Providence volleyball sweeps past Buckley with good cause at forefront
BURBANK — National Breast Cancer Awareness Month began Wednesday with the first day of October.
The Providence High girls’ volleyball team kicked off the campaign and became the first local volleyball team to hold a “Dig Pink” fundraising contest when it hosted Buckley in a nonleague match.
Not only did the Pioneers do their part to raise money for the cause, they also came away with a victory. Providence played well and seemed to get stronger as the match progressed, earning a three-game sweep against the Griffins, 25-16, 25-18, 25-13.
The win gave Providence (6-2) a perfect 4-0 record at home this season, with all four victories coming via sweeps.
Throughout the contest, Providence was selling baked goods and drinks with the proceeds going to the organization Relay for Life, which is a part of the American Cancer Society. The players wore pink socks and pink warmup shirts to show their support.
“I think the girls have really taken ownership of our ‘Dig Pink’ event,” said Providence Coach James Jimenez, who donned a pink shirt. “This is the second year that we’ve held it here and they really get into it and they really support the cause.”
Providence senior outside hitter Lorena Ubillus said the “Dig Pink” event is something she and her teammates look forward to.
“We try and raise awareness and do what we can for a really good cause,” she said. “We have a club on campus, Helping Hands, and this was actually their idea and we were happy to get involved and help out. We just love to be a part of it.”
Motivated by the event, Providence stepped it up against Buckley (4-5), which is ranked No. 3 in CIF Southern Section Division V-AA. The Pioneers are unranked in Division IV-AA.
Providence received a solid performance from Ubillus, who had a match-high eight kills to go along with seven digs. Teammate Jenny Nardoni had 23 assists and Nikka Adraneda contributed 20 digs.
The Pioneers began the opening game a bit shaky, falling behind early. However, they were able to battle back to take a 9-8 lead against the Griffins and never trailed thereafter. Buckley made 15 errors in the opening game.
“I thought we got off to a slow start, but we were able to come back after that,” Jimenez said. “I told them that’s not how we play and that’s not how we want to play. But they came back and they focused and we played better after that.”
Providence led the second game wire to wire, going up by eight, 14-6. Buckley got as close as four points, but couldn’t cut any deeper into the advantage.
The Pioneers played their best in the third game, gaining an early 6-5 advantage. The Griffins kept it close midway through the stanza, but Providence surged ahead and closed it out.
“We were just trying to play good defense today and I think we were able to do that,” Ubillus said. “We were digging a lot of balls out there.
“We like to play in front of our family and friends at home, so we always want to play our best in front of our home crowd and on our home floor.”
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Follow Jeff Tully on Twitter: @jefftsports.