Sydney Riegert of the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club's 15-Smack team goes up for a spike as teammates Evanne Jimenez (3) and Sarah Scarminach (8) looking cover for the block.
One Santa Barbara Volleyball Club team earned Division 1 status, while three others will open the Southern California Volleyball Association regular season in Division 4 after their finishes at the third round of qualifying tournaments last weekend in Anaheim.
The 15-Smack team won all of its games in the Gold Bracket to place first in its pool and will start in Division 1.
“The team really has improved in many facets of the game since our first tournament and it showed,” coach Jake Hong said.
The team commandingly beat Rancho Valley 15-Premiere, New Wave 15-Platinum and Rincon VBC 15-Elite, all in two games, with no team scoring higher than 18 points against them.
“Clara Madsen came in at critical times in tight matches to serve and play defense. She served up a number of aces and also got the other teams out of system consistently and that helped up make a run of points late in matches,” Hong said.
Melissa Scott played well as a middle blocker, transitioning quicker than the opponent’s middles so that she could get swings for kills, and also had a couple of big blocks throughout the day.
“Starting in Division 1 is a great start to our season, and now the team knows that we need to keep working hard during practice to stay there,” said Hong.
The 15-Blue team, also in the Gold Bracket, went the distance over the day but could not quite squeeze out the wins.
“Two thrilling three-game match losses which showed incredible team work and inspired play by every player on the court,” commented Coach John Sener.
The team opened up with a three-game loss to Protégé 15-Elite, losing 15-13 in the deciding game. The team lost to SMBC 15-Brandon in two games, and then engaged in another three-game marathon match with the pool’s No. 1 seed SVVC 15-Chris, losing the deciding game 21-19.
“The team had a day of learning and personal growth,” Sener said. “Courageous setting by Andie O’Donnell, solid passing from Holly Blair and consistent swings from opposite Grace Woolf kept the team in every set. Hailey Fithian (assistant coach) and I were impressed by the way these girls really stood up in the end and took the No. 1 seed in our pool to an inspired 21-19 game-three loss.”
The team will start the regular season in Division 4.
The 16-Smack team had a slow start against the top seed of the pool, Epic 16-1, losing 25-10, 25-15. The team’s performance improved in the second set against Wave 16-Janna but it couldn’t gain enough momentum to claim the victory, losing 25-14, 25-21. The third match against Club West 16-Elite proved to be an even match-up with exchanging point runs throughout, forcing a deciding third game which the opponent managed to claim, 21-25, 25-21, 15-11.
According to Coach Greg Novak, “Charlotte Garratt did a great job in the middle with commanding stuff blocks in key situations. Sammie Rhine stepped in to show her abilities on the right side and Mia Cattaneo smoothed out the passing, which helped the team run its offense.”
The 16-Blue team, also went 0-3 in the Gold Bracket.
“Courtney O’Donnell provided the team with leadership and consistency from the libero position,” remarked coach Lauren Rinderknecht.
The team lost to OCVBC 16-Blue, T-Street 16-Tye, SVVC 16-Jed to place fourth.
“Overall, the team played well but unfortunately our efforts did not turn into points,” said Rinderknecht
Both teams will start the regular season in Division 4.
