Page One

Jackets fold against Falcons

James Wiseman
Friday April 07, 2000

Daily Planet Staff 

 

The day you’re scheduled to play the league leader is no day for a key player to be missing. But even with blocking specialist Jacob Kardon out of the lineup on a college visitation trip, the Yellowjackets knew it shouldn’t have been as easy as it was for Foothill to pull out a sweep at Donahue Gym. 

The first-place Falcons took advantage of the depleted BHS front line on Thursday evening, winning the battle of ball control and leaving the Yellowjackets’ home gym with a 15-8, 15-10, 15-12 victory. 

“I don’t want to use (Jacob) as an excuse, but that was a pretty big hole for us,” Berkeley High head coach Justin Caraway said after the match. “(The substitutes) came in and did a pretty good job, but that’s a big block that’s suddenly missing. Foothill’s a good hitting team.” 

After taking their last two league matches into the full five games, the ’Jackets knew they had a chance to dethrone the Falcons, if they could force a final game. But the hitting errors and ineffective serving that let Granada back into Tuesday’s match were twice as costly against league-leading Foothill, and Berkeley found itself down two games by the time it settled into the pace of the match. 

“We didn’t come out intimidated – we’re never scared of good teams. We wanted to take them (into) five games,” said senior outside hitter D.Q. Li, who hoped his enthusiasm would be contagious entering Thursday’s match. “In the beginning, I was trying to scream and be vocal, but you gotta lead by action.” 

“We played our hardest, but we didn’t convert at crucial moments,” freshman Daniel Jarvis added. 

Freshman Robin Roach stepped up with a solid performance in Kardon’s absence, netting eight blocks on the evening to go with his six kills. Mason Chin paced the ’Jackets with 10 kills in the losing effort, while Li picked up nine kills and 14 digs. With the defeat, Berkeley’s East Bay Athletic League record dropped to 1-4.  

“Robin had a pretty good match for us. We didn’t get the ball to him enough in the second and third games,” Caraway said. “We could have had better production out of our outsides. We had too many hitting errors.” 

Berkeley stays at home for its next league meet, slated for next Tuesday evening at Donahue Gym. The 5 p.m. showdown pits the Yellowjackets against San Ramon’s California High. Four of Berkeley’s next five matches are scheduled at home, with the 2000 season wrapping up with a pair of road games on May 9 and 11.