The 12-Blue team from Santa Barbara Volleyball Club won its pool last weekend in Anaheim.
Many Santa Barbara Volleyball Club teams are headed to Las Vegas this weekend for the big SCVA Qualifier where the teams can qualify for Junior Nationals.
Before Las Vegas, SBVC has been busy the previous two weekends.
On Saturday in Anaheim, the 12-Blue team took first in their pool and will move up to division 3. After taking second the weekend before, the team came back hungry and determined.
Recapping the prior tournament, coach Laura Marcus said, ?Last weekend, we had a close one in the first match with Taylor Robertson serving 10 points in a row to bring us back from behind. Unfortunately a few to many unforced hitting errors cost us the match. The next two games, the team really came together and fought to win. Ellie Gamberdella played great defense and had a dig that was a major turning point in our second match. Chloe Mauceri and Ally Mintzer had their first few solo blocks of the season and did a great job defending the net as well as leading the team in kills for the match. Jenna Holbrook?s hard work and dedication paid off this weekend when she served an ace under pressure for game point in our final match of the day.?
Returning this past weekend, the team beat Westlake 12s, SCVC 12-Roxy and Club West 12-National to place first and move up.
?I am so impressed with my teams performance this weekend.? Marcus continued. ?Every single girl stepped up to the challenge. Our setters Allison Minnich and Keara Rutz did a great job running the court and mixing up their offense. Devan Randolph was a key player this weekend playing great defense and also assisting the setters to run the offense. Ally Mintzer had 4 solo blocks against some very big hitters and also led our team in kills for the weekend. Ally was unstoppable, she controlled every play that came to her and was successful at siding out and scoring for our team.?
In San Diego, the 18-Blue team, competing in Division 4, finished 2-1 in pool play giving themselves a chance in playoffs to move up.
?We put ourselves in a position to move up a division, but unfortunately lost a heartbreaking crossover match, 16-14 in the third set to Pacific Jrs 18-Douglas,? said coach Jason Donnelly.
They beat Golden West 18-Black and Seal Beach 18-Tony before dropping a 3-set match to LAVA 18-Brad.
?I was pleased with the girls effort throughout most of the day, but we need to work on staying a little more composed when things get tight.? Donnelly continued. ?Carly Yarnell played really well, she constantly makes herself available in transition, and is doing a great job of mixing up her attacking, giving her more ways to get kills. And Mia Cattaneo did great in the back row?she has been working on a tougher serve, and was able to score some points for us from the service line.?
Sunday in Anaheim, the 16-Blue team held on to their division 1 position by pulling out the ?death match? playoff round beating T-Street 16-Raul in 2 sets. The team went 1-2 in pool play to place 4th. The team beat Baja 16s in 2-sets, but lost to both Laguna Beach 16-Hava and So-Cal Jrs 16-Elite in 3-set battles losing 13-15 in the third set.
The 16-White and 16-Red teams both had a rough day finishing with a 0-3 record for the day.
Finishing 4th in pool of Division 3, the 16-White team lost the ?death match? playoff round in 3-sets to So Cal 16-Carmen 25-20, 22-25, 11-15. Coach Kat Niksto commented, ?Delanie Jellison and Gillian Fry both came up with a big kill, block, or serve when called upon. We just had a tough day, struggling to find our rhythm and put together a solid match from start to finish. ? The team will move to division 4.
Competing in Division 6, a 4th place finish in pool moves the 16-Red team to division 7. Coach Megan Phillips said, ?While we may not have had the results we hoped for, we recognize that this tournament can be used as an incredible learning experience. As a team, we are inspired to take the experiences of this weekend and use them to better ourselves at practice and motivate us to play even harder at our next competition. Avery Jones and Summer Soto provided steady support in the back row with their aggressive defense and serve receive passing. Sarah Theurer worked exceptionally hard on her transitioning off the net to establish herself as an offensive threat.?
Two weeks ago, the 14-Blue team took first in its Division 2 pool and went on to win the next playoff match to move up to Division 1. The team finished 2-1 in pool play beating Seal Beach 13-Tony (24-26, 25-10, 15-11) and Culver 14-Eric (26-28, 25-21, 15-11) and losing to Wave 14-Morgan (13-25, 16-25). Based on a head to head tiebreaker the team took first and went on to decisively win its first playoff round against Epic 14-Danielle 25-12, 25-15 to earn a spot in division 1 for the next tournament. The team then lost a tight one-game semi final match to Long Beach 14-Rockstar 23-25.
