SBVC’s Cassidy Drury-Pullen takes a big swing
The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club will be sending its teams all over the country to compete in major tournaments in the coming weeks.
Emily Robertson of the SBVC 15-Blue digs a ball during Southern California Volleyball Association Regional Tournament
The 14-Blue, 15-Blue, 15-White, 16-White and 18-Blue teams will be competing at the AAU Junior Nationals in Orlando, Fla, June 17-27
The club’s 13-Blue is headed to the Volleyball Festival in Phoenix, June 26-30, and the 16-Blue squad will be playing in the USA Volleyball Junior Nationals in Dallas, Texas, June 30-July 5.
Here are the results from the most recent competitions:
The 16-Blue team placed third overall in the Gold bracket of the two-day Regionals tournament by beating Club West 16-National in the quarter-final round 23-35, 25-20, 15-8 and losing to Coast 16s in a one-set semi-final round 16-25. Prior to the playoffs, the team finished 3-0 in Saturday?s pool play, beating Sunshine 16-South Bay, San Gabriel 16-Roshambo and Long Beach 16-Rundbird and on Sunday beat LAVA 16-Mary and Golden West 16-Asics before dropping a close match in three sets to So-Cal Juniors 25-20, 22-25, 15-13.
?We had an amazing weekend filled with great teamwork,” coach Paige Craine said. “Hailey Yates came into games and made incredible blocks. Lexi Rottman set an incredible offense leading our team to the semis while also ?digging lights out?. Anika Wilson shined when she started slamming the lobs, dropping tips, and creating great opportunities with her defense.? The team finishes the season ranked 5th in the SCVA overall. The team earned a region bid to the USAV Jr. National Championships and heads out to Dallas the first week of July to compete.
The 14-Blue team upset many an opponent on its path to breaking into the top 8 and tying for a fifth-place finish overall in the 14s division. First day in pool play, the team blazed through Bakersfield 14-Emily 25-18, 25-12 and Culver 14-Eric 25-21, 25-14 before dropping a match to the overall No. 1 seed T-Street 14-Mike 25-12, 25-17. The team ran the table, winning all of its matches in 3-sets in its second day pool play, beating Temecular 14-Kat, Mavericks 14-Black and Long Beach 14-Rockstar.
?All season we struggled with the top SCVA teams and it all came together by finishing in the top eight at Regionals, making it the best performance all season,? said Coach Greg Novak. ?The end result of 2-1 in Saturday?s performance was the prestige of advancing to the sweet 16. The team brought a lot of energy in first match against Temecula. Though we had the energy, we started off trailing 4-12 but the team calmed a bit and slowly chipped away at the score and squeaked out the win 26-24 and eventually the match in two sets!
“The next match against Long Beach was another battle where the teams exchanged victories in the first two sets but the team came alive to close out the match in the third set, winning 15-13. Mavericks pushed us to another three set match but a nice serving run by Gabi Peoples proved to be too much and easily closed out the match with a nice 15-6 victory.?
The team was ultimately defeated in the first round of playoffs in 3-sets by TCA 14-Black 22-25, 25-22, 15-8 and tied for a 5th place finish for the weekend.
?The tournament was a huge success by breaking new ground into the top eight,” Novak said. “Gabi Peoples and Kennedy Klusendorf did a great job setting up the offense and made great strides in their setting game. Sam Slater and Cassidy Drury-Pullen both had solid performances on the outside. Liana Tacconelli really stepped up her offensive game to help with the setters run the offense. Soleil Hallig kept pace with her serving and made some key digs in tight matches that really fired up the team. It was fun to watch Aubrey Knight and Delaney Mayfield own the middle, both players have taken their skills to a new level.?
The team finishes with a 14th overall ranking in the SCVA and will next compete in the Open Division of the AAU Jr National Championships in Orlando.
The 18-Blue had a good run in the Silver bracket of the 18s division, placing second in pool on the first day and first in pool on the second day, and made it to the semi-final round of playoffs. The team battled to wins over Nfinity 18s 25-23, 25-19 and Bakersfield 18-Rachel 31-29, 25-17 before dropping a match to Prot?g? 17-Nike in the first round of pool play.
Second-day pool play, the team finished 3-0 knocking off Coast 17-Harry, Temecula 17-Mary Jo, and 951 Elite 18-Phiten. The team moved on to beat Pacific Juniors 18-Douglas 25-16, 25-19 in the quarter-final round, then lost a nail-biter match to Sports Shack 17-Paul 25-27, 25-17, 15-12.
