In a match that went back-and-forth till the very end, senior Jesus Herr delivered the knockout blow for the Clovis West boys volleyball team.
Herr’s kill gave the Golden Eagles a 15-13 win in the fifth set of their first round playoff game against San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, April 31.
The senior came down with cramps after leaping high for the match point, but he soon shook it off and joined the celebration with his teammates and the home crowd.
“Herr is a guy that’s going to go a 100 percent for his team,” Clovis West head coach Greg White said. “He’s a guy that put us on his back this year. We couldn’t be more proud of him. It means a lot for us to have him make that point and let us advance in the playoffs.”
It was a fierce battle from the beginning, with the Tigers coming back from a five point deficit to force deuce in the first set, but the Golden Eagles winning it 26-24 to take a 1-0 lead.
The second set saw another back-and-forth action. The set was tied 21-21 before the Golden Eagles scored two in a row to take a 24-22 lead. With set point on the line, Her secured the block that would give Clovis West a 25-22 win and a 2-0 lead.
The Tigers didn’t go away quietly. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third set and managed to pull away after the Golden Eagles rallied to tie it at 21. The Tigers took the set 25-22 and trailed the match 2-1.
In the fourth set, the Tigers took an 18-10 lead. The Golden Eagles once again rallied to force deuce. An error at the net allowed the Golden Eagles to tie it at 25, but the Tigers scored the final two points to force a tiebreaker set.
White said the Tigers got back in the game by being aggressive on the outside.
“They were putting balls away on the outside,” White said. “That made it really tough on us. That was some adversity we had to fight through.”
The fifth set was tied at 11 when Herr tallied another kill. Clovis West then scored the next two points and closed out the match with Herr’s decisive point, winning the set 15-13.
“We’re fighters. We never gave up,” Clovis West head coach Greg White said. “We stuck together, we got through this match. Everybody was able to contribute. The energy was good.”
White added that the home crowd was a big factor.
“We feed off our volleyball community,” he said. “They were a big help especially in this battle tonight.”
The Golden Eagles will face Clovis North in the quarterfinals on Thursday, May. 2.
“We are a resilient team and we’re hoping to continue to have that resiliency as we move forward in the playoffs,” White said. ‘We’ll face some stiff competition on Thursday with Clovis North being the No.1 seed.”