According to Coach Greg Novak, ?Despite a loss in a close semi-final playoff against Mizuno, our goal was achieved by moving up to Division 1. Sam Slater passed nails and had an incredible .318 hitting percentage on the day. Middles Aubrey Knight and Delaney Mayfield added ten kills each while Alea Hyatt added three kills. It was a fun day of watching the team transfer their hard work at practice into live play.?
The 13-Blue team competing in division 4 was able to maintain its position by winning the dreaded ?death match? after taking 4th in pool play. The team lost to T-Street 14-Doug (19-25, 25-22, 6-15) and Long Beach 13-Mizuno (11-25, 25-23, 10-15) and beat San Diego 14s (20-25, 26-24, 15-12) and finished 1-2 in pool play. The team entered into yet another 3-set playoff round and beat San Gabriel 14-Elite to maintain Division 4. ?Great serving by Abby Corpuz and Danica Minnich kept the team in every match and setter Ady Colburn did an excellent job running a 5-1 offense for the first time? remarked Coach Ed Gover.
Almost upsetting the first seed in its pool, the 14-White team placed 0-3 in pool play. The team lost to Beach Cities 14-Gold and Prot?g? 14-Elite both in 2-sets before losing a nail-biter to first seed Bakersfield 14-Emily 18-25, 25-11, 15-17. Entering into the ?death match? the team unfortunately dropped a 2-setter to Coast 13-1 and will move down to division 4 for the next tournament.
The 14-Red team had trouble finding its rhythm for the day but survived pool play finishing 3rd to maintain division 9. The team lost to Starlings 14s then beat Channel Islands 14-Smack , both in 2 sets. The team then took the first seed in pool T-Street 13-Corey to 3-sets losing 17-25, 25-17, 12-15. ?In general, the overall improvement of each player showed, we just had a little trouble maintaining our focus. Outside hitters, Sydni Trigueiro and Holly Tobias, were steady both on offense and defense, and Poppy Brittingham made the play of the day when she turned, rushed the net, and stuff blocked the opposing middle hitting our overpass.? said Coach K.C. Collins.
The 13-White team finished 0-3 for the day losing to Bakersfield 14-Carrie, Big Dog 14s and Nfinity 14s. Coach Jenna Boyd recapped the day, ?With a couple injuries and absentees, the girls tried their hardest. Julia McCaw had 3 aces in a row, while Jameson Baldwin served continuous for 10 points.? The team will move to division 12 for the next tournament.
On Sunday, the 15-Blue team had a rough day losing all of its matches in close battles, and will move down to Division 2. The team opened up the day with a 3-set loss to T-Street 15-Chris. According to the records, the 15-Blue was the only team to take a set of T-Street since the beginning of the season. However, despite the inspiration, the team was unable to up-end Wave 15-Ricci or Laguna Beach 15-Kevin and entered into the ?death match? playoff round and lost to Seal Beach 15-Marcelo. ?The team battled, but just couldn?t manage a W for the day. Despite the defeating results, we had some breakout performances by Kamillle Williams who blocked and hit well on the right side and Taylor Nation who played some great defense in the back row.? Commented Coach K.C. Collins. ?We will just go back to the drawing board at practices and find a way to move back up to division 1!?
The 15-White team managed to keep themselves in division 5 by placing 3rd for the day. The team lost to Club Green 15-Angelica 22-25, 23-25 and Golden West 15-Black 15-25, 24-26 and beat Beach Cities handily 25-11, 25-19.
“The girls had a rough first match? Over the next two matches the girls played better.? Coach Jacky Yao said. ?Setters Quincey Kras came in and did an amazing job distributing the ball and getting key digs against Golden West, and Amara Parris was extremely consistent and found ways to deliver good balls to our hitters. Emily Lafitte took some huge swings from both the left side and out of the back row and improved as the day went on while Maddie Minier has been working extremely hard in practice, and it showed as she came in and played tremendous defense while displaying the improved serve receive that she’s focused so much on in practice.?
