Sacred Heart Prep volleyball gets first win, beat Mercy-Burlingame

“I was super surprised I got to set, but I was super happy because it’s been a long time,” Lin said. “We have two great setters on the team … but one them is an underclassman. I can’t wait to see what they do in the future.”

Mercy also got a sturdy performance from its setter, Janice Wong, who piloted the young team to some lengthy rallies in the opening set. Wong only found out she was being moved to setter just before game time, as the Crusaders’ regular setter sustained an injury Monday in practice.

“She did great,” Mercy’s first-year head coach Kaylin O’Leary said. “She stepped up for her team and did a great job for not playing setter normally.”

But SHP, a perennial Central Coast Section playoff contender, would not be denied.

Senior outside hitter Sofia Wheeler paced the Gators with a match-high 12 kills. Junior opposite hitter Sara Alnajjar added 10 kills.

It was a forever rally on the match’s third point that set the tone for the Gators. While Mercy seemed to be going all out on every dig, and every attack, SHP was simply finding its footing like a boxer feeling out an opponent at the start of a prize fight.

“They were super exciting,” Lin said. “The rallies, they were super long at times. But, at the same time, you get to run a bunch of different plays and your hitters are transitioning off the net constantly, your blockers are going up. It’s just a really exciting game.”

SHP won the point and continued playing point for point until a 9-9 deadlock. The Gators then went on a 5-1 run, led by Alnajjar’s fierce swings off the right side. The junior racked up five kills in the opening set alone.

After a lopsided second set, SHP seemed to be cruising to victory in the third. But after taking an 18-11 lead, capped by back-to-back aces from Wheeler, the Crusaders came storming back. With Wong at the service line, Mercy closed the deficit to 21-19, courtesy of the setter’s only ace of the match.

“It was exciting,” Wong said of the service run. “I was really nervous since I wasn’t playing the position I usually play.”

SHP closed on a 4-1 run to finish it, though, ending it out with the lone kill of the night from junior Catherine Jewitt.

Lin said the composition of the Gators’ roster is vastly different from last year, especially without Muir.

“Very different,” Lin said. “The dynamic is just everybody gels really well together, and we have really good team chemistry even though we’ve only been playing for a couple of weeks.”

On the Mercy side, O’Leary is in her first year coaching varsity volleyball. She earned her first career win last week against Notre Dame-San Jose.

The Crusaders are a young group, touting just two seniors.

“It’s been a tough year for them, obviously, with COVID and everything,” O’Leary said. “But I think they’re putting up a good fight and they’re playing the best they can for only practicing two weeks, and for having five games this season. I just expect a lot of growing out of them. There’s a lot of potential with them. They’re a young team.”