San Benito will play Piedmont Hills Saturday in the
quarterfinals of the Division I playoffs
HOLLISTER
There is, at times, an uncertainty surrounding the Central Coast Section Girls Volleyball Championships.
If it’s not, “Will we get in?” it’s often, “So just who are these guys, anyway?”
The No. 4 San Benito Lady ‘Balers will open the Division I playoffs on Saturday with a team they’ve never played before, a team they don’t know too much about.
Qualifying for the postseason for the fourth year in a row, and for the 10th time in the last 11 years, San Benito will open the CCS quarterfinals against No. 5 Piedmont Hills (16-10) at Watsonville High on Saturday.
Lady ‘Balers coach Dean Askanas had to do his homework this week on the Pirates, which have won two straight matches and six of their last eight.
An outside hitting team, Askanas said, Piedmont Hills is anchored by Devon Bates and Amanda Pinon, who have combined for 427 kills on the season, roughly 64 percent of the team’s attack.
“And where they form the offense is on the left side,” Askanas said. “They don’t send much of the offense through the middle or to the right.
“We’ll concentrate a little bit on that in practice, and maybe our middle blockers might cheat over to the left-side hitter.”
Although the Pirates may come off as one-dimensional – focusing their offense through the left side – Askanas is quick to point out that in volleyball, strong teams can be one-dimensional.
“If you have two strong outside hitters, you can be one-dimensional,” Askanas said. “But I don’t know if they’re top-notch or anything … We’ll find out when we’re playing.”
In terms of defense, which has been San Benito’s bread and butter all season, Askanas kept it simple.
“I just hope our defense is better than theirs,” he said.
The San Benito-Piedmont Hills match, scheduled for 3 p.m., will be one of four matches in Division I on Saturday’s slate, which includes No. 6 Monta Vista (18-12) against No. 3 Evergreen Valley (21-9); No. 7 Milpitas (14-18) versus No. 2 Homestead (24-8); and No. 9 Oak Grove (23-13) against No. 1 Salinas (21-7).
And chances are, San Benito and Piedmont Hills aren’t the only two teams in the section with little knowledge of one another.
But even then, Askanas feels the players can figure out the opposition rather quickly.
“It helps when you’re up against a really good team, but to me it doesn’t make much of a difference,” said Askanas, when asked just how critical it is to know the opponent. “It’s important to know what you’re doing on your side of the floor, which is especially important for us.”
