It was a dogfight at the Brickhouse on Friday night, as Cathedral City edged Bishop Diego 18-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 15-11 in a fiery boys volleyball match that had the feel of a playoff contest.
“I thought it was a great match. There’s not too much bad I have to say about it,” said Cardinals coach Joe Reiken. “We’ve really been working on our energy level and we were fun to watch tonight. Cathedral is a very, very athletic team.”
The energy shown on Bishop’s side of the net was a stark contrast to what it was just over a week ago when San Marcos paid a visit. Connor MacGillivray, who finished with 13 kills in the middle, was thumping his chest like a gorilla after every point and the Bishop bench was actively involved throughout.
“At the beginning of the season we were too serious and nobody looked like we were having fun, so we’ve worked on that,” said Reiken.
But the Phantoms were equally feisty and were able to make the big plays late in close games. Back-to-back aces down the stretch in the fifth pulled Cathedral ahead, and a block of Bishop hammer Garrick Vanderfin by 6-foot-7 Aaron Armalio and teammate Mark Aumentado claimed the match.
Vanderfin finished with a team-high 18 kills on the night, but the Phantoms keyed in on him down the stretch. Nearly every ball Vanderfin swung at was at least touched by the block and slowed a bit so that a speedy defender in the back could pop it up.
“They did a really good job of shutting him down, but on the other hand we need to do a better job responding to my offensive adjustments,” said Reiken. “It’s great when you can crush the ball straight down, but you need to throw off the defense. They did that well and tipped us to death tonight.”
Both teams were all over the court, which led to some heart-pumping rallies, but it was untimely errors and brief passing lapses in the face of tough Phantom serves that decided the match. At one point early in the fourth, Cathedral’s Kevin Marmalejo used his side-spinning jump-serve for three consecutive aces. The set would later end after a 22-22 tie was broken with another passing breakdown by Bishop.
“We seemed to always be one critical error away tonight,” noted Reiken.
Despite the loss, Bishop looked like a whole new team with the added energy. that energy will be put to the test on Saturday in the grueling all-day Dos Pueblos Invitational at the Thunderdome, where both Cathedral (5-1) and Bishop (2-3) will play in tough pools.
