Both the Anzar Hawks and the Hollister Haybalers found out
Saturday that they qualified for the Central Coast Section
playoffs.
The No. 8 Balers (18-18, 5-5 TCAL) drew a home game in the first
round Wednesday against No. 9 Independence (14-21). If San Benito
can win in the first round, it will face No. 1 Salinas (26-8), who
received a first-round bye.
Both the Anzar Hawks and the Hollister Haybalers found out Saturday that they qualified for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
The No. 8 Balers (18-18, 5-5 TCAL) drew a home game in the first round Wednesday against No. 9 Independence (14-21). If San Benito can win in the first round, it will face No. 1 Salinas (26-8), who received a first-round bye.
“We’re just going to work on the basics this week,” said Baler coach Chuck Schallhorn. “We need to make sure our passing is accurate. We are also going to work on staying aggressive and keeping the serves strong – being able to serve a team off the court.”
Schallhorn plans to keep the same rotation going that has been successful this year – the same one that gave the Balers a six-game winning streak going into the game against Salinas.
Both Gilroy and Live Oak, who finished below San Benito in the league standings, received a higher seeding going into the playoffs than the Balers did because of the teams they played and the teams they beat.
“You can’t dispute that they have not had a successful year,” Schallhorn said. “But they have not played the stronger schedule so their average is higher than ours. The strength of scheduling is something I need to work on next year to get more points.”
No. 5 Live Oak (18-15) faces No. 4 Milpitas (19-16) and No. 7 Gilroy (21-10 faces No. 10 Oak Grove (13-18).
In Division 4 action, Notre Dame (27-5), who was the co-league champ along with Salinas will play the winner of No. 8 Mercy and No. 9 Pacific Grove.
Independence qualified for the playoffs with a .500 record in the non-league portion of the schedule.
“They are a short defensive scrappy team,” Schallhorn said. “They have one really good hitter. If we play our game, we can beat any team in Division 1.”
Although the Balers are favored in the game, Schallhorn doesn’t want to think too much about Salinas. However, he is looking forward to the chance to avenge the three- and four-game losses to the Cowboys.
“The reason Salinas is ranked No. 1 is because they have beat teams when it mattered,” Schallhorn said. “We can beat Salinas, but we have to play an outstanding game to be able to do so. We haven’t put it together over an entire match against them.”
No. 2 Anzar (13-12, 8-8 MTAL) will probably play a rematch against the team that it beat for last year’s Division 5 title – Valley Christian of Dublin. No. 3 Valley Christian (17-2) plays No. 6 Fremont Christian (13-8).
Anzar, who finished the season with a pair of three-game losses, will take on the winner Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. at Santa Clara High School. The winner will play in the championship Nov. 22 at West Valley College.
No. 1 seed King’s Academy (17-7) finished second behind Valley Christian but will be playing with the better seed.
“The King’s Academy is in the easy bracket,” said Hawk coach Chris Wardlaw. “The two best teams are us and Valley Christian. My guess is that the winner between those teams will be the CCS champ.”
The Hawks are confident they can do well because of playing a tougher schedule, Wardlaw said.
“They play mostly Division 5 teams, while we don’t play any Division 5 team,” Wardlaw said. “It is good for us because we go into the playoffs already having played teams that are way better than we will meet. It prepares us well.”
