Bulldogs get the best of pesky Eagles

Folsom traveled across town to face Vista del Lago on Friday night to see the Eagles had anything for them. The Eagles did everything they could to try to take one game, but on this night took none, as it was the Bulldogs winning in three close games, 25-21, 25-20, and 27-25. Vista had their chances, particularly in the first and third games, but didn't capitalize. When Folsom needed a point, they got it. Vista was the first to 20 in the opening set, 20-19, but that's when Folsom got serious and played their best volleyball, scoring six of seven points to win the set, 25-21. On two consecutive plays after a Vista error tied the game at 20, Kaiser Bowen hit a bomb, and middle blocker Jeffrey Pettingill scored in the middle to make it 22-20. Vista managed a block by Joshua Chitrapu, but Folsom finished off the match with back-to-back kills from Bowen and a block from Pettingill to take any momentum the Eagles might have had a moment ago leading 20-19. Folsom had complete control of the second game, leading 20-12 before letting the Eagles back in the match. Vista scored eight more points before Folsom finally finished the match with a kill by Micah Raffaelli. Folsom scored the first four points of the third set and worked up a solid 20-14 lead before again failing to close out the match. Vista came back and tied the match at 21, 22, 23, and a Folsom service error kept Folsom from winning and instead tying the match at 24. Vista then had a game point 25-24, after Folsom blocked a ball out of bounds, but Bowen got the kill to tie the score at 25. Vista was in the next on the next ball and Folsom put the Eagles away for good on an ace from Jishnu Dondapati, 27-25. Jesse Lashchuk led the Eagles with 14 kills while Joshua Chitrapu had eight. Aayush Sanganni had 13 assists with 10 coming from Sai Sreedhar. Aahan Gandhi had 10 digs to lead the back row. "We should have taken one game from them and maybe a second one," Vista coach James Fanshier said. "We just need some more experience and composure and poise. Instead of 10 service errors, we need to get 10 serves in." Folsom played without Stefan Stratton, but still managed to come through with a much-needed win. "This is the first time this season we were able to win a match with key players missing," Folsom coach Robert Raffaelli said. "I feel like the team has finally learned how to win without relying solely on their star players." Merc Ubag led the Bulldogs with 12 kills, while DeGraff made eight and Bowen had seven. Pettingill was in on seven blocks for the Bulldogs, while Dondapati made 13 digs. &emsp;&emsp; &emsp;&emsp;