?We had a great weekend at Regionals, making it to the semis,? said Coach Jason Donnelly. ? We played at a high level for the majority of the tournament, were really solid in the close games, and won all of our three-game matches. It was nice to finish the SCVA season on a strong note. Maddie Klusendorf and Kristen Berlo had great tournaments. Maddie has been working on her consistency and it paid off this weekend. Kristen puts up a huge block in the middle, and creates match-up problems for our opponents with her offensive arsenal.?
The 16 White team made a good run in the Silver bracket of the 16s division during their Regionals weekend. The team finished 2-1 in pool play on both days, and won its first playoff match against Wave 16-Chris. The team then dropped the semi-final match to SVVC 16-Jed.
?The team played really well all day, winning our first two matches on the first day, and then losing a nail bitter to the No. 1 seed in a hard three-set match. We then played a little inconsistent, but won when our backs were against the wall, and earned a spot in the upper division of playoffs on the second day,? recapped Coach Kat Niksto. ?We won a battle against a good Wave team, and then just ran out of steam and lost a one-game playoff to SVVC. All the girls played so well, we really used this as a tune up for AAUs coming up, and really improved our level of play. Sarah Kang and Paige Mascari did an excellent job sharing the setting duties and getting the ball to our dominant middles, Katie Gallivan and Gillian Fry. Both were outstanding offensively attacking and defensively blocking! Tatum Vedder, ?every aspect of her game was on this weekend from attacking, blocking, serving, defense and serve receive.?
The team finished 35th overall for the weekend and will also head to AAUs for its final competition.
The 16-Red team ended its season with Regionals. The team went 1-2 in pool play both days and won its first round of playoffs against Genuine 16-Emily.
Coach Megan Phillips commented: ?This past weekend’s tournament was excellent ? was really fun to watch the girls utilize the skills they have learned and really fight in every single match! Not only were the girls competitive throughout the tournament, but they also remembered to have fun and enjoy playing with one another. Avery Jones provided excellent support in the back row with her aggressive defense that allowed us to run our offense. Setters Madison Niessen and Julia Frohling worked together to effectively run our offense while also establishing themselves as lethal offensive threats.?
In the 15s division of Regionals, the 15-Blue competed well in the Gold bracket making it to the semi-final round of the lower Gold playoffs. The team finished 3rd in pool play on the first day and then swept its pool on the second day. The team took down Coast 15-Sam 25-20, 25-20 in the quarter round and lost to Impact 15-Kim 22-25 in the semi round.
?Overall everyone contributed to the success of the weekend. Both Emily Robertson and Lauren Suh did a great job controlling the back row covering their hitters and making some great digs,” coach K.C. Collins said. “Chloe Allen has been working hard on her versatility on offense and she made some great strides over the weekend and was the team?s kill leader. Ally Hodosy also shined, she has improved in her role as middle and it showed in her overall play.?
The 15-White, competing in the Silver bracket, had a tough tournament, posting a 1-2 and 0-3 record in the two days of pool play. The team rallied to beat Club West 15s in the quarter-final round 25-23, 25-14 before dropping the semi-round to LAVA 15-Angela 21-25
Said Coach Katie Julian:??This was a tough tournament as we were in it till the end against every team we played, but could not chain the points we needed to in order to win the close ones. As a whole, the girls put out a lot of effort over the long weekend. Both Peyton Shelburne and Taryn Stevens were very consistent offensively and defensively and Karissa Mertens had her best match against Club West. The team collectively serve-received and played defense extremely well and that’s a very positive thing as we head into post season.?
Both the 15-Blue and 15-White teams head out to Orlando to compete in the AAU Jr. National Championships.
In the 14s division, the 14-White team went 1-2 both days of pool play in the Silver bracket and then beat Surf City 14-KC 25-20 in the quarter-final playoff and lost the semi round to Westside Warriors 21-25 to finish 59th overall for the weekend. The 13-Blue also competing in the Silver bracket finished 59th as well, while the 14-Red and 13-White teams finished second in their Saturday pools.
The season is complete for the 14-White, 13-White and 14-Red teams, while the 13-Blue team will head to Phoenix, Arizona at the end of June to participate in the 30th annual Volleyball Festival.
