FRIARS BRING THE HEAT, AVENGE EARLY SEASON LOSS TO ROYALS

By Carmen Gogue

The Father Duenas Friars avenged their early season loss against the Notre Dame Royals returning the favor in straight sets 25-11, 25-21, 25-23 at the Royals home court.

The Friars dominated at the net with monstrous kills and blocks from middle blockers Noah Cruz and Joseph Mafnas. Jacob Toves was instrumental with powerful attacks from the outside hitter position.

Though the Royals suffered trouble from the service line early on, ND’s Masato Rabago had an impressive offensive performance recording a game-high 12 kills. Takoda Piper and Daryl Peredo also boosted the Royals in the third set despite falling short for the set win and continuation of the match.

First Set

The Royals started the first set serving with libero Davyn Paet and on the return the Friars suffered a hitting error giving the Royals a 1-0 advantage.

Paet continued a small streak with the Friars receiving a carry violation to put ND up 2-0. But that lead didn’t last long on the next rally as FD’s Hoben Barcinas responded with a tough kill ricocheting out off the Royals blockers to give the Friars serving opportunity.

The Friars ran with the momentum from Barcinas as libero Zachary Muna aced the Royals. Muna remained serving the next five points due to Royal hitting errors putting FD up 6-2 with one big block from Mafnas until a massive kill from Rabago in the back row gave the Royals some breathing room.

That was cut short as Friars middle blocker Mafnas flew in hard for the kill to give his team back the serving advantage. In the remainder of the set, ND attempted to maintain tempo with the Friars but were plagued with service and hitting errors easily giving the first set to the Friars 25-11.

Second Set

In the second set, the Royals looked much better in keeping up with the Friars with Rabago recording five kills and four separate teammates each getting a kill of their own.

Both teams still experienced mistakes on each end of the court but it was FD’s Cruz and Mafnas control at the net that allowed the Friars to inch past the Royals at 25-21, “I believe what worked best for Joe and I was just focusing on closing our block. As for our kills, that’s all thanks to our passers for getting the ball close enough to the net for our setter to connect with us on the hits,” said Cruz.

Third Set

Down two sets, the Royals weren’t going without a fight with a few line up changes shown on the court.

Proving more confident, the Royals were competing with the Friars at the same level going back and forth between points in the third set.

The Friars had big plays from Toves, Mafnas and Saul Bamba while the Royals found their groove with Rabago, Piper and Peredo finding their shots and getting a couple of aces each.

With the score being 24-23, Toves sealed the win with a big kill to end the game.

“What we’re going to take from tonight into the next games and playoffs is that we know we can hang with any team in the league and we’re capable of competing with everyone as long as we keep working and stay disciplined all season long.”

– FD’s Outside Hitter Jacob Toves

Mafnas touched on how he felt coming into tonight’s game, “It felt a lot different than the first time we played them. We wanted redemption from the first round and the energy the boys had tonight was amazing. I’m proud of all of them, we knew they [ND] were a team not to be taken lightly”.

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