Pioneers victorious in thriller

PASADENA — With sweat dripping from his face, Providence High girls’ volleyball Coach James Jimenez melted into a courtside seat, dipping his head down and burying his face in his hands.

Jimenez had just lived through the agony and ecstasy of every point of his Pioneers’ CIF Southern Division IVAA quarterfinal playoff match with host Pasadena Poly, and he was exhausted.

After a few moments of recovery, the coach raised his head and allowed himself a smile — a victory smile.

Providence made history with an inspired performance against the No. 3-seeded Panthers on Saturday, rallying for a 25-22, 19-25, 25-19, 20-25, 15-12 victory at Pasadena Poly.

The win put the Pioneers (23-3) into the playoff semifinals for the first time in school history. More significant, however, is the fact that girls’ volleyball is only the third sport in Providence history to advance to a semifinal. The Pioneer baseball team won a Small Schools championship in 1986 and the 2006 boys’ volleyball team — coached by Jimenez — advanced to a title match.

Providence was able to secure the historic accomplishment with a fine effort in the crucial fifth game against Pasadena Poly (16-5).

“I think I was more nervous than the girls were in that fifth game,” said Jimenez, whose team earned a share of the Liberty League title this year. “That was such a nerve-wracking game. I’m just happy we were able to pull out the win.”

After the Panthers tied the match by winning the fourth game, Jimenez said he gave his team specific pointers about how to approach the fifth game.

“I told them that they have to make [Pasadena Poly] earn every point that they get,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that we didn’t give up easy points in the game.”

The Pioneers did just as their coach asked. However, the Panthers didn’t exactly what their opponent was trying to avoid. They committed five hitting errors and two service errors in the fifth game.

Providence was able to jump out to a 6-3 lead in the game, aided by two hitting errors and one service error by Pasadena Poly.

However, the Panthers were able to claw back on the play of senior outside hitter Renee Duncan-Mestel, who tallied five kills in the game. She finished with a match-high 25 kills.

Pasadena Poly tied the game at 9 before a kill by Pioneer senior outside hitter Heather Hansen (16 kills, 10 digs) put the Pioneers up by one. After another Pioneer point the Panthers came back to knot the contest at 12.

But after two Pasadena Poly errors, Providence was able to put the match away on a kill by senior outside hitter Galia Sotomayer.

Providence also received 27 assists from senior setter Natalie Kasbarian and 14 digs from libero Melissa Rosal.

“This was such a back-and-fourth game,” Jimenez said of the match in which his team won the first, third and fifth games. “Pasadena Poly is a very good team and they have a very good player in [Duncan-Mestel].

“But our girls did a good job and they never gave up.”

The Pioneers won all three of their games on the same side of the court.

The match began uncharacteristically for both teams. Pasadena Poly came into the contest with two consecutive three-game sweeps in its opening playoff contests, and Providence lost the opening games in each of its two previous postseason matches.

However, in the first game on Saturday, Providence was able to win, as Duncan-Mestel wasn’t much of a factor, collecting just two kills.

But Duncan-Mestel was able to lead the way in the second game, vaulting her team to victory with five kills.

Mistakes is what led to the Panthers’ downfall in the third game, as they committed 10 hitting errors and three service errors. The Pioneers led throughout the game.

The Panthers responded by dominating the fourth game, taking a commanding 20-12 lead before the Pioneers made a modest comeback.