BVB: Raphael’s setting leads DP past Buena

Dos Pueblos secured second place in the Channel League with a sweep over Buena on Tuesday night. The scores were 25-17, 25-18, 25-12.

Setter Mark Raphael handed out 45 assists and serve well to pace the Chargers.

“Our serve, in general, was pretty tough tonight and it allowed us to get Buena out of system a lot,” said DP coach Ehren Hug.

Nate Holmes had 14 kills on 23 attempts and Matt Sessler added 12 kills on 20 attempt to lead the DP attack.

“Mark was finding his hitters and making them look real good tonight,” said Hug.

Raphael also got his three middles into the action. Kurt Randmaa had 7 kills on 9 attempts, with 1 block; Eli Schulman was 6 of 8 and Elliot Brainerd came off the bench in game two “with fire in his britches,” said Hug. “This kid comes out and stuff blocks the middle then stuff blocks the Bulldogs best outside two times in a row, and I swear I thought his vocal cords were about to burst from such a celebration.”

Niko Plesons was solid at libero.

“His volleyball IQ is high and he plays defense with a passion,” Hug said. “Niko is a beast and joins good company on the list of amazing liberos to play at DP. He was deadly as ever from the service line with four aces on 16 attempts.”

DP (14-10, 6-2 in league) plays a non-league match at Simi Valley on Thursday.