Lourda Weger
Tatum Vedder
Several teams from the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club competed at the American Sports Center in Anaheim on the weekend of April 13-14.
Starting on Saturday, the 14-Smack had a roller coaster of a day placing 3rd in its pool in division 2.
“At times we struggled and other times we were flawless,” Coach Greg Novak mentioned. “Emily Robertson was steady in the back row, while Lourda Weger shined on the outside.”
The team entered into a nail-biter playoff match against Wave 14-Janna and was defeated 25-7, 25-22, 13-15 which ultimately moves the team to Division 3. “Though the outcome of the day wasn’t as we had hoped, the team continues to master new plays and show progress in their skills. I was really impressed how many offensive plays we executed.”
The 13-smack had a solid day going 2-1 in pool play in division 7. “We almost pulled out a great win in the last match against Beach Cities 13-Gold,” said Coach Ed Gover. “Gabi Peoples and Liana Tacconelli were both solid in the setting department all day. In the second set of the match against Sports Shack 13s, Delaney Mayfield went back with a score of 15-8 and served out the set 25-8! And Adyson Colburn had her first major block of the season.”
The 14-Blue team had a good showing in division 7 beating Orange County 13-Blue and Genuine 14-Kauai before losing to 805 Elite 14 and taking 2nd for the day. “Our setters Maddie Niessen and Amara Parris both served tough and kept the team going with good setting. Ava Dore had some great plays at the net and played tough defense when she was in the back row,” said Coach Katie Dolge.
The 13-Blue team went 1-2 in pool play and finished 3rd in division 12. From Coach Kim Buktenica, “Even though it was freezing in our gym…the girls stepped it up to play hard and had a lot of fun! Soliel Hallig did an amazing job in the front row. She was unstoppable! Kate Mascari also did a great job going into the game and playing different positions all around while Isabel Bassi did a great job setting all day long. I was very proud of how everyone played.”
On Sunday, the 15-Smack went 2-1 in pool play, but finished 3rd in a three-way tie breaker.
“We opened up really sluggish against Coast, and dropped the match. We played great volleyball to beat the next two teams but unfortunately our points put us in 3rd” explained Coach K.C. Collins.
The team lost its opening match to Coast 15-Eric in 2-sets, but rebounded to beat San Gabriel 15-Roshambo and Laguna Beach 15-Wiz. Heading into the “death match” the team avoided moving down a division by beating Coast 15-Sam, then went on to win the next two rounds of playoffs against T-Street 15-Bryce and Saddleback Valley 15-Brian to finish 9th for the day.
“Our teamwork got better and better throughout the day and we played really good defense. We’ve been working on running a faster offense and setter Lexi Rottman did a good job quarterbacking the team. Dane Miller racked up the digs and Tatum Vedder was serving and passing very well. Hannah Seabury came in to make some key blocks both on in the middle and on the right.”
The team remains in division 1 for the next tournament.
John Sener’s 15-Blue team won their division 3 pool and moved on into playoffs. Battling for a chance to move up a division, the team unfortunately dropped a close match to Seal Beach 15-Erika 23-25, 21-25 and remains in division 3 for the next tournament.
The 15-White team finished 4th in its pool play in division 5.
