Morgan Piere took charge for Cate in the fifth set, putting away eight of his 24 kills to lead the Rams to a 15-6 victory and a match win over Carpinteria in a Tri-Valley League volleyball match on Tuesday.
The match scores were 25-17, 16-25, 12-25, 25-16, 15-6.
Cate came out strong in the first set, but Carpinteria regrouped and took advantage of breakdowns by the Rams to win the next two sets.
Cate coach Greg Novak changed his lineup, going from a 6-2 alignment to a 5-1 and using Chase McCaw as the setter and moving Parker Mathews to defensive specialist. The move steadied the Rams.
“The lineup change somehow sparked us into a hitting bliss and we took the fourth set with a decisive win,” Novak said.
Pierce was a force in the fifth set, and McCaw and Mateo Luca-Leon stepped up. McCaw had three kills from the back row and Luca-Leon contributed with a kill from the right side.
Pablo Ortega had 10 kills to lead Carpinteria and setter Edurardo Rodriguez handed out 20 assists.
“Both teams put up a great fight but in the fifth set the Warriors had one too many critical mistakes that cost them the match,” said Carpinteria coach Dino Garcia.
Cate improves to 6-1 in league while Carpinteria is 4-4 (5-5 overall).
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.