The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club’s 14-Blue had an amazing run at the 3-day Junior Olympic Qualifier in Southern California this past weekend.
Having to come through a challenge bracket and play extra matches over the first two days in the Club Division, a tired but tenacious 14-Blue team gutted through two matches on Sunday to achieve a bid to compete at the Junior Olympics in Miami Beach this July.
The first day, the team skated through an afternoon pool of three 2-game matches against Sunshine 14-3, SoCal 14-Swamis, and Gold Cal 14s, and finished up around 9:45 p.m.
”We started off strong, really working together and getting settled in. Mady Simon stepped in on the right side and showed her overall improvement by touching many balls on the block and making some kills, while Michaela Ford went on crazy serving runs to finish off the games,” coach K.C. Collins said.
The team turned right back around in the early morning to play their first match at 8 a.m beating Surf City 14 Black and Arsenal Kaepa 14-1 in two quick 2-game matches.
“We had dominating swings and unstoppable defense by our firey redheaded outside hitters, Katherine Crook and Sierra Hofstatter, to win the first two matches commandingly,” said Collins.
However, they dropped the third match to a tough competitor South Bay 14-1 which knocked them into a challenge bracket to get back into bid contention. After a short 2-hour break, the team returned that evening to compete in their first challenge match where the team beat Sunshine 14-2 Diamond in 2 games.
Being the last of the 22 courts still competing, the team started its last challenge match at 9:15 p.m. against Beach Cities 14-Gold. With the lights turning off and the janitor riding the floor sweeper around them, the 14-Blue won the match in 3 intense games and the two teams were the last to leave the building!
Collins lauded the play of the setter and middles, “In these particular matches, our middles Emma Mascari and Rachel Smith really stepped up their play both hitting the quick sets and playing great defense to round out our overall offense. Setter Emma Craine passed, defended the back court and set well all weekend, but had her best setting ever in our match against Beach Cities connecting well with the middles and making points herself with well timed oversets!”
Collins also mentioned the amazing support of the other SB club coaches — Liz Gilbert, Greg Gibbons, Jake Hong and Dwayne Hauschild (and even two coaches from another club), who from the team’s bench, with loud hoots and hollers, did an impressive rendition of “the wave” after each point was scored.
For the 3rd and final day, the 14-Blue discovered they had to play South Bay again in the quarterfinals, which was another blazing battle going to 3 games, but this time SB came out on top winning the final game 15-13.
“While the whole team was on fire, Mariah Bell and Colleen O’Conner really stepped it up with their blocking and offense to make a difference in winning this match,“ said coach Greg Novak. “And a major high five to Frankie Lewis for her all-around play and who never came off the court in the 3 days…She wreaked havoc with her serve, made kills from the middle and right side positions, she set half the time, passed well in serve-receive and played great defense all weekend long!”
The team had one more match to win for a shot at either the National or American division bid, and the team came out with such intense desire they beat Wave 14 Janna in the semi-finals 27-17 and 25-15.
“When we beat Wave so convincingly, I was overwhelmed by how far this team had come to get to this moment and I was so proud of my girls, I had tears in my eyes!” she admitted.
Then a little luck came their way when SCVC 14-Roxy won their semi-final match. SCVC had already obtained a National bid from another qualifier, so by default the National bid trickled down to the 14-Blue and the Finals match was merely a formality. The 14-Blue, unfortunately tapped out of energy, lost that match 26-28 and 17-25, but came away from the weekend as big winners and are looking forward to Junior Olympics. Coaches Collins and Novak couldn’t have been more proud of the team.
The 16 Blue team, competing in the open, had a great run over the first two days, getting second in their pool the first day and tying for 1st in their pool the second day. Unfortunately the tie caused them to compete in a one-game playoff for first, which the team dropped 22-25 to Wave. This put them out of contention for the Open bid to JO’s.
However, the team went on to play well Sunday and finish 3rd in the Bronze bracket of the 16 Open Division.
Coach Jake Hong was complimentary of his team’s play, “(Assistant Coach) Dwayne and I were very proud of our team this weekend. The team played extremely hard and well during this whole qualifier. It was a total team effort and it really was fun to see them play as a cohesive unit. Unfortunately, we came in just one match short of getting an open bid. Emma Campbell was unbelievable all weekend long. She put on a clinic with her defensive and passing technique which helped the team run our offense. Amy Lanski also had a great weekend offensively where she had many kills and blocks to help us out.”
The 14 White and the 16 White teams also competed in the Club divisions of their age groups. The 16 White finished 3rd in the 16s Club division Bronze bracket while the 14 White finished 2nd in Flight Bracket 2B. Matt Schroeder, coach of the 14 White, returned from the event in one piece.
“Despite the mysterious circumstances surrounding the absence of their assistant coach, the 14 White were able to focus on the task at hand and generate plenty of bright moments. On Friday, the team won their first match convincingly but then dropped their next two to finish 3rd in their pool. The middle blocker platoon of Tala “The Party” Hishmeh, Sammi “The Velvet Hammer” Rhine and Amy “the Carpinteria Curtain” Davis put up a wall at the net that Poland could have made use of in World War II. The triple threat delivered more blocks than a kindergarten classroom. The team rebounded quickly on Saturday winning all three contests, including an especially heated second match against a very hungry Altamont team, which involved a number of hostile confrontations (including allegations of flirting with refs and threats of physical violence against Coach Schroeder) that forced tournament officials to consider hiring security personnel in the future. Grace “The Silent Assassin” Halleck had a field day from the outside without ever allowing her almost disinterested facial expression to be compromised. After being informed (to her surprise) that it was her turn to serve, Karley “Don’t Call me Carls” Lawrence concentrated long enough to produce a plethora of aces and steady back row play. Sunday marked the last day of playoffs, and the girls won twice to reach the championship of their bracket. Overall the girls went 6-3 to complete a tremendous weekend that saw the team play their best volleyball yet!”
Kayce Matthess of the 16 White gave special mention to one of her players for the weekend, “Karina Evans played the best volleyball I have ever seen her play on Saturday. She probably had at least 2-3 solo blocks and 5-6 block assists in her best match on Saturday. Not to mention a run of like 6 points serving!”
