Benicia High School boys volleyball team holds on for first-round playoff win
May 6-Sometimes, the North Coast Section Division III playoffs are about survival, not style points.
That was certainly true for the No. 3-seeded Benicia High School boys volleyball team, which needed a gritty performance to outlast No. 14 San Rafael, 27-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-22 on Tuesday in the first round.
The Panthers (23-6) advance to Thursday's quarterfinals to host No. 6 Berean Christian of Walnut Creek, a program that swept them in Diablo Athletic League play.
Benicia blew a 10-point lead in the opening set as the Bulldogs (14-11) reeled off 11 of 12 points late. San Rafael led 25-24 before the Panthers scored the final three points to finish it out.
"It was a scary (match)," said Benicia senior Joshua Bernardez. "We should have won in three. Overall, we played decently. I don't think it was the best we ever played, but a win is a win."
Benicia senior Duncan Seeley finished with a team-high 13 kills, and junior Jeremy Young had 17 points from the service line and added 19 digs. Junior James Santos added 16 assists, 10 digs and two aces, and senior Cruz Villanueva had a team-high 24 assists.
A Villanueva-to-Seeley kill gave Benicia a seemingly comfortable 18-8 lead in the opening set. Junior Evan Dickerson hit the ball past the would-be block of the Bulldogs as the Panthers eventually led 23-14.
However, with senior Leo Datnow at the service line, the Bulldogs got hot, and the Panthers were ice cold. A Benicia hitting error gave San Rafael a 25-24 lead, but Benicia senior Remy Berg's hit tied the set up again and gave the Panthers the side back. Senior Robert Swanson's hit into the back row was not returned, and then San Rafael hit the ball out to wrap up the set for the Panthers.
Benicia head coach Maynard Patacsil was pleased to see his team come back and focus despite San Rafael's early comeback.
"I think because we had already seen (San Rafael), they were a little overconfident; they thought they were going to take over," he said about his players. "They came through. They figured it out. They fixed it."
Benicia trailed the second set 10-7 early, and the game was tied 14-all before the Panthers found their rhythm. A four-point service run from Young pushed the lead to 21-15. Bernardez's hit the ball past the block of San Rafael for the 23rd point, and Seeley had a thunderous serve for the 25th and final point.
San Rafael led 6-0 out of the gate and 16-8 in the third game. Benicia rallied and eventually tied it 23-23 after a Santos-to-Seeley kill, but San Rafael wrapped it up with a final point from junior Mason Stein.
Both teams played a solid fourth set. San Rafael led 21-20 before Benicia scored three straight points to lead 23-21. Bernardez and junior Ian Nagata had a kill and a dink in that rally. San Rafael got as close as 23-22 before a Nagata hit made it match-point, and the Bulldogs hit it out for the 25th point.
Patacsil acknowledged that San Rafael showed his team a few different things than in the first meeting.
"A little bit with the change of the liberos," he said about surprises. "They had a libero swap that we didn't see the first time. This time, (San Rafael) played with a little more intensity. Obviously, this is the NCS, and there's a lot at stake for them."
Nagata added seven kills, Carlos Solla had five spikes, and Berg chipped in four kills and three blocks for the Panthers, who face their nemesis, Berean Christian, in the next round.
"Berean Christian is a very good school," Bernardez said. "We haven't beat them. Hopefully, this time will be different with the pressure of this being the playoffs, and this is the last year (for the seniors). This is one of the best seeds we've ever had."
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