A quick turnaround was no problem for the Bourgade Catholic High School Golden Eagles, as they beat the Globe Tigers 3-0 in straight sets: 25-15, 25-16, 25-11. The Golden Eagles offense was too much for the Tigers to handle. Bourgade Catholic racked up 19 kills, 13 coming from junior Gabreya Garcia. 

The matches were back and forth early on, until Bourgade Catholic found ways to pull ahead, usually a timely kill from Garcia or an outstanding service ace from the Golden Eagles. Bourgade Catholic was in control from the opening whistle, only briefly giving up the lead during the second set. 

“She’s the one you count on,” Bourgade Catholic head coach Melinda Espinoza said on Garcia. “It’s almost like just feed her until it doesn’t work. ... She’ll make it work, she’ll find a way to keep the ball in play, even if it’s not a kill, and that’s what we need.”

Garcia was unstoppable from the middle position offensively, and had one block on the defensive side. She was consistently making big plays when the Golden Eagles needed her to. Whenever Globe began to creep back into the game, Garcia was there to send the Tigers back to their cage. The junior has earned varsity letters in all three years with the Golden Eagles. She admitted that her strong play comes from even stronger preparation.

“A thing that really helps me is that I watch a lot of film,” Garcia said. “I feel like with a lot of practice and consistency, we’re able to find those open spots. Plus, another thing that helps us, too, is that our teammates that are on the court with us. They’ll either tell us where to hit or what’s open.”

Senior captain Erin Fish had a few tricks of her own from the setter position. She ended the match with two kills and a number of accurate sets that put her team’s offense into a rhythm. The connection between Fish and Garcia was the best offense the Golden Eagles deployed against the Tigers.

“I think our serve-receive was phenomenal, that they were able to get me a pass that I could set up a hitter,” Fish said. “If I can set up all my hitters, I can set a faster paced offense.”

That comes from a lot of practice. 

“[Fish] has worked really hard to make that connection with the middles, and [Fish and Garcia] have worked together communicating on the court to make that connection happen,” Espinoza said.

The Golden Eagles found success from their serves. When junior Natalia Ramirez was serving, she delivered ace after ace, until eventually, the ball was put back in play. Espinoza explained that the team works exceptionally hard at serving in practice at what Espinoza calls a “pressure serve”. The team faces a certain time limit or amount of balls they have to serve or be forced to deal with. 

“I try to create that feeling of pressure that they would feel in a game of not wanting to miss or if it’s game point. We do that in practice all the time so that when they go to the back line, that feeling and performing under that feeling, they do it all the time so it’s not a big deal,” Espinoza said.

The Golden Eagles are now 9-5 on the season. Before Wednesday’s matchup with Globe, Bourgade Catholic beat the Coronado High School Dons on Tuesday at home in another three-set sweep.