The mild-mannered Jimenez, who led Providence’s girls’ teams to a pair of Liberty League championships, took everything in stride throughout a match that featured numerous momentum switches. While adjusting to his new team, he hadn’t forgotten about helping Providence’s returning players get better until he left the school to go in a new direction.
“I knew Providence would be tough, so we definitely needed to step up our game,” said Jimenez, whose team picked up the final four points of the match to clinch the victory. “I look at it as our first challenge.
“We found out that it’s always hard to put a team away. I fought a lot of battles with [the Providence players]. It was strange coming from the parking lot, but I built a lot of great relationships with the people here.”
The Gaels, who finished third in the Horizon League last season before appearing in the CIF Division IV-A playoffs, received 38 assists and four aces from junior setter Rebecca Sanchez to turn back a Pioneer squad that reach the playoffs last year.
Holy Family overcame a couple of late deficits to earn a key second-game victory.
Providence didn’t let the tough loss deflate it, as senior outside hitter Christine Mallari led the comeback.
Mallari had six kills in the third game and five in the fourth game to highlight a 19-kill performance.
However, the Pioneers fell short in completing a mammoth comeback bid. They took a 6-5 lead on an ace by junior setter Veronica Gannon. Holy Family then closed out with a 10-3 run to end the two-hour match.
Providence Coach Josh Eggleston said the Pioneers lacked consistency during major stretches.
“That’s as poorly as we’ve played since I got here in June,” Eggleston said. “We didn’t execute with our passing or ball control, and it snowballed into a lot of errors.
“We did have some good performances. I thought we might roll over after the second game, but we didn’t.”
