Neuqua Spikers Recover From Slow Start

For a team anxious to bounce back from last week’s loss to , the boys volleyball team sure didn’t come out Monday night at the top of its game.

In fact, the Wildcats (2-1) were lucky to survive a tight game one after a slow start at Oswego. But once they battled back from a 13-5 hole to prevail 27-25 in the opener, visiting Neuqua made quick work of the Panthers by completing the sweep with a 25-4 romp in Game two.

“We just needed to pull our heads together,” Wildcats outside hitter Jon Storm said. “We did not start out anywhere where we needed to be.”

Wildcats coach Erich Mendoza used a couple timeouts to make it clear to his players that the host Panthers (0-1) were not just going to hand the game over to the Wildcats.

“It was very aggravating on my part,” Mendoza said. “You can’t just turn the game on and off. You have to be intense all the time for every point.”

Neuqua picked up its intensity and mounted a comeback that saw the gap close slightly to 15-10, but Oswego still held an 18-14 advantage later in the game. With outside hitters Storm (match-high 13 kills) and Conner Dart (6 kills) starting to click, however, the Wildcats closed to within 19-18 following a kill from Joe Michael.

But Oswego kept scrapping and had game points at 24-23 and 25-24 – each time following kills from Freddy Miller – before the Wildcats eventually claimed the opener with Storm’s block kill finishing the game.

“I love the way we played in the first game other than the way we finished,” Oswego coach Sean Ferguson said. “But we stopped communicating in the second game and we became individuals.”

Nasty jump serving from the Wildcats Jake Gerald helped make quick work of the Panthers in the second game. With Neuqua leading 9-3, Gerald rifled off 15 straight points before finally landing a serve into the net at match point.

“I got s couple of them in and then I got the jump serve going,” said Gerald, who got his first start of the season Monday as the Wildcats are down a couple players this week during spring break. “As soon as I get it over then we just have all the momentum to go down and pound it.”

Wildcats setter Drew Antenen finished the match with 25 assists while Zach Gilligan led the defense with 12 digs. Miller led the Panthers with five kills.