Orange Rouses Itself Just in Time to Beat Foothill in Boys’ Volleyball

Barely 15 minutes after his coach predicted a close match, Orange High outside hitter Mike Garcia couldn’t believe what was happening.

The Panthers, playing without starting middle blocker Lee Lillard, who was ill, were shut out in the first game at Foothill and were behind 8-2 in the second game of Tuesday’s Century League showdown.

“Mostly, we weren’t warm yet,” Garcia said. “We couldn’t get loose.”

When Garcia got loose, though, he cut loose with a match-high 30 kills, rallying the Panthers to an 0-15, 15-12, 15-8, 15-9 victory. Orange moved to 9-1, 5-0. Foothill (6-4, 4-1) is the defending league champion.

The Panthers’ slow start caught Coach Dan Brady by surprise.

“We were completely out of sync,” Brady said of the first game, in which Orange hitting errors or mishandled balls led to eight Foothill points. “I knew we weren’t going to be blown out, but I was having my doubts.”

Foothill took a 4-0 lead in the second game, thanks in part to an Orange rotation violation, a botched kill attempt and a mishandled ball, and extended the lead to 8-2. But the Panthers got back in the match after a series of unforced Foothill errors. When Orange’s Erwin Nibut and Ronnie Deleo blocked Foothill’s Chet Johnson to tie the score, 12-12, the tone was set. Garcia’s tip closed out the game.

From there it was all Garcia, a right-handed power-hitter who put away several balls with his left hand when the situation called for it. Scrappy bump-sets by Huy Nguyen set up many of Garcia’s kills.

“We decided it was time to take this game or just go home,” Garcia said.