LA CAÑADA — Tremendous defensive effort made the difference Wednesday for St Francis’ boys volleyball team.
The Golden Knights were faced with the tall task of facing El Segundo in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 quarterfinals. The Eagles have a pair of UC Santa Barbara commits in outside hitter twins Ryan and Dylan Pilkvist, but the Knights’ defense was ready for the challenge.
St Francis took the match, 25-19, 25-17, 23-25, 24-26, 15-11, avoiding the reverse sweep from a fiery El Segundo squad.
Leading the way for St. Francis (21-7) was senior Ryan Bender, who totaled 16 kills, three blocks and an ace.
“It feels amazing,” Bender said after the win. “It took a lot of preparation and hard work to get to this point. I’m so blessed to be here. I’m so happy we won.”
The Golden Knights also got a huge defensive boost from opposite hitter Benjamin Andrade, who added 13 kills and five blocks.
St. Francis played as well as coach Carlos Medina could’ve hoped from the middle of the first set through the whole second set. The Golden Knights exploded on a 10-5 run in the first set and a 16-4 run in the second, where the defense could seemingly do no wrong.
Bender and fellow outside hitter Matthew Polenzani each tallied five kills in the first set and finished the match with 15.
While the twin Eagles were tough to stop in the first and second sets, El Segundo (14-7) took off when more players got involved. The two were the only two Eagles to register points in the first two sets and the team needed more to force a fourth game.
Three other Eagles added kills in third set which eventually led to better looks for the Pilkvist brothers. Even though setter Elvin Krilko was spreading the ball out more frequently, Ryan had his best set of the night with nine of his match-high 25 kills coming in the third game.
Dylan took over in the fourth set where he added seven of his 19 kills.
“Our concentration was can we take as much pin offense away from them,” Medina said. “And they still got theirs. I’m not going to sit here and tell you we stopped them completely, but it definitely helped a lot. Our block was clutch, especially in the second and first sets.
“I think our block was on. But in the third and in the fourth, they were swinging with power, swinging high. We had points where they were hitting above our block… but they played their hearts out. …. El Segundo, what a team.”
Both twins also blocked exceptionally well, with Ryan registering six.
The Eagles defense forced some extra tipping in the first few sets but the smart plays typically paid off with points for the Knights.
The two teams went blow for blow in the fourth game with neither able to get a comfortable lead. The Knights went up two points late in the set before two consecutive lifting calls gutted the lead.
While the bulk of the players were showing fatigue in the fourth, Polenzani remained ready for every play and added three kills in the fifth set.
The errors started to pile up for El Segundo late the fifth before Bender ended the night with a match point kill.
St. Francis will host No. 1 seed in Mater Dei in the semifinals Saturday night. It will be just the eighth home match of the season for the Golden Knights.
Bender knew nothing would come easy in the Division 2 bracket but is ecstatic to see what’s on the horizon for his team.
“Well, it’s going to be hard but I think we have a chance with this group of guys,” Bender said. “We’ve worked really hard to get here so I’m excited to see what we can do.”
A spot in the championship match will be on the line Saturday but Medina believes his players won’t be distracted by that.
“We know that anything can get us through that if we rely on each other in our brotherhood,” Medina said. “So for us, the championship, the trophies, the opportunity to get to the next round, it’s a plus. It’s what do we prove to ourselves and not to other people. If we can continue to prove more to ourselves every single time, that’s our championship.”