Neck and Neck: Mayfair vs. Firebaugh

After the season’s most anticipated rival game, La Mirada vs. Mayfair, had to be canceled due to the lack of referees, Mayfair’s varsity boys volleyball team were eager to play against Firebaugh April 6th. Losing against Norwalk hit rather hard given that the team is one of Mayfair’s rivals, so beating Firebaugh had to occur.

Starting the game, the two teams began on the same level of skill, Mayfair gaining a point, then Firebaugh gaining a point. There was not a clear prediction that one or the other was going to win, making the result even more anticipated. As both teams rapidly gained points in the first set, Coach Moye gave the team advice to pass faster amongst each other. After a long back and forth, sophomore Gerardo Luque did a much anticipated spike, plastering the floor, making the score 16-11. Firebaugh took back the steam that Mayfair was bringing and caught up after some faulty passes between Mayfair’s team. A defestating blocking fail made the score 18-18, gaining Mayfair’s attention. Mayfair then strategized, with junior William Roth spiking the ball, and Firebaugh’s faulty server hitting the ball straight into the net a few times. At 24-19, junior Trevor Vu spiked the ball as all of Mayfair cheered for a win in the first set, making it 1-0 Mayfair. As they gained hype for their first win, Coach Moye was sure to advise the team to not get too ahead of themselves and take the game seriously 100% of the time.

The second set began with Firebaugh’s serve falling behind again, hitting the net, giving Mayfair the head start. Firebaugh quickly caught up, making sure that Mayfair didn’t get too far ahead, leaving the score 2-2. As the teams went back and forth as they did in the first set, senior Devin Lane spiked the ball, making the score 6-5. Lane then did a decoy spike to sike out Firebaugh who believed that Lane would hit the ball with force, however he simply tapped it, the score turning into 8-7. Still a tight match, Mayfair began to lose strength and endurance, having times where miscommunication between teammates was their downfall, ultimately setting the score back to 12-15. Mayfair realized their weaknesses, and got their head into the game when Luque, junior Evan Tomich, and Lane all spiked the ball, putting Mayfair back in the game at 17-16. After Lane spiked once again, a timeout was called, and Coach Moye encouraged the boys to push through and remember all that they had put into practice. Luque spiked once more putting Mayfair at 25-19, winning another set.

At 2-0 Mayfair had a built up excitement for the turn out of the game. Starting off strong,Roth spiked, and Mayfair had a strong lead with 6-3. Firebaugh, facing their loss head on, started to fall behind, but they didn’t let Mayfair get the best of them. After an intense match, senior Caden Southard and Tomich blocked the spike, leaving it 7-3. Mayfair could smell the victory coming, but Coach Moye ensured that the boys didn’t lose their streak, forcing them to make their timing better. As Firebaugh lost their fire, their coach called a timeout at 10-3. Firebaugh made a comeback and caught up after some faulty plays by Mayair. Tomich and Roth both spiked, hitting the ground and putting Mayfair back in the lead with 20-12. In the last moments of the game as Mayfair creeped up to 25 points in the third set, senior Royel Morris spiked, giving Mayfair a 3-0 victory against Firebaugh.