The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club’s 12-Blues team, coached by Tina Brown and assisted by Deia Kidd, went 2-1 in pool play in Division 3 at this past weekend’s Mandatory #1 tournament, and it was enough to pull out a 1st place finish for the day based on a head-to-head tie breaker.
The team had a rough start losing a 3-game battle to Hollywood Vikings, but then came back to beat Laguna Beach in 2 and Protégé in a close match winning the 3rd game 18-16! The game against Protégé proved integral, as it was the deciding game of whether the team finished 1st or 4th for the day and moving up or down a division.
Tina was excited to share, “We had a great day, after a rough start we ended up winning the pool! Had absolutely stellar play from Lexi Rottman and Dane Miller all day long, setting a solid offense and never letting the ball drop. Tatum Vedder came up big as our Libero with her ‘never say die’ attitude on the court. Some critical attacks from our middles toward the end of the day were huge and we were able to come up with a big victory! The team worked so hard in our last two matches. Everyone contributed which made the day really nice!”
The team will move up to division 2 for the next Mandatory tournament and have playoffs for the first time this season.
On Sunday, the 15’s teams had an overnight stay to compete in San Diego and the 16’s teams headed down to Los Angeles for the day.
In San Diego, Kara Weirum’s 15 White team move up to Division 1 for the next tournament! The team finished 2nd in the pool play of Division 2, and beat Legacy in the quarter final match in two games to guarantee moving up to the top division. They lost to Coast in the semi-final match, ultimately finishing tied for 3rd for the day.
Weirum excitedly reported, “Every match we played in pool went to three games and the girls showed a lot of endurance. Amanda Moriarty played outstanding and consistent all day. McKenzie Scarborough did a terrific job of stepping in and playing outside hitter for the team.”
The 15 Blue team coached by Greg Gibbons started off with a less-than-satisfying morning in pool play of division 1, but found a way to finish strong for the day in playoffs. In pool play, the team lost to Wave in 2 games, lost to Laguna Beach 15-Wiz in 2 games, and beat Jamba in 2 games which gave them a 3rd place pool finish.
The first playoff match meant that the losing team would move down a division, and the 15 Blue battled Sports Shack 15-1 to beat them in 3 games to keep them in Division 1. Coming off that win, the 15 Blue went on to beat Epic 15-1 in the semi-final round, and beat Surf City 15’s in the finals to give the team an overall finish of 9th for the day. “…the girls gutted through and played hard as a team,” Gibbons pointed out.
The 15 Red team went into pool play of Division 4 seeded 3 and finished 3rd, remaining in Division 4. Coach Desiree Partlow gave special mention to several players. “Sarah McKinney and Ayla Nelson did a great job blocking at the net, while McKinny also lead us in kills for the tournament. Leila Nathan and Caroline Stoll carried the team in digs.”
The 16 Blue team, coached by Jake Hong, went 1 and 2 in pool play to finish 3rd in their pool, and won the next critical playoff match to remain in Division 1. Hong mentioned, “The team really had to rally together to make sure we stayed in division 1 on Sunday. Rachel Szeyller and Hannah Warwick did a great job of stepping in during our playoff match and helped us win that critical match.”
Kayce Matthess’ 16 White team struggled all day in Division 2 losing three matches in pool play, and the following first playoff round. Although the day did not go as well as hoped, Matthess did say of the team, “…did have some high points, and middles Kari Garcia and Karina Evans did a good job of reading on the blocks and making themselves available to hit in transition.”
This moves the team down to Division 3 for the next Mandatory tournament.
The 16 Red team coached by Katherine Hopkins also had an unfortunate day, going 0-3 in their pool to finish 4th for the day and move down to Division 7 for the next Mandatory tournament.
Hopkins mentioned that “the team struggled to put all the pieces together at the right time and complete as a team. Some highlights from the day included Caroline Colbert’s consistent and incredibly tough jump float serve, and Victoria Chandler’s all around consistent play from the outside position.”
