McKenna Goss (88) and Caroline Anderson (12) up for block
Taryn Stevens (5) takes a swing
On Saturday in Anaheim, Santa Barbara Volleyball Club’s 12-Blue team won its second tournament in a row, moving them up again to Division 2 and among the top 16 teams.
According to Coach Laura Marcus, ?Chloe Mauceri recorded 2 solo blocks and 10 kills, while Oliveya Leon contributed several kills and many great digs.?
The team started the day with a battle winning over LAVA 12-Rick 25-12, 15-25, 15-13 and then upset the first seed Sunshine 12-Elite 25-18, 25-23 before it fell to Prot?g? 12-Elite 21-25, 25-17, 15-11.
?Down 18-23 against Sunshine, Ally Mintzer went back to serve 7 points to win the match!? The team finished 2-1 and based on head-to-head tiebreaker won the pool and moved up to Division 2. ?It?s really awesome to see how well the team works together and wants to win.? Recapped Marcus.
The 18-Blue team, coached by Jason Donnelly, went 3-0 in pool play opening up with a 3-set win over CSA 18-Black (22-25, 25-220, 15-10). The team then beat Mavericks 17-Black in 2 sets and followed with another 2-set win over Elite 18-Elite with the second set going 31-29. The team was in a position to move up a division in the crossover playoff match, but lost to Laguna Beach 17-Tuan 20-25, 26-24, 15-8.
?We played really well in winning our pool on Saturday, but unfortunately, lost in 3 in the match to move up. Our inconsistencies, particularly with our ball control, were very evident in the loss, ? claimed Donnelly. The team will remain in Division 4 for the next tournament. ?Our setters, Andie O?Donnell and Clara Madsen, are both continuing to make big improvements with their decision making and ability to run our offense.?
On Sunday in San Diego, the 16-Blue team finished in 3rd place overall in Division 1.
?Every player had to step up and play hard all day long competing against some of the top teams in Southern California,? said Coach Tina Brown.
The team lost a close morning match 25-20, 23-25, 15-7 to Epic 16-Sato, but turned it around against So-Cal winning 21-25, 25-21, 15-12, and sweeping Legacy 16-Elite 25-14, 25-18.
?We lost set one and came from behind in game 2 to win the match. Leading the team with awesome defense was Dane Miller and strong blocking by our middles McKenna Goss, Caroline Anderson and Emma Harrah. We beat Legacy behind some incredible outside hitting from Anika Wilson and Jacqueline Starnes, and blocking by Hailey Yates.? Continued Brown. ?And Lexi Rottman ran a high level, precise offense all day and kept the hitters in sync.?
The team beat Baja in the quarterfinals, 23-25, 26-24, 15-3 but was ultimately stopped by Rancho Valley 16-Premiere 25-21 in the semi-finals to tie for 3rd for the day.
The 16-White went 3-0 in pool play and won the crossover playoff match to move back up to Division 3. The team beat Surf City 16-Tyler, Temecula Valley 16-Bonnie and SCVC 16-Roxy in pool play, and beat Rancho Valley 16-Select in the playoff round 25-21, 25-21. ?Our serve receive passing was consistent all weekend allowing our middles Gillian Fry and Katie Gallivan to dominate offensively! It was really a well-rounded team effort,? commented Coach Kat Niksto.
Megan Phillip?s 16-Red team finished 2-1 in pool play in Division 7 beating Club West 16-Gold and Long Beach 16-Rundbird, before losing its final round to California Blue 16-National. ?This past tournament was an excellent showcase of our team’s tenacity and competitive spirit,? said Phillips. ?The girls fought for every single point and our results are proof of that. It was really fun to see the girls play aggressive and scrappy defense; nothing was hitting our floor! Outside hitter Jackie McIntyre led the charge with 17 kills and 7 aces for the day while middle hitter Camille Cotter was truly unstoppable at the net by providing the team with multiple blocks as well as 12 kills and 2 aces.?
Back in Anaheim, the 15-White team moves up to Division 4 after winning its pool. ?It was a total team effort, every one of the girls on the team made huge contributions throughout the day and allowed us to play some of the best volleyball we’ve played all year,? exclaimed Jacky Yao.
The team beat Club West Pasadena 15-Red (25-18, 25-20), California Blue 15-National (25-19, 22-25, 15-8) and AMP 15-Black (19-25, 25-13, 15-12).
?After dropping the first set to AMP and being down in the second, the team rallied around each other and fought back to force a set 3?and on the final point of the day Taryn Stevens and Kaitlyn Connolly combined to stop the other team’s top hitter on back-to-back swings!? Yao finished.
The 15-Blue team struggled in Division 1 winning only one pool play match for the day sweeping Orange County 15-Blue, but losing to Wave and Saddleback Valley, and then losing the ?death match? to who has seemed to become its nemesis for the season, SCVC 15-Roxy, in 3 sets 25-19, 16-25, 15-12.
?The team is improving in skills, and we passed probably the best all season which led us to set our middles more, but our inconsistencies as a whole cost us wins at these higher levels. We can battle with these top teams taking them to 3-sets, we now just have to work hard on staying consistent and mentally tough to beat them down the final stretch,? said Coach K.C. Collins.
