For the first time in school history, the San Benito volleyball
team enters the Central Coast Section playoffs as defending
champs.
For the first time in school history, the San Benito volleyball team enters the Central Coast Section playoffs as defending champs.
While they’ll likely have a target on their collective backs after winning last year’s Division I CCS Volleyball Championships, the Lady ‘Balers are prepared to respond to the challenge.
Today, they’ll began their title defense against Mt. Pleasant at Leland High School in San Jose.
After defeating Notre Dame on Oct. 30 in four games to claim the Tri-County Athletic League crown, San Benito (25-10) earned a No. 2-seed and received a first-round bye in the section playoffs.
Mt. Pleasant, on the other hand, was seeded No. 7 and had to upend No. 10 Oak Grove in four games (18-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-13) on Wednesday.
As one of the perks of a first-round bye, San Benito coach Dean Askanas was able to scout Mt. Pleasant earlier this week.
Askanas noted the play of Puneet Pataria, a senior middle blocker for the Cardinals who towers 6-foot-2 and is “really excellent.”
“So this week we’ve been practicing defense against the kind of hits she runs,” Askanas said. “They’re pretty scrappy on defense and they’re an emotional team and they get after it.”
The Cardinals compiled a 16-17 overall record, including a 3-1 win over San Benito’s TCAL rival Gilroy this year. They also lost to Notre Dame at the Milpitas Spikefest earlier in the season, the same team San Benito defeated just last week for the TCAL crown.
Aside from Pataria, though, only one other player stands at 6-foot, leaving the Cardinals slightly undersized.
Nonetheless, Askanas sees Pataria as the real deal.
“She is a big threat,” he said. “She can get hot and we need to slow her down or stop her, so I’m concerned. All you need is one good player to get the team going.”
The Lady ‘Balers though are healthy and have had a good week of practices, their coach said. Not to mention, they’re winners of 10 of their last 11 matches.
“It’s playoff time so we’re making our practices a little shorter to make (the team) more crisp,” Askanas said.
The match will begin at 5 p.m. at Leland High School. The winner will advance to Wednesday’s semifinals at Santa Clara High School against the winner of the No. 6 North Salinas-No. 3 Carlmont matchup.
