Bishop Diego took third in its Gold Division pool on Friday morning and eventually made it to the semifinals of the Silver Bracket on Saturday at the San Luis Obispo Volleyball Tournament.
Johnny Brand finished the tournament with 61 kills and an impressive .440 hitting average for the Cardinals, who started off the day with a 26-24, 16-25, 15-11 win over Madera South. The victory was followed by a pair of two-set losses against formidable squads from Trabuco Hills (the No. 5 team in CIF Division II) and Camarillo.
A playoff-opening win over Pioneer Valley kept the Cardinals alive, but Righetti ended Bishop’s run, 25-18, late in the afternoon.
“This was a pretty good tournament for us,” said coach Jason Donnelly. “At times we showed flashes of the team we want to be down the road. At other times, there were some obvious weaknesses that we need to improve upon.
We definitely got better, and we’re fired up to play Carpinteria on Wednesday. It’ll be my first experience in that rivalry, so it should be a lot of fun.”
James Fazio dished out 132 assists on the weekend, and Robert Connolly had some big put-aways en route to 37 kills. After the rivalry match, the Cardinals will play in Saturday’s Dos Pueblos Invitational at UCSB’s Thunderdome.
