Gaels go flat after first game

BURBANK — While there was still plenty of volleyball to be played following the first game of Tuesday night’s CIF Southern Section Division 4-A first-round playoff match, it certainly seemed as if the groundwork for the Holy Family volleyball team’s loss to visiting Santa Clara was laid in the Gaels’ tough opening-game loss.

Once the Saints came back to take that game, in which the Gaels had led into the 20s, they seized the momentum and never gave it back, ending Holy Family’s season with a 25-22, 25-19, 25-18 loss at Providence High.

“It came down to the first game, I think whoever got that one got all the momentum — they had it and they just went with it,” first-year Holy Family Coach James Jimenez said. “It’s their first playoff game, so I’ll give them that, [it was] nerves, but we just made a lot of mistakes, too, and [Santa Clara] made plays.”

Holy Family (17-7) led, 21-18, near the end of the first game, capping a 3-0 run with a kill by sophomore middle blocker Denise Patino.

But Santa Clara turned things around quickly with a 7-1 run that included two kills by junior outside hitter Heaven Silvera.

Santa Clara (11-6-1) carried that run right into the second game, which began with three straight aces by junior setter Kelli Russell and a 4-0 Saints lead.

While Holy Family, which finished second in the Horizon League, was able to get right back in the thick of the second game, it was in part the Gaels’ own serving that kept them from ever retaking the lead.

“Serving errors, [the Saints] don’t even have to work for it,” said Jimenez, whose team misfired on serves six times in the second game. “We just serve it out.”

The lead wavered back and forth in the third game, with Holy Family tying the game at 14 on a kill by Shanelle Agito and staying within 18-17 later in the game.

But Santa Clara had one more big run left, cruising to the win on another 7-1 spree fueled by three straight aces by senior outside hitter Rachael Valovcin.

“She’s one of the better hitters we’ve seen,” Jimenez said of Valovcin, who led all players with nine kills, including five in the final game. “We beat ourselves, too, but she did a good job of getting her kills.”

Holy Family got four kills from Patino and Ashlee Sandoval and two from Gayle Lachica.

“You always want go far in the playoffs and it’s a disappointment when you don’t,” Jimenez said. “But I think we had a good season and the good thing for us is that we only lose one senior.”