BHS Volleyball: Jackrabbits sweep Barstow

BARSTOW • For a team that had been struggling, the Victor Valley High School volleyball team looked sharp in a 3-0 win against Barstow on Tuesday.

The Jackrabbits gave up just 50 points in the three games to pick up their first Desert Sky League win of the season, winning 13-25, 22-25 and 15-25 at the Don Bilsborough Gymnasium.

“They played better than they have all week,” Victor Valley coach Jackson Wong said. “We’ve been struggling and they have not been putting things together.”

Meanwhile Barstow (3-4; 1-2 DSL) struggled and dropped its second-straight league match. The Aztecs got behind in the first two games and were called on multiple double hit penalties throughout the night.

“We have a freshman setter and that’s no excuse, but we get a little lax.” said O’Neill of the double hit calls. “We’re getting better, but obviously we have some things to work on. We need to work on passing. We need to work on hitting.”

Barstow had its best chance to win a game in the third match. While Barstow led for just a handful of points in the first two games, the Aztecs took outright control from the beginning of the third game. Victor Valley aided the Aztecs cause early with back-to-back unforced errors. Barstow juniors Nicole Mathews and Courtney Verrill hit back-to-back kills to bring Barstow to a 10-3 lead.

However, freshman setter Shekinah Toloumu went out with an injury midway through the game and Barstow started dropping points.

“The setter was hurt and then all of sudden, opps they went ahead,” O’Neill said.

The Jackrabbits (4-2; 1-2 DSL) went on an eight-point run to lead the game 16-13. Jackrabbits captain Amamda Aguilar led the charge, serving during the run. She finished the night with 10 kills and two aces.

“That was a big push for us,” Wong said.

Barstow hung with the Jackrabbits early in the first two games but fell behind soon after. Barstow held a 4-3 lead in the first game but scored just nine points the rest of the way. Barstow grabbed the first point of the game in the second game but started to slide from there. Victor Valley earned a five-point lead, but Barstow continued to hang around. The Aztecs got back into the game with a five-point run to tie the game 19-19 with an ace by Mathews. From there Victor Valley took over again to win 25-22.

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