The Bishop Diego boys volleyball team accomplished one of its biggest goals of the season on Tuesday night, going on the road and beating rival Laguna Blanca in four sets, 25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 25-17.
Led by junior outside hitter John Michael Flint’s 18 kills, Nick Malesky’s 12 kills and senior setter Will Neubauer’s 24 assists, the Cardinals got their first win over the Owls in at least seven years, according to Bishop Diego head coach Dillan Bennett.
“Every year it’s ‘Oh my God, Laguna is on the schedule. Oh God, what are we going to do about Laguna?'” Bennett told Noozhawk.
“But this year, these guys have been working really hard and one of their goals was to compete and contend against Laguna Blanca. It was nice to get one today.”
With the win, Bishop Diego improves to 11-6 overall with a 3-0 Tri-Valley League record. Laguna Blanca, which suffered its first league loss since 2018, drops to 7-5 overall with a 3-1 league record.
“We were uncomfortable most of the night, to Bishop’s credit,” Laguna Blanca head coach Jason Donnelly said, noting the team’s seven service errors and rough passing performance.
“Those guys wanted it and they played really well and we played hard and had our chances, but in all three of the games we lost, we were down. (If) you get down in a rally-serve type game, it’s hard to come back. We fought, we just didn’t have enough.”
The Cardinals set the tone from the start, jumping out to a 6-2 lead early in the first set. Flint, who also had one ace and 12 digs, said that was by design.
“When we have energy, it just really hypes us all up and makes us play better a lot,” Flint said. “When we play with energy down, we just don’t play that well.”
A pair of kills from Flint gave the Cardinals an 18-13 lead in the first set. The Cardinals would take the first set 25-19.
In the second set, however, the errors started piling up. Bishop Diego had eight errors, half of which were service errors.
This, combined with a great effort from the Owls’ Liam Knezevic and Tyson Deveze, helped Laguna Blanca take the second set by five points. Knezevic and Deveze finished with 16 and 15 kills, respectively.
“We were able to get them out of system a little bit and that changes everything: the way we defend, the way they attack and volleyball is such a momentum game,” Donnelly said.
However, Laguna Blanca could not keep that trend continuing in the third and fourth set.
In the third, Bishop Diego jumped out to an 8-3 lead. Though Laguna Blanca did tie up the frame at 9-9, the effort exerted proved to show later on, as Bishop immediately retook a commanding lead with a 7-3 run to lead 16-12.
The two sides swapped points from there, but with Laguna Blanca never catching fire, Bishop Diego took the set 25-22.
In the fourth set, Bishop again jumped out to an 8-3 lead, with Flint contributing a pair of kills. However, this time the Cardinals did not let up, securing an eight-point win in the final set.
“It means so much,” Neubauer said. “As a senior, we’ve never won, we’ve always struggled. We have come close, but then we fall apart. We worked really hard this season.
“Everyone came together, and the key difference tonight was just teamwork and the communication we have had on the court. Even when we lost that second set, we still had the confidence to win. We didn’t fall apart. We kept the energy up, and that’s why we won.”
Both teams will head into spring break and resume play in April. Donnelly said he looked forward to the break.
“We were exposed in some areas that we need to address, and that’s kind of part of sports. The season’s not over after one loss, it’s just one loss,” Donnelly said. “We’ll regroup when we get back. And it’ll be a great time to finish the season. Our goals are still intact.”
Bishop Diego plays at Westlake on Tuesday, April 1 while Laguna Blanca takes on Cate on the road on Wednesday, April 9.