The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club's 14-Smack team captured the Southern California Volleyball Association Regional championship. (Photo by Suzanne Rottman)
The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club’s 14-Smack will head off to the USA Junior National Championships later this month as regional champions.
The team won the Southern California Volleyball Association Regionals, beating top-seeded Wave 14-Katie 25-23 in the final.
“This is a tough team to say the least, but we stuck to our game plan and chipped away,” coach K.C. Collins said. “Never once did the team worry about the score, only about how to win the next point…”
Santa Barbara hadn’t beat Wave or semifinal opponent Coast 14-Luis all season.
In the one-game semifinal, 14-Smack turned it on from the very beginning with two key kills from the right by Hillary Bean. Paige Mascari came in serving tough and stabilizing the serve-receive, and libero Dane Miller recorded a radical number of digs.
Emily Allen hits the ball away from blockers during SCVA Regionals. (Photo by Jourdi Dewerd)
“Anika Wilson played some of the smartest offense all weekend, hammering line and cross court and throwing in well timed tips, which kept Coast on their heels and making unforced errors,” Collins said
Santa Barbara won 25-19.
The 14-Smack went undefeated in matches in the Gold Bracket.
On Saturday, the team beat T-Street 14-Special K, Legacy 14-1 and 951 Elite 14-Smack.
“We started the day a little lethargic on defense, but our serve receive was the best it’s been so we were able to run a varied offense,” said Collins
“Both our middles McKenna Goss and Emma Harrah had probably one of their best matches against 951 Elite recording a number of kills and a few blocks each.”
On Sunday, the team had a commanding performance among the top 16 teams.
“We had some amazing defensive plays by Andie Dewerd, Anika Wilson and especially our libero Dane Miller who recorded double digits in digs in many of the matches,” remarked Collins.
The team steamrolled through Tustin 14-Garry 25-14, 25-17 and Wave 13-Jade 25-15, 25-21. A three-game battle ensued with Long Beach 14-Rockstar, but in the second game Caroline Anderson came in big to tally several key blocks along with McKenna Goss, and the defensive tone was set. Meanwhile, Jacqueline Starnes dominated on offense recording 11 kills late in the match with a key kill down the line for match point to win.
In playoffs, the team had a poor opening against Club West and lost the first game 17-25. But determination set in, and Miller recorded 21 digs for the match, while Emily Allen, Wilson and Starnes provided the fire power with 8 kills a piece to win the last two games and the match.
“Special mention goes to our setter Alexis Rottman, who never came off the court in two days and played amazing all the way around, serving tough, making spectacular digs, jousting at the net, and distributing consistent sets to her hitters to run a solid and successful offense,” said Collins.
Kim Buktenica’s 14-Blue team finished 61st in the Silver Bracket, while the 13-Smack team, coached by Ed Gover, had a strong run for the weekend in the Bronze bracket.
On Saturday, the 13-Smack finished pool play with a 1-2 record. The team began the day with a loss to SVVC 13-Monty, and then entered into a nail-biter with Newport Lightening 14s and suffered a loss 25-22, 22-25, 9-15.
“We had a bit of a serving meltdown in that match, but we bounced back with a huge win over Laguna,” said Gover.
The team came out strong and took a win off Laguna Beach 14-Laguna in two to place third for the day.
“Michelle Garratt had her best match versus Laguna, both hitting and serving, and Kassidy Hamer provided steady passing and defense.”
On Sunday, the team went on an undefeated roll and beat Protégé 13-elite, Coast 14-Jimmy, TCA 14-Black in pool play.
“Our strong serving was back on track,” said Gover.
The offense of Chloe Allen, Kristina Garcia and Lourda Weger proved to be too much for Protégé 13-Elite and the 13-Smack beat them in a three-set match.
The team moved on to beat TCA 14-Black.
“We served them off the court, recording 12 service aces for the match!,” said Gover.
The team’s serving and passing remained strong as the team blew through the playoffs beating Golden West 14s 25-16 and T-Street 14-Doug 25-12.
“Over the day, the setting of Allie Sundara and Phoebe Madsen was outstanding, as was the defense of Emily Robertson and Emily Lafitte,” Gover praised. “We also saw excellent play out of the middle by Chloe Allen, Ava Dore and Gabi Peoples.”
The 13-Smack won their bracket and placed 89th overall.
?The 13-Blue team took second place in pool on Saturday in the Flight 2 bracket. The team started the day with a loss to Carpinteria 14’s but bounced back to defeat Coast 14-Jenn and Cal Heat 14-Ahi.
On Sunday, the team again took second place in pool. The team opened with and exciting match to T-Street 14-Cyndy, losing the match in three with the final set going 15-17. The team then turned around and won another barn-burner against Mavericks 14-Ming, 15-13 in the deciding set.
The 13-Blue finished pool with a win over La Jolla Torrey-14 in two games. The team finished the day with a close one-game match loss to Coast 13-Troy 23-25.
According to Coach Malinda Reese, “All the girls played so well all weekend, showing their overall improvements as individual players and as a team. Every player on the team should feel proud of the success over this weekend and throughout the season.”
At the end of the is month, the 13-Smack will travel to Phoenix to compete at the Volleyball Festival, while the 14-Smack will head off to Atlanta to compete in the Open division of the USA Volleyball Junior National Championships.
