In last week’s clash of the titans, Torrey Pines couldn’t stop Carlsbad’s twin towers and certainly couldn’t hit around them.
So what do you do when you’re facing 14 feet of fury?
You go back to practice and keep doing what makes you great – consistency and aggressiveness.
The host Falcons put pressure on Carlsbad’s serve receive from the get-go, controlling the match nearly from start to finish in a 25-20, 25-21, 27-25 win Wednesday, April 17.
“The biggest thing is ing who we are and how we can play and not getting away from what makes us a really good volleyball team,” Torrey Pines coach Nick Rubacky said. “I just really tried to install the confidence the boys have in their serves. Confidence comes from capability. All the boys know their capable of serving tough like that, and all you have to do is go and execute.”
Volleyball is a relatively simple game. Last week, the Falcons (18-3, 6-1 North County Conference) lost the serve and game. But Wednesday they put the pressure on Carlsbad to the tune of 13 aces — including six from senior Christian Connell — while simultaneously staying in system so their hitters weren’t constantly staring at a well setup block of 7-foot senior Parker Tomkinson and 6-11 junior Roman Payne.
To keep it in perspective, very few professional teams will have even a single player who stands that tall. Carlsbad (19-9, 4-1) has two, and they’re as skilled as any players in the country. So to be able to hit consistently against that wall requires great ing, aggressive and smart swings, and covering your hitters to keep rallies going.
The Falcons did all of that this time around.
“We knew we couldn’t stop them but we were able to slow them down much better than last week,” said Falcons senior libero David Quinones, who had 12 digs with a 2.4 serve receive rating. “That was the main point – to slow them down and slowly chip away.”
Declan Flanagan and Kianoush Mohebbi chipped in with eight and seven kills, respectively.
But it was Connell who put his stamp on the match from more than just the service line. He finished with a match-high 18 kills while hitting .471. He added six digs and his average serve receive was at a 2.1 clip.
He had nine kills in the decisive third set.
“Parker and Roman are two phenomenal middles,” Connell said. “Our goal was to serve tough so they couldn’t set the middle, and we did a really good job at that.”
Tomkinson finished with nine kills and three solo blocks, while Payne was held to 10 kills and four solo blocks.
While the Lancers played an extremely clean match last week, it was the opposite Wednesday. They made eight errors each in the first two sets, including having the wrong server down 22-18 in set one. They opened the second one by making six errors in the set’s first 18 points.
“They’re a really good serving team,” said Lancers senior Hayden Hewitt, who had five kills and 11 digs. “It’s pretty hard to win against a team like that if we’re just trading kills. We can win most plays at the net, but if we can’t even get it to the net there’s no way we can win.”
Down 15-9, Carlsbad fought back in set three to take a 16-15 lead. It went back-and-forth until the hosts took a 23-21 lead. The Lancers fought off two match points.
Torrey Pines will host Poway next week, play in a loaded Redondo Union tournament this weekend and then most likely get the top seed in the Open Division with Cathedral Catholic, Del Norte and the Titans at their heels.
And perhaps Round 3 against the Lancers.
“Our main thing is staying positive and having energy,” Connell said. “We can’t overlook anyone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were a team that made the Open Division final.”
