Bulldog spikers start league play

Ramona High School’s boys volleyball team began Valley League play April 1 with a three-game loss to Mount Carmel.

“We played well in some areas and really poorly in other areas,” said Ramona coach Jeff Klauda.

The Bulldogs and Sundevils faced each other for the second time in six days. On March 27, the North County Invitational tournament included Mount Carmel’s 25-16, 25-15 win over Ramona.

“What we wanted to do is eliminate a lot of the mental errors that we had when we played them on Saturday,” Klauda said.

For Ramona, that meant not letting Mount Carmel dictate play.

“We wanted to take away what they do best,” Klauda said. “That we succeeded. We actually made them adjust. We made them change their game plan.”

Mount Carmel has won the past two CIF Division II championships and has reached the CIF finals in eight of the past nine years.

Their 13-player roster includes 11 seniors.

“Mount Carmel has no weaknesses,” Klauda said. “They don’t have any weak blockers and they don’t have any weak defenders.”

Ramona led the first game midway through the contest.

“They started making adjustments,” Klauda said.

Although Mount Carmel won that first game by a 25-16 score, the fact that Ramona forced the Sundevils to adjust to the Bulldogs’ play was a victory for Klauda and his team.

“It’s huge for us going down the road,” Klauda said. “Lesser teams won’t be able to make those adjustments or it will take them longer to do it. To be able to see what a team was doing and take it away was a big deal.”

Mount Carmel won the next two games by 25-11 and 25-14 scores.

“We didn’t show a whole lot of heart,” Klauda said. “It doesn’t matter how much better the other team might be. You can’t quit.”

Ramona had no serving aces against the Sundevils. Ian Nowakowski had 10 kills in 32 swings, Luis Nunez had a single kill in 10 swings, and Billy White had 22 swings and no kills.

“We had a really hard time putting anything away,” Klauda said. “Their ball control is so good.”

Kenny Lawler had two kills in only four swings.

“We just weren’t able to get him the ball very often,” Klauda said.

Garrett Vizcarra had two kills in seven swings and led the Bulldogs with three blocks. Garrett Adelman, who had been averaging 9-1/2 assists per game, had 15 assists during the three-game match.

Klauda will work with his team on the mental aspect of perseverance prior to the Bulldogs’ next game April 13 at Orange Glen. Ramona will host Valley Center on April 14, and the junior varsity will host Del Norte April 15.

“It looks like it’s a three- or four-way race for second place,” Klauda said of the league.