Three league matches give Bulldog spikers 3-1 record

Ramona High School’s boys volleyball team played three Valley League matches in four days, winning two of the three to give Ramona a 3-1 league record for the 2009 season and a 13-12 overall mark.

The Bulldogs won road matches at San Marcos April 21 and Oceanside April 22 while losing at home April 24 to Valley Center.

Outside hitter Alex McLaughlin played against San Marcos despite being too ill to attend school and practice the previous day.

“Was not 100 percent, but he gutted it out,” said Coach Jeff Klauda.

The Bulldogs defeated San Marcos in five games.

“Did not play our best game, but did just enough,” Klauda said.

Ramona won the first game by a 25-17 score.

“Didn’t give a whole lot of free points away. That was a plus,” Klauda said.

San Marcos won the next two games by 25-23 and 25-17 margins, but the Bulldogs’ 25-23 victory in game four set up the deciding contest. Ramona led 10-3 in the fifth game before settling for a 15-11 victory.

“They made it exciting there in the end,” Klauda said.

Stuart Corbett had 48 sets that resulted in 19 kills and seven hitting errors.

“San Marcos was trying to key on Stuart as much as possible,” Klauda said.

McLaughlin had 22 swings and eight kills and Ian Nowakowski had 25 swings with eight kills. Brian Allen had six kills in 13 hitting attempts while adding one solo block and three assisted blocks.

Greg Gallagher’s 10 swings produced four kills. He had four solo blocks and one assisted block.

“He’s come a long way from last year. He’s come a long way from the beginning of the season,” Klauda said of Gallagher.

Garrett Adelman led the team with 44 assists while Trevor Adelman had 25 digs.

“We did what we had to do,” Klauda said.

Ramona’s league record improved to 3-0 with the 25-11, 25-12, 25-18 victory at Oceanside.

“We played pretty well,” Klauda said. “We didn’t give away too many points and I was able to get everyone into the game.”

The ability to use substitutes also allowed Klauda to rest McLaughlin for most of the game. Garrett Vizcarra, who played middle blocker in the second and third games, recorded his first three varsity kills during his five swings. In the second game middle blocker Shawn Sadleir had six sets and six kills.

The Adelman brothers both missed school and practice April 23 due to illness, and while both returned for the Valley Center match their play was not at the level it was at the beginning of the week. The Jaguars prevailed in five games to hand Ramona its first league loss of the season.

“It’s a tough loss,” Klauda said.

Ramona won the first game by a 25-19 score.

“Played a great all-around game,” Klauda said. “Kept the pressure on them.”

Ramona had no missed serves and only one hitting error in the first game.

In the second game Ramona ceded its lead by giving the Jaguars a run of points before a comeback attempt narrowed the deficit.

The Jaguars evened the match with a 26-24 triumph and went ahead with a 25-18 win in the third game.

Ramona forced a fifth game with a 25-23 victory in game four.

“Played a little better in the fourth game, but you could see the guys were pretty tired,” Klauda said.

Ramona led 4-1 in the fifth game and had a 5-4 lead before a missed serve gave the Jaguars a point and the sideout. Valley Center then took an 11-5 lead en route to a 15-11 victory.

Gallagher had nine kills and one error in 17 swings along with four solo blocks and three assisted blocks. Corbett had nine kills in 20 swings and Nowakowski had eight kills in 24 sets.

Garrett Adelman had 35 assists and Trevor Adelman had 20 digs.

The Bulldogs will play at Orange Glen tomorrow.