Boys volleyball: Stevenson slips by Warren

After falling behind 12-8 in the second set as Warren scored unanswered four points to take its largest lead of the match, Stevenson coach Eric Goolish reminded his players of what led to their 25-22 victory in the first set.

“Run our best stuff,” Goolish told his players. “Let’s not complicate this with, ‘This guy’s here, [so] we need to do this. I need to play differently.’ Just run your best stuff, and trust your best stuff’s good enough.”

Immediately after the timeout, the Patriots (20-6, 4-1) launched an 8-3 run to take their first lead of the second set, which would catapult them to ultimately secure a tight 25-22, 25-23 victory over the Blue Devils (20-5, 4-1).

David Erdenetsogt led Stevenson with eight kills, while Jason Kong and Fletcher Scurek each contributed four kills. On the other side of the net, Warren’s Andrew Cowell posted eight kills, with Edward Chand adding six.

The Blue Devils held its only lead of the first set at 1-0, as Stevenson took an early 9-4 lead that would extend to 17-12. Warren, however, refused to roll over, exploding for a 7-3 run to cut the lead to 20-19. The Patriots refused to relinquish the lead, though, as Erdenetsogt eventually had a kill on the team’s second set point to secure the set at 25-22.

“We didn’t do things well that we have historically done well,” Warren coach Kim Paasch said. “We struggled with serve receives, which we never have had an issue with this year.”

After trading the first nine points of the second set, the Blue Devils ultimately took its 12-8 lead before Stevenson turned the tide with its 8-3 run to take a 16-15 lead. The teams would then trade the next six points until the Patriots won three straight points to take a 22-19 lead.

Warren took a timeout and immediately answered the call, winning three consecutive points — coming off two blocks — to force Stevenson to take a timeout of its own.

“We’ve actually had several games where we’ve had comebacks,” Paasch said. “I don’t think that they ever feel like they’re out of a match. They definitely are comfortable playing from behind and building points. They had some good rotations. We have some strong rotations. I don’t think we felt like we were out of it.”

Coming out of the timeout, the Patriots won three of the ensuing four points to secure win. Scurek gave Stevenson match point with a kill, and Ryan Matthews put the lock on the match with a block.

“I’m very proud of how they played,” Goolish said. “What I’m most happy with is some adjustments we made toward the end. Some plays that needed to be made weren’t being made earlier in the match, but we were talking about them.”

Matthews’s timely block assured that the Patriots would hand the Blue Devils their first conference loss of the season. Goolish said that he knew Matthews’ impact would ultimately be felt in a notable way.

“That was absolutely huge,” Goolish said. “I’m happy for him, for a player in that situation who was kind of struggling defensively throughout the match, to make the match-deciding play.”