Wildcats set the pace in IVL title hunt with win over Calexico
BRAWLEY — As of today, the Brawley High School volleyball team has three wins in three tries against Imperial Valley League competition, giving them a major leg up in what most have posited to be a free-for-all for the 2019 league crown.
The biggest of these three wins came on Tuesday, when the Wildcats rode a hot service game and the energy radiating from a raucous home crowd to fight their way past the visiting Calexico Bulldogs in straight sets (25-22, 25-22, 25-14).
It was a major show of force from the Wildcats, who loudly announced their intentions to yield not an inch of the IVL dominance they’ve consistently exhibited over the past decade by upending a Bulldog squad that’s already accumulated 18 match wins and two tournament championships on the year.
Still, as the score indicates, Brawley’s win was no Sunday picnic. Calexico, like every other Valley team, came out determined to show the Wildcats a thing or two.
It seemed like the Bulldogs just might manage it for a good chunk of the first set.
A stretch of uncharacteristically loose play by the Wildcats coupled with a couple of nice smashes by Yady Zavala and some somersaulting digs by Nataly Martinez helped Calexico get out to an early 10-6 lead.
That might not seem like much, but every inch counts when the goal is to beat Brawley in Brawley — a task which, for Imperial Valley teams, has been the next thing from impossible over the past few years. The last local squad to venture into Wildcat Country and make it out alive was the 2015 Imperial Tigers.
Momentum is everything, and the Brawley crowd is loath to let anybody else have it. They seem to have the capacity to cheer opposing teams right out of their rhythm — even when there’s a nice awayteam contingent, as the Bulldogs had on Tuesday.
Awakened to the idea that Calexico wasn’t a team that could be beaten on easy mode, the Wildcats’ spurred on by a hoarse student section, began to tighten things up.
Senior Brenna Berker had the hot hand for Brawley as the Wildcats drew even with Calexico, passing them for the first time at 13-12. She had at least three no-doubt-about-it kills, demonstrating nice power and placement as she attacked the Bulldogs’ back line.
Calexico stayed in it, exchanging points with Brawley pretty much all the way to 20-20, and getting some nice frontline play from Lyah Macias, who got two kills on finessed taps to give the Bulldogs crucial points, but the Wildcats had sapped the brunt of the Bulldogs momentum and were able to squeeze out the win as Calexico errors started to pile up.
Down 0-1, the Bulldogs confidence seemed to take a minor hit and Brawley took advantage, jumping out to a quick 9-1 advantage with a combination of middle hunting on the attack and unpredictable line-drive serves from setter Lilly Martinez.
The Wildcats might’ve been able to ride Martinez right past the finish line if it weren’t for a burst of inspired effort by Macias, who broke Brawley’s run with a haphazard pushover at the end of a Bulldog scramble and then proceeded to get two more bigtime kills to help Calexico stabilize at 12-4.
Then she started serving, and didn’t stop until the Bulldogs had pulled close at 12-10.
Brawley would then regain momentum and push the lead back to 22-14, only for Calexico to mount another comeback. Play became more and more desperate, with both teams starting to stray from controlled, systematic play in favor of improvisation. Multiple rallies went over 30 hits and Calexico fought their way back to 22-19 and later 24-22, before Brawley was able to put them away.
After the chaos of the middle set, the clincher was anticlimactic. Calexico, which has a much shallower bench than Brawley, seemed worn out, and the Wildcats were able to cruise to the win, with the final play being a resounding block by Ryan Dickerson.
Interim coach Teri Franks — a longtime fixture within the Wildcat program as a JV coach, manning the till at the varsity level this year with head coach Phil Finnell on a leave of absence — said that, while she was happy to get the win, she felt there was some tightening up to do and that the Wildcats had yet to play their best game.
“We could have played a lot better,” Franks said. “We had moments of really good volleyball and then we let them back in the game.”
Asked what needed to be done for the team to find its level, Franks stressed “practice, practice, practice” and “staying focused and relaxed so they can put away games.”
There won’t be any immediate down time for the Wildcats. They’re back at it tonight with a 6 p.m. home game against the Gila Ridge Hawks.
Calexico will wait until Thursday to play again, when they face off against the Southwest Eagles in El Centro.