HALF MOON BAY, CA – When Menlo-Atherton lost 10 of the first 12 points in Tuesday night’s PAL-Bay match against Half Moon Bay, it could have been a bad sign.
Instead, the Bears roared back to defeat the Cougars 3-0. The scores were 25-22, 25-20, 25-19.
“We got off to a rough start,” said Menlo-Atherton’s Eliza Grover. “But we were able to turn it around and mentally get into the game. We just needed to get a sideout.”
Half Moon Bay ripped off 10 consecutive points with Brooke Krieger serving, but then M-A scrambled back to make it 10-6.
Riley Donovan’s kill gave Half Moon Bay a 22-19 lead, but M-A won the next six points and the match, getting the last two points on Cougar mis-hits.
The Bears (2-4, 1-0) led the second set the whole way and won it on a kill by Jacqueline DiSanto.
Half Moon Bay (5-4, 0-1) trailed the third set 13-8, but tied it 13-13 with Krieger serving. The senior served for five consecutive points, including pounding three aces.
The set was tied once more, at 14-14, then M-A took over and won it, fittingly enough, on a kill by Grover.
Grover led M-A with 11 kills and DiSanto had 11 kills and 18 digs, while Kiana Solis contributed eight kills and Casey Olson 33 assists.
M-A made the state finals last season.
Hailey Merkes paced HMB with 15 kills, Donovan had nine kills, Bailey Steger 27 assists and Krieger five aces.
“I love the way we played,” Donovan said. “We had good rallies and played an all-around good game, even though we lost.”
