OAKLAND – After the Bishop O’Dowd boys volleyball team dropped the first set on Thursday to undefeated Lathrop, a less-confident team would have been discouraged.
But the Dragons took control midway through the second set and proceeded to beat Lathrop 22-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-23 to advance to the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Division III boys volleyball final on Saturday in the O’Dowd team’s first NorCal tournament.
“We’re super confident, so we knew that going into the second set it was time to turn it on, and we did,” said O’Dowd senior outside hitter Chase Lee, who had nine kills and three aces in the home match for the top-seeded Dragons (33-4).
The Dragons will host No. 3 Homestead at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The Mustangs (22-16) defeated No. 2 Santa Cruz 25-21, 13-25, 25-23, 25-20 on Thursday.
Lee was part of the original Bishop O’Dowd boys volleyball team three years ago as a freshman. “We only had about 12 kids, no JV, only varsity,” Lee said. “It’s progressed so much.”
Nova Bramed, who played for the Moroccan national team from 1988-1995, has been the Dragons’ coach for the past two seasons.
“I’m just glad we were able to play good volleyball,” he said about Thursday’s match. “Both sides were really good.”
Lathrop, the fourth seed which entered the match with a 31-0 record, looked like an undefeated team by rallying from a 13-10 deficit in the first set to win 15 out of the next 24 points. In the second set, O’Dowd trailed 13-12 when Paolo Olimpiada, another senior, lined up to serve for the Dragons. After four straight service points, including an ace, Bishop O’Dowd didn’t trail again that game.
“I think our serve got better,” said Bramed about the second set. “We put them out of system a little bit.”
O’Dowd’s versatility is a key to its success.
“We’re a well-balanced team. We don’t really have a superstar,” Bramed said. “We have good middle, outside, right side—we can play in any system.”
In the third set, a tip-in by O’Dowd freshman middle blocker Anthony Alaniz started a four-point run by the Dragons that gave them an 11-6 lead. They lengthened that advantage to 21-10 before eventually winning that game by 10 points.
The final set was close throughout, as neither team had more than a three-point lead at any time. With the score knotted at 22, a kill by O’Dowd freshman middle blocker Toby Lee and a Lathrop error brought the Dragons to match point. A kill by Lathrop’s Christian Green brought his team within one point of O’Dowd, but Dragons sophomore outside hitter Cameron Kosty ended the match with a thunderous kill.
