the serve … well, they generally wouldn’t be very long.
The physical disparity between the two teams was apparent — CHS looking to have bigger and better athletes than the Arizona school, capable of making plays with a balletic fluidity the opposing team couldn’t match.
By the third set, the coordinated cheers the San Luis JV squad sent up whenever the A-team managed one of their rare little runs, seemed much less impressive than they had seemed in the first — and much more like Band-Aids — while the Calexico faithful’s slightly disorganized “Let’s Go Bulldogs!” had risen to a foot-pounding frenzy.
Even when it may have seemed as though San Luis was making a bit of a run towards the end, it was really more a function of Calexico scoring something like one-anda-half points to every Sidewinder tally, rather than the two (or three) to one they were managing in their headiest stretches.
When it was finally in the bag at 3-0 (25-17, 25-9, 25-15) there were plenty of easy smiles on the Calexico side, while San Luis looked less frustrated than relieved it was over.
After the match, Calexico Coach Yvanna Lopez acknowledged there was a bit of a disparity in talent level between the two teams, calling the game “a good practice, a good warmup for league,” noting that every extra inch the Bulldogs can gain between now and when the season begins in earnest is important because “there are always a lot of tough teams in the Valley.”
Still, the Bulldogs are off to a solid start this season, moving to 2-0 after having previously beaten Southwest San Diego in straight sets last Friday. It remains to be seen if they can achieve their goal of making it to the CIF playoffs this fall, but their first steps have certainly been in the right direction.
Coach Lopez was especially pleased with the performances of Iran Alvarez (who made eight kills and had eight service receptions and had a pretty strong service night herself), Luz Martinez (who went through several shovels en route to 17 digs), and Nataly Martinez (who was highly effective as a setter, gathering 16 assists).
Calexico will next see action tomorrow night, heading to north to Calipatria to play the Hornets at 6 p.m.