Ally Mintzer digs a ball for the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club’s 14-Blue team.
The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club 15-Blue continued its winning ways into the second qualifying round of the Southern California Volleyball Association season, competing in the top 32 team bracket.
The team beat Prime 15-Asics and Legacy 15-Elite in two sets, and then mastered a 3-set win over the first seed in its pool, Long Beach 15-Runbird, to place first.
“Soleil Hallig and Cassidy Drury-Pullen just exploded balls on the opponent’s side of the net,” Coach John Sener pointed out. He also praised the passing from both Liana Tacconelli and Megan Seabury, “who kept us in so many rallies.” The team moves on as top seed in the Gold bracket to compete for its divisional placement to start the regular season.
Taking second for the day, the 15-White team earned its way back into the Gold bracket for the last qualifying round. The team beat Coast 15-Drew and LAVA North 15s before losing to Impact 15-Cory.
“We had tough serving by Bella Gniadek, Sydni Triguero, and Francesca Engel and superb defensive plays in the back row by Zoe Maritorena and Delaney Werner,” said Coach Lisa Gera. “Our middle blockers Maggie Wilde and Ciana Smiley have really improved their attacking over the course of the season and that really showed. I’m very proud of our whole team’s performance as a unit.”
Josie Doughty of the SBVC 14-Blue team hits against Coast.
Dino Garcia’s 15-Red team also placed second on the day in the Silver bracket by hanging tough in tight matches and beating Club H 15-Blue (28-26, 25-17) and Club Koa 15s (25-15, 23-25, 15-10) and losing to Westlake 15-Prime (19-25, 25-22, 10-15).
Competing among the top 16 teams in the Gold bracket, the 12-Blue team met up with some fierce competition and finished fourth on the day. The team lost to Laguna Beach 12-Hoff, Surfside 12s, and Sunshine 12-South Bay. They will remain in the Gold bracket for the final qualifying round.
On Sunday, competing in the top 32 teams, the 14-Blue overcame a slow start against Coast 14-2s by closing a deficit of 12 points in the first set and barely losing 23-25, keeping the momentum to take the match in 3 sets. However, against Baja 14s, while the same scenario repeated itself in the first and second sets (25-27, 25-19), a string of errant passing led to a set and match loss. Going up against a very polished San Gabriel, the team lost in 2 sets to finish third for the day.
“We had some great moments, played strongly pretty much through the day,” commented Coach KC Collins. “It was just a few too many points where we didn’t pass well to finish off the match against Baja. Jenna MacFarlane brought a lot of heat on the outside all day and Josie Doughty came in strong playing both on the outside and right sides, while Sophia Fay was a digging machine in the back row.”
The team will compete in the Gold bracket for its overall divisional placement to start the SCVA season.
The 13-Blue team also finished third in the pool with a 1-2 record, winning its first match of the season against Offshore 14-Stingrays, and subsequently losing to So Cal Spitfires 14s and Sunshine 14-Extreme.
“The team is making improvements especially in the serving area,” remarked Coach Ed Gover. “Kristine Fimlaid, Keara Rutz, and Ally Mintzer all had a great day from the service line serving bullets. In the hitting department, Erika Foreman, Ellie Gamberdella, Ally Mintzer, and Chloe Mauceri all made solid contributions from the front row.”
Battling tough to three sets in two of its matches, the 13-White team also finished third for the day.
“We showed improvements from the first tournament, and the girls are starting to believe in themselves and showing some confidence on the court,” said Coach Lindsay Schwartz. “The girls showed their fight working through many close sets throughout the tournament.” The team beat Impact 13-Brit 25-23, 23-25, 16-4, lost to So-Cal United 14s 26-28, 13-25 and lost Legacy 13-Elite 20-25, 25-21, 9-15.
The 14-White team finished fourth for the day. “Despite the losses, we’ve improved since the first tournament and played well against some good teams,” said Coach Kim Yao. “Jameson Baldwin had an amazing defensive day and Sophie Breathed did a great job at the net hammering a few overpasses that came our way.”
