Pioneers shaky in semifinal
Jeff Tully
The Providence High girls’ team had little trouble dispensing of all
of its opponents in the early going of the Village Christian Summer
Volleyball League.
The Pioneers showed poise and played under control to win their
first eight matches.
However, in the gold bracket semifinal contest Wednesday,
Providence looked skittish and didn’t play particularly well in a
25-20, 25-19 loss to host Village Christian.
“We looked a little scared out there [Wednesday],” Pioneer Coach
James Jimenez said. “We just didn’t play very well.
“This was our biggest [match] of the summer and maybe we weren’t
pushed that much in the other contests.”
Along with pointing out his team’s struggles, Jimenez was also
gracious in acknowledging the Crusaders’ strengths.
“Village Christian is a good team,” he said. “They played well and
they had a lot of touches. I have to give them their credit.”
Despite the loss, Providence (9-1) was able to bounce back and win
the Gold Bracket third-place game, downing the Valencia junior
varsity team, 25-18, 27-25.
Village Christian (8-2), which includes three Burbank residents,
carried its momentum into the championship match, where it defeated
Holy Family, 25-27, 25-15, 15-9.
One of the driving forces for the Crusaders in the win against the
Pioneers was the play of senior and resident Jackie Ruiz. Ruiz, along
with Jenna Kapuscinski and Alex Dill, frustrated the Pioneers and
controlled play at the net.
Heather Sanders and Allyce Archie played well in the championship
match.
“We are playing well as a team right now,” said Ruiz, who is also
an All-CIF softball player for the Crusaders.
“We have a new coach in Nancy [Tinkham] and she has really helped
us improve. She is going to help put Village Christian back to a very
successful program. She is just great.”
The team’s other residents are Jacqueline Franklin and Amy Stone.
Providence received fine play from Vanessa Amran, Heather Hansen
and Natalah Hernandez.
In the first game, the Pioneers couldn’t take advantage of 12
Village Christian hitting errors and trailed for most of the stanza.
Providence was hampered by 12 hitting errors and four service
errors of its own.
After finally taking a lead at 9-8, and again at, 11-10, the
Pioneers’ mistakes allowed the Crusaders to go on an 8-1 run to
retake the lead.
Providence tried to make a run late in the game, but with the
Crusaders leading, 23-17, the Pioneers committed a service error that
allowed Village Christian to take control.
In the second game, the Pioneers took an early lead, but the
Crusaders dominated play in the middle and Providence’s play started
to slip.
Overall, it was a fine showing for the Pioneers in the event, as
they had a 19-3 games record.
Along with Providence, the other three area schools -- Burbank,
Burroughs and Bellarmine-Jefferson -- also took part in the summer
league.
The Indians looked good on Wednesday, capturing the silver bracket
final (for fifth place) against the cross-town rival Bulldogs, 27-25,
25-15.
“We have been looking pretty well during the summer,” said
Burroughs Coach Edwin Real, whose team went 7-3 during the summer
league. “We have some good players who are really improving.”
The Indians came on in the closing weeks of the tournament,
winning four matches in a row after opening the competition 3-3.
Against Burbank (6-3; sixth place), Burroughs led most of the way.
However, the Bulldogs made a late surge to briefly take the lead,
25-24.
However, Burbank couldn’t close out the game and the Indians came
back to salvage the win.
It was all Burroughs in the second game, as it dominated play to
capture the championship.
Burroughs defeated Immaculate Heart, 25-11, 25-18, to advance to
the bracket final.
The Bulldogs earned a place in the title match by defeating
Bell-Jeff, 25-19, 25-23.
Burbank will end its summer today as it takes part in the
Occidental Tournament at Occidental College.
The Guards (4-6) closed out the tournament by falling to
Immaculate Heart, 15-25, 25-21, 15-9. Bell-Jeff had the distinction
of winning the only game against the Providence prior to the
Pioneers’ loss to Village Christian.