With an exciting season introduction, Buena’s Varsity boys volleyball slammed their cross-town rivals, Ventura High School, Thursday Feb. 29 after winning the fifth set. Although stressful and tense, the Bulldogs pushed through making a great season-starting game.
With high morale, the first set of five started strong for the Bulldogs as the nerves quickly wore off. Buena won the set by two points.
At the beginning of the second set, Ventura climbed the scoreboard, having 12 points while Buena had just five. After a second timeout, the Bulldogs started to gain their confidence back, climbing up ten points. The efforts from Buena, although strong, were in vain as the Ventura Cougars ended the second set with a 25-16 win.
“[Coach] told us we were giving up,” junior Benjamin Medina said. “The score and our attitudes definitely reflected that, so we came out [in the] third set and then coach gave us the same talk. That’s when we kicked it up.”
The third set started rocky for Buena, with Ventura quickly taking the lead. Buena pushed to hold Ventura back from their final point, turning out unsuccessful. The Ventura Cougars ended up winning the third set 25-20, making the fourth set vital for the Bulldogs.
“[Coach] told us we were giving up. The score and our attitudes definitely reflected that, so we came out [in the] third set and then coach gave us the same talk. That’s when we kicked it up.”
— Benjamin Medina
“I knew we could get it done, so it wasn’t a trust thing,” junior Josh Toll said. “It was more we had to go out there and execute what we [wanted] to happen.”
At the beginning of the fourth set, Buena’s nerves were at an all-time high, allowing Ventura to climb quickly and win the first three rallies in a row. After a lot of back and forth of who was in the lead, Buena had the ball with the score being 18-24 and Ventura in the lead.
“If I missed a serve it would have been over and I would have lost us the game,” Medina said. “That was definitely a high [of the game].”
After eight good serves from Medina and multiple points made by the team, Buena won the fourth set 25-24, calling for a fifth set going to 15.
Going into the fifth set full of confidence, Buena rose into the lead fast. With small mistakes seeming to be an issue for Ventura, the Bulldogs stayed far in the lead until the stands started to hold up number ones in support of their team needing one point to win.
With one final point, Buena beat their cross-town rivals after a tough back-and-forth match, 15-10.
“It was a big win for us,” Toll said. “I think it is going to set us up good for the rest of the season.”
