Martinez Tribune
The Bulldogs dropped a heart breaker on Thursday evening in Danville, but their loss to San Ramon Valley was still a very telling benchmark of where the program has risen to.
Losing in five sets on Sept. 1 would’ve been nothing to be disappointed about, except for the fact that the Bulldogs were in the drivers set in the 15-point tiebreaker.
Still, Willie Marchesano’s team looked very strong defensively against a team that was a Division I quarter-finalist last season.
The Wolves only finished behind Division I champion and CIF State regional finalist Monte Vista and Foothill in the tough EBAL last season.
San Ramon Valley took the first set without much hesitation. The Bulldogs had a tough time getting off the ground on the offensive side, with misplaced passes ending up in the net.
Junior Gabby Chase had a solid showing in the first set though, with a pair of aces on consecutive serves, keeping the Bulldogs close. Her kill and Sterling Parker’s second kill of the evening kept things close, but the Wolves closed it out. Junior outside hitters Madelyn Dubuk and Lauren Wallace made sure of that with back to back kills to end the set.
However in the second set, the Bulldogs flipped the game on its head by jumping out to an 11-4 lead. A kill from senior captain Makenzie Salva sparked the run, with Chase chipping in one of her own and Parker going up for three. Junior Rachel Gray added an ace to buoy the streaking Bulldogs.
The Wolves settled in after a timeout taken by their coach Brian Fujinaga, but by then they were fighting an uphill battle.
Alhambra coasted to a set win fueled mostly by mistakes from their opponents, but it has to be said, they set the groundwork early on.
Salva and Parker started off the third set in the same fashion they did the second, with kills to take a lead. However this time around that lead would evaporate very quickly. Dubuk and senior Bella Silvestri each had kills to propel San Ramon to a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Once again it was a team setting the groundwork with an early lead before letting their opponent make mistakes and beat themselves.
If you too are sensing a pattern, then you know who took set four.
The fourth set was the most hotly contested of the ones previously played until Parker sparked an 8-1 run with her ninth and 10th kills. Rachel Gray added two more aces to cap the run and give Alhambra a 22-12 lead. Junior Erin Silva’s ace sealed the win and forced a fifth set.
The sudden death set started off swimmingly. There was no better way for the Bulldogs to claim their second win than by beating an opponent of the quality San Ramon Valley has. Chase had consecutive kills to build up an 8-5 lead for Alhambra. In a tiebreaker, sometimes a lead that big could be insurmountable.
But San Ramon Valley had other ideas. Consecutive kills by the captain, Silvestri, forced Alhambra to take a timeout to take a deep breath and take care of business. But the senior middle hitter continued her hot streak when it mattered. An ace by senior Kara Walter gave the Wolves the lead, and a block by Silvestri was the first of two finishing blows.
The second was a kill by the other captain, Maddie Sehrt.
The Bulldogs finish their first week of play at 1-1, however they fell to 1-2 after a 3-1 loss in a match with Deer Valley on Sept. 6, after Tribune deadline.
