Bulldog spikers stave off Patriots, Jaguars

Ramona High School’s boys volleyball team improved its Valley League record to 2-1 with wins April 13 at Orange Glen and April 14 at home against Valley Center.

The three-game sweep of Orange Glen and the four-game win over the Jaguars also gave the Bulldogs an overall season record of 15-8.

“It was a good week,” said Ramona coach Jeff Klauda.

The Bulldogs won their match against Orange Glen with 25-22, 25-16, and 28-26 victories in the three games.

“We didn’t play well, but we were able to pull it off,” Klauda said. “We were a couple of steps away a lot. It was nice to squeak out a win in three games.”

The problems with Ramona’s play didn’t preclude Ian Nowakowski from totaling 14 kills and four blocks in the three games. Luis Nunez had 10 kills with only one hitting error. Garrett Adelman had 33 assists and nine digs against the Patriots.

Ramona won its first two games against Valley Center by 25-11 and 25-14 scores.

“I’ve never seen a Valley Center team come out the way they did the second game,” Klauda said. “They’re always extremely emotional, high-intensity.”

Klauda felt that an exception took place in the April 14 match.

“When they played their first two games, they were dead,” he said. “I’ve never seen any Valley Center team do that, ever, for the boys.”

The Jaguars came back for a 25-23 win in the third game.

“They came out and started playing with emotion again,” Klauda said.

“We just started making tons of errors.”

In the third game Ramona had four serving errors and ten hitting errors.

“We were just hitting balls straight into the net,” Klauda said.

The Bulldogs trailed by a 15-6 margin at one point but were able to tie the game at 23 points apiece before the Jaguars obtained a sideout and then the winning point.

“It was just a huge comeback even to make it close,” Klauda said. “All the momentum was in our favor.”

That momentum — as well as the on-court learning experience of Ramona’s team — translated into a 25-22 win in the fourth game.

“The fourth game was just a good back and forth game,” Klauda said.

Nowakowski had 20 kills, eight digs, and four blocks against the Jaguars. He also had seven serving aces, including three in the fourth game. Adelman had 45 assists, 11 digs, and two serving aces. Billy White had 11 kills and five digs while Nunez added six kills and 10 digs. Brad Behnke led the team with 12 digs.

Garrett Vizcarra had five blocks, including three in the fourth game and blocks on the final two points of the match, while Kenny Lawler added three blocks.

“It was a total team effort,” Klauda said. “Everyone came up big.”

Two of Ramona’s season losses are to Mount Carmel, who will host the Bulldogs in today’s match.