The top-seeded Redondo boys volleyball team was admittedly tense in the first game of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs Thursday against visiting Pacifica Christian.
But the Sea Hawks were able to relax and behind a well-rounded team effort, they swept Pacifica Christian 25-15, 25-8, 25-15.
Redondo (26-8) will play at Dos Pueblos on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
“We play better when we’re coming together. Taking a game too seriously doesn’t really work for us,” Redondo junior middle blocker Bobby Bennett said. “We tried to do that a few times and we got nervous and started to get tense. It came down to playing as a team, coming together and enjoying being out there.”
Playing without libero Connor Bebe (torn ACL), Redondo coach Kevin Norman went with Carter Mirabal as a replacement in the opening set and the Sea Hawks jumped out to a 9-3 advantage.
Mirabal finished with eight digs, five kills and one assist.
“(Bebe’s) role is really big. We’re a smaller team, so passing is super important,” said junior setter Shane Friedman, who finished with 23 assists, seven digs and two kills. “(Mirabal and Drew Blair) did a really good job of filling his role. Been working on it a lot in practice and I think it showed today
It was the play of Bennett and sophomore Cash Essert at the net that not only stifled any rally by Pacifica Christian (11-12), it also kept the Sea Hawks’ rallies alive.
With Redondo leading 12-6, Essert recorded a kill before Vaughn Flaherty came up with a block and a kill on consecutive points. Essert added his second block of the first set before Bennett’s ace helped Redondo take a commanding 18-6 lead.
Bennett finished with eight kills, one block and an ace, while Essert added four kills and three blocks.
It may not have been the change to Blair at libero in the second set, but the Sea Hawks played noticeably looser despite Pacifica Christian keeping the set close. That was until Trey Dawson’s serving run helped Redondo turn a 3-3 tie into a 13-3 lead. The run included two Flaherty blocks and two Luke Goldmann kills.
Flaherty finished with six blocks and five kills.
“(Mirabal and Blair) looked very similar, and that was what we thought would happen,” Redondo coach Kevin Norman said. “We looked at different possibilities to keep our passing shored up. (Dawson) had that service run and it was good to go on a good run and play defense.”
As Norman sat his starters for the third set, he continued to see the kind of problems Pacifica Christian’s Hunter Reynolds posed. Reynolds finished with a game-high 14 kills.
“(Pacifica Christian) had one guy giving us problems. We did a pretty good job of neutralizing him at some point,” Norman said. “You’ve got to hand it to guys that are hitting good spots, and we can’t stop that. Hitting perimeters is how you score, and (Reynolds) is good.”
Norman knows the key to extending the Sea Hawks’ season is getting contributions up and down the lineup.
“We don’t have a ton of superstars, but we have a lot of guys that are really good volleyball players,” Norman said. “It could be anyone on any given night getting the highest kill total.”
Around the South Bay
Peninsula defeated South Torrance in five sets Thursday in the first round of the Division 3 playoffs. Drake Harris led the Panthers with 28 kills.
Peninsula will host Arcadia in Saturday’s second round at 7 p.m.
Also in Division 3, Wiseburn Da Vinci dropped the first two sets against Cerritos, but rallied to win the final three to advance to the second round. Wiseburn will host Mission Viejo Saturday at 6 p.m.
In Division 4, North Torrance defeated Pacifica Christian of Santa Monica in four sets. North will be on the road Saturday against West Ranch at noon.
In Division 7, CAMS defeated Valley Christian of Santa Maria in four sets. CAMS will host Shalhevet Saturday at 9:15 p.m. at Cabrillo High.
