Armen Zakarian?s 18-Blue team, with a 6-4 record, placed 13th overall in the Club division of the USA Volleyball Boys Junior National Championships in Reno, Nevada.
Jackson Wopat serves for Santa Barbara Volleyball Club.
Starting the 4-day tournament, the team went on a 5-match winning streak beating Santa Monica 18Red, Main Beach, Front Range, Velocity and IMUA, until finally capped off by Arizona Power.
Taking 2nd in its pool, the team continued in the hunt for gold into Day 3 where the team lost a close match to Arizona Fear (26-24, 25-22) but turned around to beat Santa Monica 18Silver in another close match (27-25, 25-19). The team then lost to High Line causing a 3-way tie and a one-set rematch tie-breaker with them. Despite some aggressive play and battling to the end, the 18-Blue ultimately lost 25-18, knocking it into the Silver bracket.
On Day 4, the team lost in 3 sets to Ohana 18-Dobbs 20-25, 25-23, 15-9 for a 13th place overall finish out of 57 teams.
?It?s a long tournament and the guys worked hard every day,? said Coach Zakarian. ?We came in ranked 21 and finished 13. I?m proud of the guys.?
The team was assisted by Chad Gordon and the roster included Quinn Dekensohn, Baker Johnson, Andrew Kenyon, Duffy Kerwin-McElroy, Carl Mendoza, Chris Newton, Dalton Smith, Chandler Swift, Christian Widmer and Jackson Wopat.
