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Long Beach Wilson Athletics coverage from The562. Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009;
The Long Beach Wilson men's volleyball team shook off early jitters Thursday night, defeating St. Francis 21-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-19 in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs. Ta.
The Golden Knights led for much of the first set, as senior Titus Rodz and others took advantage of the Bruins' early mistakes and held off a late Bruins comeback to take the first set.
“We started slow,” Wilson's Will Morrison said. “We've been doing that a lot this season. It's one of the things we have to work on. But we talked about it in the huddle and brought all the points. It's us It really helped us come together as a team.”
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Wilson returned to her natural volleyball in the second set, with Shane Galula dishing out 13 assists and the big three of Morrison, Ian Nolte and Marek Turner racking up 12 kills.
“Shane is our player,” Morrison said. “He's our setter and he's like the most important player on our team. We love him.”
In addition to power swings, Morrison and Turner combined for four aces as the Bruins held off a comeback by the Golden Knights and won the set 25-19.
Wilson continued his fast play in the third set, increasing his lead to 15-9, and didn't stop his team midway through, winning 25-16 and taking a 2-1 lead.
Galula finished the night with 46 assists and Morrison had a team-high 14 kills. Turner finished the match with 13 kills and Nolte with 12 kills.
“Our big men were trying to do too much and try too hard early on,” Wilson coach Chris Ceballos said. “Sometimes you go too fast and burn out.”
Wilson will look to get off to a good start next Wednesday when he travels to Orange County to face Santa Margarita.
“They're a good team,” Ceballos said. “They are well-coached, all the players have played for the club. It's going to be a tough game, they're used to big games like this because of the Trinity League. They're ready. We have to get our minds right and have confidence.”