The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club’s 17-Smack team team finished fifth at the eighth annual MLK Speakeasy Invitational at the Saddleback Valley Volleyball Club facility on Saturday and Sunday.
The 17-Smack won its first and second rounds against Impact 17-1 and TCA 17s. The team was then knocked into the loser’s bracket, where they it lost to Sunshine 17-1, the eventual tourney runner-up.
Santa Barbara lost to Coast 17-1s, which went on to win the tournament.
From Coach Dwayne Hauschild: “Great weekend for the 17 Smack team at the MLK Speakeasy tourney. We ended up 5th over all and competed right with all the top teams.
“We had an exceptional effort to get a morning victory against Impact 25-15, 25-11, and followed that with a three-game come from behind victory against TCA,” Hauschild said. “Down 10-4 in the game to 15, we battled back and won 15-13, thanks in part to a solid serving effort by Jaime Mayner, and a total team defensive effort highlighted with clutch transition kills by Allie Eason and Amanda Moriarty. The team definitely came together and will hope to build on this result.”
In Southern California qualifiers, both the 15-Smack and 15-Blue teams placed second for the day in the Gold Bracket of the 15s Division.
“We were proud on how our girls played at their first tournament,” 15-Smack coach Jake Hong said. “They showed great mental toughness by being able to come back from early point deficits throughout the day.”
Also assisted by Christy Maguire, the 15-Smack team beat Power Play 15-1 and OVC Bakersfield 15-1, before losing to the top seed in their pool in three games, SMBC 15-Brad. “Sarah Scarminach had a great day of setting and making sure our hitters were able to be successful. Sydney Riegert stepped up and played a huge role both in the front and back row with crucial kills and digs at critical points in matches,” Jake continued. “We expect the girls to keep getting better for the next tournament.”
Coach John Sener, who is assisted by Hailey Fithian, remarked that his 15-Blue team showed signs of being a strong gold division team. The team beat 951 Elite 15s and T-Street 15s in two games, and then entered into a tight battle with Impact 15-Gold and lost 11-15 in the third game.
Coach Sener mentioned the solid setting from Andie O’Donnell and also said that the consistent swings from Anastasia Kunz, Grace Woolf and Lucie Simmons were key reasons in going 2-1 for the day.
Both teams will get a bye through the second qualifying round and will compete in the gold bracket again in their final qualifying round next month.
