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After dropping a close opening set, the St. Anthony Saints (16-16-1) didn’t waver in their playoff opener against Pacifica Christian (19-6) on Wednesday night.
With the support of a loud home crowd, the Saints bounced back in a big way to secure their spot in the second round of the CIF-SS Division 5 playoffs, securing a 23-25, 25-9, 25-19, 25-21 victory at Jack Errion Memorial Gym.
The visiting Seawolves recorded eight service aces in that opening set, but had just six the rest of the night as St. Anthony was able to lock in on serve receive and let their superior hitters lead them to the four-set victory.
“We did a lot of research on the team beforehand, and we kind of based this game off of serve and pass,” explained St. Anthony head coach Monyea Barber. “That was our main goal to serve our targets and then we didn’t ask for perfect passes, we just needed opportunities, that was it. And I feel like they did a really good job at executing that in really critical moments towards the third and the fourth set. They gave us so many options, which helped us.”
Senior middle Quinn Bell had a match-high 19 kills, taking some big swings throughout the match that the Seawolves had no answer for. Senior outside Brianna Mbire was another effective weapon on the pins, collecting 18 kills and four aces. Senior outside Brooke Jondle added six kills and six aces for the Saints.
The Saints were able to reset after dropping the first game and won the second set with authority, ending the 25-9 win with three consecutive aces from Jondle.
“We just talked about not hesitating and trusting each other more, because we all knew that we were the better team,” said Bell of the discussion between sets one and two. “I think we were just overthinking a lot of things and we weren’t very disciplined … That second set we were really trying to side out quicker and just have trust. I think trust was a big part of that game.”
St. Anthony opened the third game on an 8-2 run, looking poised to leave the Seawolves in the dust, but had to battle to the end after the visitors got things tied up at 14-14. A roof by Sofia Hillman and Ryan Orantes was a big momentum boost and gave the Saints the lead–one they would never surrender on their way to a 2-1 lead in the match.
Things got tense again in set four, with the teams locked up 10-10, but the Saints went on a crucial 5-0 run thanks to a service error, an ace by Makayla Shepherd, and then three consecutive kills from Bell to make it 15-10 St. Anthony. Bell said she wanted to make sure she delivered for her team in those tense moments, and it came down to being in the right headspace.
“I was trying to stay confident in myself. Just being confident and not hesitating,” said Bell. “I was focusing on a lot of my mistakes, and I kind of got in my head, so I was just trying to focus on the good things that I was doing and think about it in a more positive light and just do my job for the team.”
St. Anthony ended up with an advantage at the service line, finishing with 20 aces as a team compared to 14 for the Seawolves.
Pacifica Christian was led by 11 kills from Doone Polvino.
St. Anthony will be back at home on Saturday evening, taking on San Jacinto in the second round of the CIF playoffs. The Tigers also won their first round contest in four sets, defeating Culver City on Wednesday night.
