M-A in control of the Bay

But the Bears looked poised to return to the top after they closed out the first half of the Bay Division schedule with a 25-15, 19-25, 25-21, 25-21 win over the Scots in Atherton Wednesday night.

“It was a little crazy,” said M-A head coach Michael Manalo. “The second set, we just lost it. … They’re a bit smaller team, so you have to be patient (on offense). I told the guys, ‘[The Scots] are going dig, dig, dig.’”

The win kept M-A (6-0 PAL Bay, 21-5 overall) undefeated in division play and the Bears are two games ahead in the win column of second-place Burlingame, which is on spring break this week.

And unless something dramatically changes in the second half of the season, Carlmont (3-3, 9-6) has a three-peat quickly slipping out of reach. The Scots are a sophomore- heavy team this season, after graduating 12 seniors from last year’s championship squad.

But the talent is still there and the Scots certainly forced the Bears to play well until the final point of every game.

“I don’t want to call it reloading,” said Carlmont head coach Dan Nelson. “It’s a learning experience for these guys.”

Manalo can empthize with Nelson. His team was in a similar situation last season as M-A finished middle of the pack in 2024.

“That was us last year,” Manalo said.

And in the end, M-A’s experience — coupled with tremendous talent — came out on top, led by 6-7 senior utility player Peter Chriss. He normally drives the Bears’ bus as the setter, but the Division I, Penn State-commit is versatile enough to play anywhere on the floor.

Wednesday, he was used mostly as a terminator, finishing with a match-high 18 kills.

“He blocks, he sets. He’s our second-leading [scorer],” Manalo said.

But the Bears were hardly a one-man show, as junior outside hitter Ben Warner added 17 kills and Jonny Kerr had 10 kills, including three off blocks.

The Bears showed off their power in Game 1, as they jumped out to a 9-3 lead. Chriss had back-to-back kills from the right side to open the scoring. He added a third finish to make 7-1 before Warner had back-to-back kills for a 9-3 advantage.

And M-A kept pouring it on. Chriss’ fourth of six kills in the game put the Bears up 21-13 and Warner served out with an ace for a 25-15 Game 1 win, which had the makings of a Bears’ blowout.

While the Scots are young, they weren’t intimidated. They got out to a 5-3 lead in Game 2, but M-A battled back to tie it at 6-all on the second of four service aces for Warner.

Carlmont responded with an 11-2 run. After a M-A serve into the net gave the Scots a sideout and a 7-6 lead, Aeron Gurskis — starting just his second varsity game after being called up from JV — served up an ace to ignite the run. A block for a point, a Bears’ error and a kill from Mateus Lima Duval put the Scots up 11-6.

M-A scored two of the next three points to close to 12-8, but the Scots got four kills and another M-A mistake to open up a 17-8 advantage.

The Bears finally stabilized and got back into the game, winning nine of the next 12 points to close to 20-17, but Alexander Mahadew and Jonathan Edwards had two kills each down the stretch and the Scots punctuated a Game 2 win with a Rohan Rajagopal roof block for the game-winning point, 25-19.

Mahadew and Rajagopal, both seniors, led the Carlmont attack, finishing with 11 and nine kills, respectively.

“There were times where we showed what we’re capable of,” Nelson said.

Carlmont continued to battle in Game 3, but the Scots could not keep up the play that led to second-set victory. The third game stayed close throughout, with seven ties and two lead changes. But with the score tied at 14-all, the Bears closed with a flurry of kills, getting kills for eight of their final 11 points to take a 25-21 decision.

But even then, the Scots didn’t go quietly. They staved off three game points, getting kills from Rajagopal, Gurskis and a roof block from Tyler Louie before M-A closed out the win on a Dominic Auer finish.

Game 4 was much like the third set, with five ties early on, the last coming a 9-all. From there, the Bears steadily pulled away, turning a 14-10 lead into a 20-12 advantage.

The Scots had one last push, winning seven of nine points as they closed to 24-21, but Chriss ended things with by winning a duel at the net for the 25-21 decision.