Jeff TullyReserve players on the Providence High...

Jeff Tully

Reserve players on the Providence High boys’ volleyball team don’t

have time to rest on the bench.

With an aggressive substitution game plan, Coach Andrew Bencze

keeps the Pioneers moving in and out of a match with machine-like

regularity.

The Providence assembly line was working perfectly on Wednesday,

as the Pioneers easily defeated Thousand Oaks Hillcrest Christian,

15-3, 15-7, 15-7, in a CIF Southern Section Division IV wild-card

match at Providence.

“The advantage of having most of the players on the team at about

the same skill level is that you can play almost any one at any given

time and get good results,” Bencze said. “The players who are not

starters realize that they’re going to get into the game pretty

quickly, and they are probably going to play a lot.”

With very few bumps in the Pioneers’ road to victory against the

over-matched Saints (2-11), Bencze liked what he saw with his team,

which disposed of the Saints in just 56 minutes.

“We knew going in that Hillcrest Christian was not going to be a

really tough team,” said Bencze, whose team is in the postseason for

the ninth time in 10 seasons. “We knew that they were young and they

have had their struggles.

“But I was pleased with the way we played and the way we executed

today.”

Providence (11-11) is also young, with limited experience. Just

one Pioneer player has three years of playing experience, and most

have two or fewer seasons in the program.

With three freshmen and three sophomores seeing playing time, the

Pioneers have had to grow up fast this season.

“Even our best players only have a few years of experience,”

Bencze said. “So the younger players have really had to grow up fast

and learn how to play in a very short time.

“We have played a lot of ranked teams in our division, and the

younger players have gained a lot of experience.”

About the only negative with the Pioneers against Hillcrest

Christian is they committed 13 service errors.

But other than that, Providence was able to dominate the contest,

as the Saints were never allowed to make an impact.

Senior outside hitter Ian Breckenridge-Jackson paced the Pioneers

with 11 kills and four service aces. Teammate Francis Sanchez added

six kills, A.J. Jimenez had five digs and Tommy Boucher had 20

assists.