Buchanan Girls Volleyball on Thursday night topped Garces Memorial 3-1 in the first round of the CIF Central Section Division I playoffs. The win was not without drama for the Bears who are looking to defend their Central Section Championship this year with the help of Sidney Oehlschlager and co-captain Kylie Kerney.
With the loss of eight seniors, this road to the championship is shaping up to be a more challenging one for the Bears. Buchanan entered the first round of the playoffs as the sixth seed after going 5-5 in league play this season.
“This season has been a big learning curve when you have so many new bodies you have to learn how to bond and once you have learned to bond, you have to learn to battle,” said head coach Chantal Paschetta White after the game.
Garces dropped the first set 25-20 and fell behind early in the second set before finding a rhythm that earned them much needed points. After taking the lead in the second set Garces forced Buchanan to take two timeouts as the Bears attempted to break the momentum that Garces had moving in its direction.
With the help of a point awarded via a penalty for an improper substitution, Garces took the second set 25-22.
Head coach White cited complacency as the Bears’ problem in their slow second set. “We got complacent and we got comfortable and that’s when you lose focus and things start to not go your way,” she said.
Frequent substitutions to create different matchups helped Buchanan refocus and stay on their toes in the second half of the game. Oehlschlager’s attacks at the nets, meanwhile, guided Buchanan through the final two sets with spikes that often left Garces watching the ball through the back of the court.
Buchanan will now face two-seed Arroyo Grande for their quarterfinal matchup. That will be Buchanan’s first trip on the road in the playoffs and head coach White believes the team is prepared for that task.
“I know we’re going to be road warriors all next week. We’re really optimistic going into it. We had a lot of preseason experience traveling on the road to the coast and Bakersfield.” White said.
Buchanan’s defense will be a priority for the coming practice sessions before the Bears play Arroyo Grande, who finished their league play with a 12-0 record and enter the playoffs with a 26-4 overall record.
“We definitely need to get better at out blocking we had become a little undisciplined up at the net,” head coach White said.