The Berkshire Badgers boys’ volleyball team is already beginning to forge a new identity that demonstrates a gritty attitude, evidenced when they stormed back to defeat Northeast Ohio Volleyball Association rival Eastlake North in a 22-25, 16-25, 25-18, 25-15, 15-13 reverse (?) sweep last Thursday evening at Berkshire High School.
“It is what makes the game fun that is for sure,” said Coach Tim Percic. “We talked about it after we dropped the second set. There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that a great comeback has to start with a large deficit, the bad news is that we have a large deficit to overcome so we are going to have to fight for it. Kudos to the kids for doing it.”
In three matches so far, the Badgers (2-1, 1-0) have earned each of their victories by the comeback route, overcoming slow starts in both matches. As young as the season is, the six-year coach did not deny Berkshire’s rally against the Rangers reflected a signature victory for a team that is still finding their way after graduating a big senior class.
“I think our team could say that we have grit and that they have what it takes to overcome difficult odds,” he added. “To see that early in the season is great and I am hoping we can build off of that going forward.”
On Thursday, the Badgers fell into an early hole, losing the first two sets 25-22 and 25-16, which marked a five-set losing streak as Berkshire’s first loss of the season came in a sweep against Warren Howland on March 17.
According to Percic, Eastlake North had a sharper mindset at the beginning of the match and the Badgers were plagued with self-inflicted mistakes, including several unforced errors in the service game.
Percic credited sophomore defensive setter Caleb Tiber for sparking a turnaround in the third set, successfully executing a serve in all 12 attempts while also recording one ace.
He acknowledged that Berkshire still looked out of sorts at times in the third set but once the service game was restored to order, the Badgers got comfortable and secured a 25-18 victory and carried that momentum into the fourth set.
Percic said that the fourth set was when everything finally fell into place for the team, as Berkshire cut down on its mental errors and the Badger hitters displayed better accuracy on their kill attempts.
He added that it all started with junior outside hitter Scott Wendl.
“Scott hitting and making kills out of the front row and the back row when he played there and that really stretches out the defense on the opposing team,” he noted. “The blockers can’t totally cheat left because they have to watch the guy on the right side, and I believe it was actually Scott that started getting our offense going.”
Berkshire cruised to a 25-15 victory, which swung the tide in its favor entering the fifth set.
Although the Badgers took an early lead (in the fifth set?), Percic said that the unforced errors returned as his team got a bit too ahead of itself, allowing Eastlake North to mount a comeback and tie the match at 10-10.
“That is all part of the game,” Percic said. “It is not over until the last point is scored. There is no time limit to get there and so you can’t get ahead of yourself, so we had all of the confidence that we were going to win, and it came down to execution.”
Ultimately, Berkshire outscored the Rangers by a 5-3 margin to finish off the set and complete a thrilling comeback.
Although the Badgers returned only two players who saw meaningful action last year in senior outside hitter Roman Percic and junior middle blocker Maddox Fuentes, Coach Percic said that he sees a lot of similarities from last year’s squad in his current team.
He conceded that the 2025 team needed at least a full season to fully reach its potential and that the 2026 squad is in the same boat.
As far as Coach Percic is concerned, things are already off to a promising start.
“The most intriguing part of this is that they have now proven that they can do stuff that they were not able to do at practice number one of the season and it is a better start this year than it was last year and last year was a storybook season that ended in amazing fashion so I hope we can ride this wave,” he said.
After a home duel against NOVA rival Villa Angela-St. Joseph on Tuesday evening, the Badgers will take on Western Reserve Academy in Hudson on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
