Paige Mascari digs a ball for Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara Volleyball Club has several teams competing in the final qualifying round for their initial divisional placements and rankings for the regular season.
On Saturday, the 18-Blue team competing in the Gold bracket for its starting divisional placement in the SCVA finished with a 0-3 record placing 4th for the day. In the early morning match, the team lost a tough 3-set match to New Wave 18-Platinum 25-20, 25-27, 9-15, and then were defeated by Epic 18-Pat 12-25, 13-25. The team finished the day with a battle against Sunshine 18-Westside losing 23-25, 19-25.
?While we are not starting the ?Mandatory? season where we would have hoped, it was great to see our girls play the best match of the day at the end against Sunshine, an Open level, Division 1 opponent,? remarked Coach Jason Donnelly. ?Mariah Bell was superb all around on Saturday. She hit over .300 on the day and had a great day in the back row. She has been working extremely hard on some specific areas of her game and her progress was evident throughout this tournament. Kristen Berlo continues to provide us with some big swings offensively as well as a dominating blocking presence. She is a hard worker who continues to improve all aspects of her game.?
On Sunday, the 16-Blue had a golden 3-0 record finished first and in division 1 start its season. Coach Jake Hong said, ?The whole team contributed to a winning day that puts us in Division 1. This was one of our early season goals, and it was great to see that everybody contributed to our success.? Competing in the Gold bracket, the team swept its pool in 2-set matches beating High Line 16-Nike 25-14,25-18, New Wave 16-Platinum 25-7, 25-8 and Legacy 16-Elite 25-21, 25-17. ?Caroline Anderson did a great job defensively at the net with her blocking. Ale Tacconelli also helped out the team with her serve receive and defensive plays during a big win in our second match,? continued Coach Hong. ?This is a great way to start the season, but now the competition gets even tougher, so we will have to keep working hard during practices to keep getting better.?
Kat Niksto?s 16-White team made a strong run as well in the Gold bracket finishing third for the day and putting itself in Division 3 to start the season.
Sienna Goggia takes a swing
?We played some very good teams this weekend and came out 3rd in our pool to land us in division 3!? Coach Niksto said. The team battled in its early morning matches, but was upended by Sunshine 16-South Bay 17-25, 18-25 and San Diego 16s 17-25, 19-25. The team then came back fired up in its last match to beat Lava West 16-Jeff 25-5, 25-17.
?I am vey happy with how we finished the day with a strong win over a good team, after struggling and battling earlier in the day. It truly was a team effort throughout the day as several different players stepped up their level of play. Paige Mascari had the offense running in the last match we won big, while Siena Goggia was taking big swings on the outside all day long.?
The 16-Red team going 1-2 for the day in the Silver bracket got the topside of a three-way tie by taking second on a point ratio tiebreaker. The team This finish places the team in division 6 to start its regular season. The team beat the top seed in its pool, Coast 16-Brett, to start the day 23-25, 25-15, 15-7 but unfortunately came out just short in the next match losing to Sports Shack 16-Tanner 14-25, 25-23, 10-15. Club H 16s who won the pool beat the 16-Red in the last match 25-23, 25-11.
Coach Megan Phillips was happy with her team?s performance. ?This past weekend was a huge learning experience for our team. We had some really great moments that showcased our sheer talent, but we also struggled with a few lapses in focus that eventually cost us the match. We showed a great amount of growth and it was very exciting to see the girls mesh together. The highlight of the weekend was when middle blocker Camille Cotter connected on an outstanding quick set from Julia Frohling. Lauren Johnson was on fire offensively and defensively, providing the team with 17 kills and 5 aces. The entire team ended the day with 31 aces.?
