Holy Family volleyball goes limit to upend Bellarmine-Jefferson
BURBANK — Forced to a winner-take-all fifth set after just losing a tough game, the Holy Family volleyball team looked to bounce back Thursday against Bellarmine-Jefferson.
The Gaels received a boost from senior right side hitter Aja Estrada-Kissamitakis, who quickly turned things in Holy Family’s favor.
Estrada-Kissamitakis collected two aces and two kills in the final game to help Holy Family record a 25-14, 24-26, 25-11, 24-26, 15-8 nonleague road win against the host Guards.
“I think the key thing was not letting that loss in the fourth set get to us,” said Estrada-Kissamitakis, who finished with eight kills. “We needed to be a little more talkative and we were able to do that and it helped out a lot.
“We knew we could come back and we got out to the big lead in the last game. I thought I had to be a little more determined and help the team overcome our mistakes.”
Holy Family (3-2) saw Estrada-Kissamitakis record her second kill in the deciding game to make it 3-1. She also had two straight aces, the second extending the Gaels’ lead to 9-5.
Holy Family Coach Robert Bringas, whose squad entered Thursday’s match fresh off sweeping defending CIF Southern Section Division V-A champion St. Monica Academy, said the Gaels could count on Estrada-Kissamitakis.
“She’s been able to step up her game and do it in a lot of ways,” Bringas said. “She got a couple of big kills and then got the two aces. She’s one of our seniors, so it’s good to see her step up her game.”
Holy Family, which lost to Bell-Jeff last season, got 12 digs and six aces from Mikayla DePeralta, six kills, five aces and four digs from Meghann Velasquez and seven digs, four kills and two aces from Melanie Ibarra to turn aside the Guards (1-2). Ibarra closed out the match with an ace down the left side.
Bell-Jeff showed resiliency by winning the fourth game after Holy Family tied the score at 24.
Bell-Jeff Coach Cindy Ortiz said the Guards couldn’t carry the late momentum into the fifth set.
“It’s tough, but I liked the way we played,” said Ortiz, who received 12 kills from Dalila Rincan and 20 assists, five aces and three blocks from Vanessa Smith. “We have a lot of young players and it’s good to get this kind of experience.
“We’re just going out there and trying to work on finding ways to improve our mentality. We just talk about the next [rally] and try to make up for it if we made a mistake the previous time rather than hold on to it. We were super confident going into the fifth game, but things didn’t go our way.”
An ace by DePeralta in the third game gave the Gaels a 12-3 lead. Katheryne Cuellar of Holy Family had an ace later in the stanza to make it 18-6. Estrada-Kissamitakis came up with an ace to end the set.
Smith had four straight aces to provide the Guards with some energy in the second set. Her final ace during the run gave Bell-Jeff a 13-8 advantage. Holy Family regrouped to take a 24-23 advantage before Bell-Jeff notched the final three points, ending with an ace from Claire Borot.
