Laguna Blanca won the Gold Division title at its girls volleyball invitational at the Page Center on Saturday, beating Dos Pueblos in the final, 25-20.
The 27-team tournament was divided into gold and silver divisions. Sixteen schools competed in the gold division.
“It was great to see our girls get better as the day progressed,” Laguna coach Jason Donnelly said. “Sophia Fay and Kendall White were phenomenal on the defensive end all day long.”
The Owls beat Bishop Diego (25-12, 25-7), St. Joseph (25-6, 25-7) and Foothill Tech (25-15, 25-11) in pool play. In the playoffs, they beat Santa Ynez (25-11), Archer School (25-16) and Dos Pueblos in the championship, 25-20.
“We were led by the great play of Kelly Bickett and Caylin Zimmerman,” Donnelly said. “Kelly is playing at a really high level while showing great leadership skills. Caylin is a six-rotation outside hitter who took some big swings today and also provided some consistent passing and defense.”
Bickett was named tournament MVP and Caylin Zimmerman earned all-tournament team honors.
In other action, Bishop Diego went 1-2 in Gold Division pool play, dropping matches to Laguna Blanca and Foothill Tech (25-22, 25-18) and beating St. Joseph’s (25-22, 25-18).
The Cardinals beat Villanova in the first round of the consolation bracket playoffs (25-20) and lost in the semifinals against Nordhoff (26-24).
Coach John Sener recognized the play of setter Kylie Koeper, outside hitters Lauren Holsted and Talia Medel and Flor Bustos, who was making her debut at defensive specialist.
All Tournament Team:
Clara Gasparetti- Archer
Maddie Weaver- Grace Brethren
Jackie Holmes- Dos Pueblos
Lauren Buie- Dos Pueblos
Caylin Zimmerman- Laguna Blanca
Kelly Bickett-MVP, Laguna Blanca
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.