The 16-Blue team of the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club worked itself back into the Gold Bracket for the final qualifying round for the Southern California Volleyball Association season.
Anastasia Kunz of the SBVC 16-Blues hits angle against a block during a second-round qualifying match. (Photo by Jourdi De Werd)
Coach Dillan Bennett’s squad swept its three opponent on Sunday at the American Sports Center in Anaheim. The team beat Sports Shack 15-SK, Mavericks 16-Green, and Orange County 16-Blue, all in two set matches.
“The girls came out with confidence and served tough, played great defense, and hit smart; all three were big parts of our practice leading up to this tournament,” said Bennett. “The girls wanted the win this week more than ever…to earn the spot back in the Gold Bracket.”
Anastasia Kunz and Cha Cha Fisher were the offensive weapons, tallying 18 and 15 kills for the day, respectively, while middle hitter Kelsey Fimlaid added 8 kills. Clare Holehouse and Fisher were a strong force in the back row contributing 22 digs combined, while Fisher also fired off 11 service aces on the day.
The team will compete in the Gold Bracket alongside the 16-Smack team in the final qualifying round later this month.
On Saturday, at the American Sports Center, the 13s and 14s teams competed in final qualifying rounds for their divisional starts to the regular season.
The 14-Smack came out strong to start the day by sweeping Wesltake-14s 25-15, 25-14, and then winning a 3-set battle over New Wave 14-Platinum, 23-25, 25-18, 15-10. Heading into the third match against T-Street 14-Kristen, the team stumbled and lost in 2 sets, 23-25, 11-25.
“The solid play in the first match and a nice comeback victory in the second gave us confidence going into the last match against the first seed,” said coach Greg Novak. “We endured a point-for-point battle the first game, but we came up a little short and lost the last match, forcing a three way tie for first place.”
Due to a point-ratio tiebreaker the team placed third for the day.
“The third-place finish doesn’t reflect the solid performance the team had for the day,” Novak said. “The entire team has taken the game to a higher level and were almost flawless with transition play, serving and hitting. Solid passing gave us the opportunity to feed the outside hitters with precision sets from Allie Sundara and Phoebe Madsen.”
Carly Yarnell of the 16-Blue tips over the block.
Continued Novak, “Chloe Allen had a big day hitting a .385 average and contributing 23 kills, while Emily Lafitte provided great serves and Michelle Garrett added 3 stuff blocks.”
The team will start the regular season in Division 3.
Meanwhile, the 14-Blue and 13-Smack teams both competed in the Silver bracket.
The 14-Blue team finished with a 1-2 record.
“Taryn Stevens passed well throughout the day and served tough getting the team many aces. Quincy Kras made some key plays to keep us alive in every match,” said coach Katie Julian. “The team played hard and pulled out a great win in its first match, but unfortunately, the team lost its steam in matches 2 and 3 against tougher teams.”
The team tied for third place and wound up fourth after a tiebreaker.
Ed Gover’s 13-Smack team also placed fourth for the day.
“Despite the finish, we competed very well, losing two very close matches,” said coach Ed Gover.
The team lost to Culver 13-Marty 22-25, 19-25, South Bay 14s 7-25, 26-28 and LAVA South 14-Aaron 25-27, 20-25.
“Gabi Peoples, Liana Tacconelli and Adyson Colburn all had a strong day from the serving line, registering many aces. Delaney Werner and Francesca Engel had an excellent passing day in the double libero position,” said Gover.
The 13-Smack and 14-Blue will begin the regular season both in Division 8.
The 13-Blue team finished second in the Bronze bracket, beating TCA 14-Black 25-21, 25-18 and Sports Shack 21-25, 25-20,15-9, before losing a nail-biter to Santa Monica 13-Asics 25-19, 17-25, 12-15.
“We had another great weekend with our team taking second,” said coach Kim Buktenica. “The girls just keep getting better all the time and I am very proud of how they are playing. Zoe Maritorena had a great serving day; almost every time she went back to serve we had a run in points. Issabel Bassi and Laurel Kujan also had a great day defensively, both digging some tough hits.”
This finish places the team in Division 10 to start the regular season.
Chloe Allen of the 14-Smack team rips ball through the block. (Photo by Sean Robertson)
