SBVC's Julia Fay makes a perfect pass for team 12-Smack. (Sean Robertson Photos)
SBVC’S WEEKLY REPORT:
On Saturday in Anaheim, The 14-Smack team had an outstanding day in Division 3 on a comeback mission to move back up to Division 2. Having a significant lead in most of the sets, the team managed to stay focused and outplay their opponent.
The team beat Impact 14-Craig, LAVA-South 14-Casey, and Sports Shack 14-1 to take first in pool play. The team then won the playoff round to move them up to Division 2 beating Prot?g? 14-Nike 25-13, 25-19.
?Lourda Weger, Peyton Shelburne and Allie Sundara tallied 24 aces over the day and tough serving by the rest of the team created many point scoring opportunities.? Said Coach Greg Novak. In the hitting department, Michelle Garrett led the team with an impressive .304 hitting average. ?What is most impressive about our setters, Allie Sundara and Phoebe Madsen, is their ability to spread the ball around and keep the opponent guessing. Being able to set the middle, the back row and the pins is a great attribute that made the day very successful.? Continued Novak. ?A highlight of the day was seeing our libero, Emily Robertson stepping in to save an almost spoiled play to get a kill from the 2 foot line.?
Danica Minnich (#7) goes up for a block as Julia McCaw looks on in a match for 12-Smack.
In division 7, the 13-Smack team beat Oaks 14-Carrie (25-13, 25-16), Genuine 14-Kaui (21-25, 25-20, 20-18), and Club West 13-National (25-10, 21-25, 15-8) to place first in pool and move up to Division 6. ?The match of the day was a three-set victory over Genuine with the final set being 20-18.? Ed Gover said. ?Delaney Werner’s dig, Liana Tacconelli?s set, and Kobie Jimenez?s kill sealed the victory! Gabi Peoples had an outstanding offensive day, along with Bella Gniadek have an all-around solid performance. Delaney Mayfield again was a major force at the net and Adyson Colburn, Bridgett Tmur, and Tacconelli, all had an excellent day at the serving line. The team only missed 5 serves in 8 sets.?
Also competing in Division 7, the 14-Blue team took 2nd in its pool by beating Bakersfield Club Jamba 14-Sam and Rincon 14-Elite, before losing to Orange County 14-White. According to Coach Katie Julian, ?The team played well and was close to finishing first, but made a few too many errors against the number one seed. Karissa Mertens and Taryn Stevens played great throughout the day as our outside hitters, making good passes and putting the ball away when needed. Eden Williams passed well and made some key digs to keep us going in the rallies.?
The 13-Blue team finished 2nd for the day in its pool. ?The girls had a really great day on Saturday? we had a really great passing day.? Said Coach Kim Buktenica. The team beat Santa Monica 13-Asics and Sports Shack 14-NL and lost to Cal Coast 14-Black. ?Laurel Kujan did a great job in the libero position passing for us, and Sydni Trigueiro also had a great day playing aggressively and smart at the net as middle. Both our outsides Zoe Maritorena and Soleil Hallig crushed some balls! I was very happy with how we played overall!?
On Sunday, 15-Smack takes second in division 1, keeping their foothold for a region bid to the USAV Junior Nationals.
The team needed to get 2nd in their pool to guarantee enough points to earn a region bid. The team opened up with a rather flat 2-set loss to Club West. The team now must win the next to matches. It lost the first set to T-Street 15-Curtis 21-25, and with its back against the wall, the team battled in the next two sets to win the match 25-17, 15-11. The team then kept the fighting spirit up and beat Club Troy 15-Katie 27-29, 25-16, 15-12 and kept itself within reach to earn the region bid. And the team didn?t stop there. The team faced Coast 15-Eric in the first playoff round, a team it had lost twice to already this season, and proceeded to win in 3 sets. Entering into a one-set semi-final match, the team took down yet another nemesis Mizuno Long Beach 25-23. The team could not find enough left to stop Club West from winning yet another final, and lost that one-set match 9-25.?We just ran out of steam. The wheels just kind of came off and we were done,? commented Coach K.C. Collins. ?But we outdid ourselves as a whole for the day and finished with a strong second place. Makayla Moore had an especially good day on offense, racking up a majority of the kills and contributing some blocks from the right side. McKenna Goss moved to the middle and proved to be a huge weapon there both on offense and blocking. Everyone stepped up their level of play when needed, and the team played some outstanding defense to keep us alive. Against Long Beach, we were down 16-20, and chipped away to take the one-set match. I think the play of the day (season?) may have been when our setter Lexi Rottman stuff blocked their rather tall and best outside hitter to take the lead 23-22!?
The 15-Blue team posted two early wins in pool play in Division 3 against Impact 15-Kim and LAVA-North 15-Eric before losing to Wave 15-Jon to finish 2-1 in pool. The team then needed to win the playoff round to move up to Division 2, and beat Sunshine 15-Platinum in 3 sets. ?These girls came here with a mindset to reach Division 2 and they achieved their goal!? said Coach John Sener. ?I’m so proud of this team, they refused to lose and played together as a team. Delanie Jellison was amazing all day and truly put this team on her back all day. Our back court combo of Erin Linehan and Alessandra Tacconelli made so many plays in the last match that kept us in so many points. Setter Camryn Kneip spread the ball around and put our outside hitters in numerous one on one situations. Everyone stepped it up today and the final results speak for themself.?
Jeff Minc?s 15-White team beat Epic 15-Alyssa and Club West 15-Gold in division 5. The team lost a close battle to Legacy 15-Black lost 22-25, 28-30 and placed 1st in the pool with a point-ratio tiebreaker and moved up to Division 4. ?We passed and sided-out well. Siena Goggia has figured out her timing and was hitting really well. Lauren Johnson hit well from the outside also. Avery Jones played well despite being sick, and Phoebe Roberts had some good serving runs and blocked some good balls.? Commented Minc. ?We also ran some more plays on offense, with Maddie Becker doing a good job at libero. We had all-around good team chemistry this tournament.?
The 12-Smack team, coached by Laura Marcus, finished with a 1-2 record in pool placing 3rd in Division 4 pool play. The team played tough losing in tight three-set battles to Surfside 12-Gold (19-25, 25-14, 9-15) and Seal Beach 12-Marcelo (23-25, 27-25,13-15). The team pulled out a two-set victory over Laguna Beach 12-Hava.
