The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club girls teams kicked off their season with the first of three qualifying rounds to seed them for a ranking in the Southern California Volleyball Association. The competition is held in Anaheim.
The 17-Blue team swept their three pool-play matches.
“The team played great today, improving in each match,” said Coach David Haan. The team beat Surfside 17-2 (25-11, 25-14), Pacifica Jrs 17s (25-21, 25-15), and 951 Elite 18-2 (25-18, 25-21).
“Playing without two players (sidelined with injuries), everyone stepped up big time; it was really a day all about team effort.” Haan continued. “Megan Seabury and Liana Tacconelli led a solid defensive effort, while setters Gabi Peoples and Audrey Baldwin both set great matches, and took turns at hitting as well. It was an exciting start to the season.”
Over at the Anaheim Convention Center, the 18-Blue had a strong day, finishing their pool with a 1-2 record. The team opened against T-Street 18-Shawn, the No. 2 seed overall, and battled in a tight match, losing by a mere two points in each set (25-23, 26-24).
“The team played well in this match, but we had a couple lulls in passing that had us fighting for a mid-game comeback in each set,” coach K.C. Collins said. “T-Street simply had a little more consistency overall to pull out the win.”
The team lost a tight 3-set match to Sunshine 17-1 Westside (25-23, 19-25, 19-17) but rebounded to beat Surfside 17-1s (25-11, 25-21).
“It was a tough loss to Sunshine, but it gave us a lot of insight into what we need to do to improve,” said Collins. “Overall everyone played well, with McKenna Goss leading offensively with kills, and Dane Miller passing at a high efficiency in every match. Miller and setter Lexi Rottman racked up a high number of digs for the day. It was a good start to the season with high level competition.”
The 16-Blue took to the Anaheim courts on Sunday at American Sports Center, where the team battled their way to a 3-0 finish for the day. The team beat Sunshine 16-Elite (25-20, 24-26, 15-10) and DSVC 16-Gary (26-24, 22-25, 15-8).
Coach Kat Niksto lauded the overall play of middle blocker Kamille Williams and libero Lauren Suh. “Kamille was our workhorse all day, and inspired the team with her net play. Lauren was a consistent force in the back row. Her defensive prowess was key in all of our matches.”
The team ended with a win over MMTSC 16-Scott (25-16, 25-15) for a first place finish on the day.
The 12U, 15U and 14U teams will head to Anaheim this weekend for their first qualifying rounds.
SBVC BOYS
The SBVC Boys travel teams competed in a 3-day Junior National Qualifier event over the weekend.
The SBVC 17s had a strong first day taking second in first-round pool play after coming in seeded third. The team took a set off the number 4 seed overall in the whole tournament, Huntington Beach, but could not complete the upset.
The team subsequently took down the pool’s No. 2-seed Yorktowne (PA) in a tightly contested 3-set match, and finished with a solid victory against Las Vegas.
According to Coach Matt Jones, “The Las Vegas victory was highlighted by defensive specialist Brian Eddy’s triumphant first-ever rotations in the front row.”
Day 2 proved a difficult challenge against three teams all seeded higher. “The team battled well with some solid blocking runs spearheaded by Ian McLain but could not sustain enough points to upset any of the teams, going 0-3 on the day.”
The final day ended with an unfortunate first-round playoff loss to Coast 17-Broc in the Bronze division. The team finished 23rd overall.
“The team made some solid strides this weekend and looks forward to the next tournament in a few weeks,” said Jones.
The SBVC 18s fought through serious adversity over the weekend. All players had to perform at multiple positions on day one after two players sustained injuries, leaving them sidelined for the rest of the day.
“Our middles Adam Shields and Connor Sullivan were forced to play back row and pass in serve receive. They both played incredibly well and passed with great confidence,” remarked Coach Justin Hertlein.
The team beat Pacific Coast 18-Pat and Slainte Platinum 18s, before losing to Huntington Beach 18-Black.
On days two and three of the tournament, the team could not find a groove to secure a win, losing to NCVC 18s, Baja 18s and HLVBC 18s in the second round of pool, and lost to Santa Monica in the first playoff round of Flight 1A.
Hitters Morgan Pierce and Blake Lockhart set for the team.
“Mark Raphael and Adam Shields led the way offensively, hitting the highest percentage and finding ways to help us out of sticky situations,” Hertlein finished.
The team placed 42nd overall for the weekend.
