Hawks surrender 2-0 lead, fall to Rams

Brenton Bauerle
Posted 5/5/15

Coming off an ignominious three games to none sweep at the hands of La Salle Academy earlier in the season, the Bishop Hendricken boys’ volleyball team had revenge on the mind in its home matchup …

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Hawks surrender 2-0 lead, fall to Rams

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Coming off an ignominious three games to none sweep at the hands of La Salle Academy earlier in the season, the Bishop Hendricken boys’ volleyball team had revenge on the mind in its home matchup against the Rams this past Thursday. Despite some much improved play and some late game drama that was notably absent from their last matchup, the Hawks eventually fell to the Rams in a five-game clash of two perennial Division I powerhouses.

From the first serve, it was obvious that the Hawks were the aggressors in the match, as the Hawks clearly made an effort to serve tough and try to put the ball away on the attack to try and circumvent a stellar Rams’ back line defense. The strategy seemed to be backfiring midway through the game, as – due to several serving and hitting errors – Hendricken trailed 18-15. However, a lightning quick 6-3 run, punctuated by two aces, allowed the Hawks to tie the game at 21, helping to lead them to an eventual first game victory.

The Hawks seemed to really put it all together in game two, as they held the lead throughout and ended up winning by a score of 25-19. The key cog in the Hawks’ success in game two was the play of senior outside hitter Dan Flaherty, who produced consistently throughout the match but really shined in the second game, registering six kills and two loud blocks in helping to lead Hendricken to a commanding 2-0 lead.

“He’s a top athlete in the school,” said Hendricken head coach Mike Harrington of his star outside hitter. “He was on the varsity basketball team, and also a four year volleyball player, and he really played well today.”

As the match entered the third frame, the two teams became increasingly more intense. Some talk across the net sparked the ire of both the Hawks’ players and fans, and the Rams players seemingly wouldn’t let up, forcing the referees to call the captains together twice in order to try and calm the situation. Despite the fact that Harrington said he was proud of how his team responded to such adversity, the tighter atmosphere of the game seemed to have a tangible effect on the Hawks’ play; as they committed six unforced errors en route to a huge, early deficit, 11-2.

The Hawks would go on to lose game three, and in game four it was the same story, repeatedly failing to communicate while in serve receive or on defense. Reeling and perhaps a little stunned at the sudden swing of momentum, the Hawks’ were dominated in game four by a score of 25-15, setting up a climactic game five to decide what had quickly become a heated affair.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, they seemed to have lost any semblance of cohesion in the intervening period between games two and five, and they came out flat once again in the deciding frame. Harrington called a timeout with his team down 8-3 to open the fifteen-point deciding game, but it was too little, too late, as the Rams continued to dominate play en route to a convincing 15-5 win in the fifth game and a stunning come-from-behind victory in the match.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Hawks after the game. Having suffered a three game sweep at the hands of these same Rams earlier in the season, Harrington spoke optimistically of his team’s improvement, and pledged that his boys would continue to improve as the season wears on.

“We’re really a better team than the first time we saw (La Salle),” said coach Harrington. “I think this was a great test for my team to show how we’ve improved, from then to now.”

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