Titans rally from two down for win over ’Canes

Posted 5/20/14

One of the reasons Ryan Garno loves the sport of volleyball is because a team is never completely out of it. Time can’t run out, and there’s always at least a glimmer of hope for a …

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Titans rally from two down for win over ’Canes

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One of the reasons Ryan Garno loves the sport of volleyball is because a team is never completely out of it. Time can’t run out, and there’s always at least a glimmer of hope for a comeback.

With Garno’s Toll Gate boys’ volleyball team down two games to rival Warwick Vets on Thursday, that glimmer turned into a reality. The Titans roared all the way back, easily wining game three, gutting out game four and then overcoming a four-point deficit in game five to pick up the 3-2 win.

“I’m not going to say I’m surprised because I know what we can do, but it was awesome that you get down two and have the will to come back and pull three in a row,” said Garno, the head coach for the Titans. “Volleyball is wonderful because there is no time limit.”

The ’Canes, who were coming off an emotional 3-2 victory over Lincoln the day before in which they came back from two games down, thought they were in line for another win this time out. They had beaten Toll Gate 3-0 earlier in the season, and with a two games-to-none lead on Thursday – including a fairly easy victory in game two – another sweep looked like it was in the cards.

“We battled five sets last night,” said Vets head coach Brendan Friel. “We came back from two down. We knew Toll Gate has been improving throughout the year, we knew they were going to be tough, and they are. That’s what happens.”

Vets is now 5-11, and though it’s now a longer shot, still has an opportunity to catch 7-9 Central for first place in Division II-West. The ’Canes face the Knights Friday, after playing at Classical Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Toll Gate jumped to 4-12, and was scheduled to take on one-win Classical Monday before hosting Central on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Neither team will likely make the playoffs, but Thursday’s win for Toll Gate provided plenty of consolation.

“We were able to get enough momentum to make the plays and get it done,” Garno said. “It ‘s great. One, for those seniors that put the time in and two, we had a quite a few young kids on the court the last few sets.”

Game one made it seem like the match would be close throughout, as Vets won 28-26, finally converting its third match point.

Yet in the second game, the ’Canes cruised, winning 25-16. They never trailed and led by as many as nine points. Davin Lourenco had four kills in the game, while Pepe Phanhsena had two of his own. Those two combined for 25 kills in the match.

The third game, though, belonged to Toll Gate, and swung the whole match. The Titans got down 7-4 on a kill by Lourenco, but junior Wendell Thao woke up after that. He picked up four kills in the game, and his brother Noah Thao served seven consecutive points late in the game to give Toll Gate control. It took the lead for the first time at 9-8 and never gave it up again, leading by as many as 12 on its way to a 25-16 win of its own.

“I felt we had a really solid chance (after game three),” Garno said. “I thought we were doing things a lot better as far as serving. Balls that were easily playable we weren’t allowing to drop. I thought we got stronger as the match went on.”

The next two games wouldn’t come easy for the Titans.

The teams went back-and-forth, as there were 13 ties. Wendell Thao was the difference-maker once again, as his brother kept feeding him on serves and Thao kept delivering.

“We were able to ride his hot arm,” Garno said. “He was hitting the ball really well going down the line, hitting inside the block. He was solid at the service line. He moves very well on defense. He reads hitters pretty well.”

Jake Johnson also had a big game, picking up an ace, two kills and a block.

Toll Gate eventually took a 23-19 lead on a Thao kill, but a floater by Vets’ Kyle Veyera trimmed the deficit, and two Toll Gate hitting errors and a miscommunication tied the game at 23.

Two points from elimination, the Titans rebounded again. Sal Bustillo sliced a kill down the line to set up game point, and a hitting error by Vets lifted the Titans 25-23 and set up a winner-take-all game five.

“Going into that fourth game, we got the lead and we’re trying to make stuff happen instead of just doing what we’re supposed to do,” Fried said. “That’s just giving them opportunities to run their offense.”

In game five, Vets took a 6-3 lead on a kill by Lourenco, got a kill from Anthony Ferri and eventually led 10-6 after a Toll Gate net violation.

Toll Gate had enough left for one last charge. A Vets service error, a net violation and a running hit by Thao made it 10-9 before a service error put the ’Canes back on top 11-9. Johnston followed that with a kill and a floater to tie the match at 11, and Phanhsena gave Vets a 12-11 lead.

Then Johnson came alive again. He had a block and a strong serve to give Toll Gate its first lead of the game at 13-12, and after Vets tied the score at 13 on a miscommunication play by

Toll Gate, the ’Canes served the ball into the net to set up match point for the Titans.

After an extended rally, they got the set up to Thao, who smacked it down to win the match.

“For the last point, for match point, we were looking to get him the ball,” Garno said. “We were hoping that Wendell could get a swing at it, and finally we were able to do it.”

Vets was led by Justin Batista’s 37 asissts.

“Sometimes that happens when you’ve got guys who don’t have that much experience,” Friel said. “But they played as hard as they could and it just didn’t turn out for us tonight.”

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