Jeff TullyProvidence High boys’ volleyball Coach Andrew...

Jeff Tully

Providence High boys’ volleyball Coach Andrew Bencze was a little

more frazzled than usual on the first day of his own 10th annual

Providence Tournament.

Along with keeping the participating teams and coaches happy,

coordinating the officiating and trying to get his team prepared for

its match Wednesday, the coach also had to deal with a scheduling

problem posed by the Pioneers’ opening opponent -- L.A. Ribet

Academy.

Ribet left school and rushed to Providence for its scheduled

contest. However, the Fighting Frogs informed Bencze they had to be

back at school as soon as possible to attend a science fair.

Providence saw to it Ribet was back at school promptly, as the

Pioneers took just 24 minutes to dispose of the Fighting Frogs, 15-3,

15-9, in the best-two-of-three match.

However, things went bad for the Pioneers on Thursday, as they

fell in a quarterfinal match to Santa Clarita Christian, 15-8, 17-15.

“I felt that not only was I coaching against Ribet for the win,

but I was also coaching against the clock, so they could make it back

for their science fair,” said Bencze, whose team is 2-2. “It was kind

of crazy. But I guess we did our part and they probably got back in

time.”

Although Bencze said it is nice to get a victory in the first

match of his own tournament, he wasn’t impressed with the way his

Pioneers played against the obviously outmatched Ribet.

“It’s early in the season and we still have a lot to learn if we

want to improve,” Bencze said. “We have a young team and things will

get better for us as time goes on.”

In both games, the Pioneers fell behind early and Ribet (0-1) took

advantage of Providence’s mistakes.

What helped Providence pull out of its early funk in both games

was its 17 team aces.

Pioneer Ian Breckenridge- Jackson contributed seven kills and

Tommy Boucher had 11 assists.