The Santa Barbara Volleyball Club boys 15U squad put together a strong showing and took home 13th place at the AAU National Championships.
In the 48-team open division tournament, SBVC went 4-3 in pool play and fell in the championship bracket to the runner-up Bay to Bay 15s.
“Considering where this team started in the fall as high school freshmen yet to compete on the higher net, I couldn’t be more proud of their improvement,” head coach and club director Dillan Bennett said. “The first few months were tough, having to play against 16s for our first three events, but they were a different group following the high school season.
“We had a strong finish at The Showcase with some new faces and rode that momentum into Nationals. I look forward to seeing this strong group of players and cohesive team grow in our community. It won’t be long before they are duking it against one another for a Channel League championship.”
After going 4-3 in pool play, SBVC picked up a sweep over Southern California Volleyball Club, 25-22, 25-16.
However, they then fell in a tightly contested matchup with Bay to Bay in three sets, 25-22, 21-25, 10-15.
In the consolation bracket, SBVC suffered a three-set loss to Aspire to round out the tournament in 13th place.
Hayden Costner paced the SBVC offense with 60 kills, 17 aces and four blocks for 81 total points across 10 matches. Meanwhile, Nathan Biron and Anders Dietenhoefer each chipped in 50+ kills in the tournament.
Rounding out the top performers were Cash Abbott (40 kills, 10 blocks) and Keanu Nguyen (64 digs).