Two teams from the Santa Barbara Coast Volleyball Academy took first place in the Silver Division at the SoCal Cup Winter Formal boys indoor volleyball tournament in Anaheim over the weekend.
The academy’s 18-1 team went 6-3, with five of the wins going the full three sets. The team was knocked out of the Gold Division by Manhattan Beach Surf and Mountain View of the Bay Area.
Santa Barbara Coast beat Santa Monica to advance to the Silver Division, where it won three straight matches, including a revenge match against against 352 Elite of Florida in three sets.
Santa Barbara Coast finished seventh overall in the competition.
“The boys showed incredible stamina and resilience,” said coach Dave Rottman. “It’s an exhausting tournament. We had played nine sets before having to play the top seed only with a 20-minute break. We played 13 sets in day one.
“The quality of volleyball was very high, and I could not be prouder of these amazing young men.”
The team members are Luke Walker, Zach Wilbanks, Blake Ekeler Evan Shinn, Hansen Streeter. Andreas Schuetz, Aiden Pazier, Finn Hastings and Alex Rottman.
The 16-1 boys went 1-2 in opening pool play, swept their three Silver Division pool matches and won three crossover playoff matches to take first place.
The team survived a three-set match against Coast-16 in the first-round of the playoffs and then swept GSL Elect of Utah and the Arizona Fear to finish the tournament.
The team members are Mikey Denver, Cameron Earls, Cliff Ficker, Ford Harman, Will Harman, Mason Rice, Ryan Slater, Ganden Walker and Jack Wilson. The team is coached by Chad Arneson.