Providence girls’ volleyball takes down Glendale Adventist

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — While the Glendale Adventist Academy girls’ volleyball team found a spark midway through the second game of Thursday’s Liberty League match, visiting Providence made sure the Cougars never really caught fire.

The Pioneers withstood a late rally from the Cougars in the second game and the early third-game momentum it generated for Glendale Adventist to finish off a 25-11, 25-20, 25-16 sweep.

“In games two and three they were more prepared and they did a lot better job of ball control than they did in game one,” Pioneers Coach Josh Eggleston said of the Cougars. “I [told the girls] we’re playing for momentum at this point and you can’t relax. My big message to them was that whatever you did to get here to be successful you can’t relax off that because they’re not going to give you the game.

“We’ve had some struggles in closeout situations and I wanted to stay on top of that.”

Providence (10-6, 3-2 in league) had to work to close out the second game, which had seemed a foregone conclusion when it took a 22-11 lead. But Glendale Adventist scored two of the next three points and pulled to within 23-13 on a kill from Andrea Blake. The Pioneers then got game point on a Cougars service error, but remained stuck there for the next seven points. Blake had three more kills during her team’s 7-0 run, but the comeback ended on a serve that sailed out of bounds.

“We came out really cold in that first game and we were able get some energy and intensity in the second game,” said Glendale Adventist Coach Hugo Gomez, whose team fell to 5-8 and 2-3 in league. “We carried that momentum into the third game and were a little bit more competitive.”

Providence started strong in the third game behind two kills from Janel Adraneda, but Glendale Adventist stayed close, tied at 7 and then within three at 15-12 on back-to-back kills from Blake.

Lorena Ubillus helped Providence break away down the stretch with a four-point service run with three aces to make it 23-15.

“We served really well today and I think it gave them some trouble,” Eggleston said. “I don’t think they were expecting that.”