The Santa Barbara Coast Volleyball Club’s 16-1 boys team placed fifth out of 52 teams in the Open Division at the AAU Volleyball National Championships in Orlando, Fla.
Santa Barbara Coast rebounded from a 1-3 start on the first day of the tournament, winning three straight matches to finish in a tie for fourth place in pool play on the second day. The team beat Academy Adidas of Tennessee, 15-11, in a one-game tiebreaker to stay in the gold bracket.
Santa Barbara Coast knocked off Miami United to start the third day of competition and fell to Bay to Bay of Northern California, the top-seeded team in the pool and the eventual tournament champion. The local team came back and defeated MOD of Chicago in three sets (25-13, 19-25, 15-8) to finish second and advance to a challenger match against MB Surf of Manhattan Beach to stay in the top bracket.
Santa Barbara beat MB Surf, 25-17, 25-15, to advance.
“MB Surf was ranked No.1 in the bracket leading up to the challenger match,” said Santa Barbara Coast coach Chad Arneson. “We played our best match and won.”
On the final day of the tournament, Santa Barbara Coast fell to 949 Black of south Orange County, 25-20, 25-19, on Friday.
“Our boys battled but we couldn’t get over the hump,” said Arneson. “I am so proud of our boys and the way they battled throughout the tournament and represented SB Coast.”
Setter Ford Harman was selected as an All American for the Boys 16s Open Division.
The Santa Barbara Coast 16-1 team members are Cameron Earls, Cliff Ficker, Jack Wilson, Will Harman, Ben Richman, Mason Rice, Ford Harman and Mikey Denver.