Cord Pereira sets the ball as SBVC 17-Blue hitters Ian McLain (4) and Dane Pederson prepare to attack.
The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club’s boys teams were back in action at Southern California Volleyball Association qualifying and points tournaments.
The SBVC 18-Blue had consecutive weekends of going 3-0 in pool in both qualifying rounds 2 and 3. Qualifying round 2 proved to be a solid day of competition with SBVC beating 300 VBC 18s in 2 sets, and going the distance in 3 sets to beat Velocity 18 National, 25-14, 22-25, 15-13, and Team Rockstar 17s, 25-16, 18-25, 15-11.
According to coach Justin Hertlein: “Jacob Beifuss had a great tournament, passing well and having the highest hitting percentage. Adam Shields continued to be dominant in the middle and Mark Raphael made countless incredible plays to keep points alive.”
The 18-Blue went 3-0 in its third qualifying round the next weekend, beating City of Angel 17s, Balboa Bay 18Red and Seaside 18Green (all in two sets), the team moved on to third place for the day with a 1-1 finish in playoffs. The team beat Bones 18-Gold and lost in the semis to Pali 18-Nike.
In its first Points Tournament in Division 3, the 18-Blue moved up a division. It finished 2-1 in pool play, beating 949 17-White and Central Coast 18-Gold before falling to Orange County 17s. The team earned a bye for the first round of playoffs, and then won the semi-final match to move up.
SBVC 18-Blue’s Mark Raphael sets Adam Shields for a middle attack
“Blake Lockhart and Mark Raphael each had standout play, and Connor Sullivan stepped up huge as our new middle,” said Coach Hertlein. “The rest of our success revolved around scrapping out long rallies and Luca Jordano’s ability to cover nearly every tip and junk ball.”
The team will move up a division for the next round.
During its qualifying day 2, the SBVC 17 Blue suffered a 0-3 record, but bounced back the following weekend in qualifying round 3 where the team went 2-1 in pool play, beating Akamai 17s and Balboa 18White before losing to 949 17-White.
Coach Matt Jones said: “Setter Cord Pereira continues to improve especially with his court presence and game management as he learns the valued skill of keeping the team focused on the next point as the ‘quarterback’ of the team.”
In playoffs, the team beat Pulse 18s before succumbing to Extreme 18s and finishing 3rd in their bracket for the day. “Kevin Peters carried a big offensive load from the right side and also blocked well throughout the tournament,” said Jones. “Libero Kip Lawrence was very solid in serve receive as our best passer on the weekend and also was the best server, racking up several aces throughout the day, and he also had some great digs.”
The SBVC 17-Blue team found themselves in a tough pool of competition in Division 3 in the Points Tournament. The team managed a second-place finish out of a 3-way point-ratio tiebreaker. Every match in the pool went to 3 sets, with SBVC battling to earn enough points in the losses to take second.
“Elliot Brainerd had some great moments blocking,” remarked coach Jones. “And Cooper Johnson was strong out of the middle finding kills in transition at key moments.”
SBVC then entered playoffs with a chance to move up a division but lost a tough-fought battle to Pulse, with a second-set 26-24 loss after being up 22-20.
“The team learned a lot from these tough battles and looks forward to getting back to work for a couple weeks in preparation to move up a division at the next tournament,” said Jones.
Both teams will be back in action in Anaheim on Dec 6.
