The first weekend of play for the 12s, 14s, and 15s of the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club led to mixed results on the court, but overall satisfaction with their teams’ level of play so early on by all the coaches.
On Saturday the 12 Blue team finished the day 0-3, playing against some of the toughest teams in Southern California. Fighting hard against Flash 619 VBC 12 Mac (8-25, 7-25), Mizuno Long Beach 12 Mizuno (12-25, 10-25), and SG Elite 12 Elite (7-25, 18-25), Coach Tina Brown noted some excellent serving from Portia Sherman, Megan McBride and Erin Curtis. “We are excited to see how this team will grow and develop throughout the up and coming weeks.”
The 15 Blue team also competed on Saturday, going 1-2 in pool play, in a very competitively balanced pool. Kendall Williams started the team off strong with a 9-kill effort in their opening match win against SoCal VBC (25-20, 25-20). Against Mavericks 15 Black (22-25, 25-21, 7-15), while the team struggled to keep up offensively in set three, Kristine Fimlaid had a standout performance. And finally, in the match against T-Street 15 Curtis (10-25, 13-25), which is the No. 3 overall team in the SCVA, Josie Ulrich did her best to help her team fight. She was beyond dynamic making near impossible defensive plays and scoring constantly when the team was in trouble.
The 15 White team had battles on their hands, taking every match to 3 sets, but unfortunately couldn’t turn the corner to get the win this weekend. In their battles with OCVBS 15 White (15-25, 27-25, 6-15), 949 Athletics 15 Black (25-23, 12-25, 6-15), and Temecula Viper 15 Randy (17-25, 25-19, 8-15) Coach Katie Julian commented: “The team had great moments of confident, controlled play, but we got beat by the other teams serves. They were serving tough and we were struggling with passing. Hannah Fabbre helped our team at the service line with 6 aces during the day. Outside hitter Belle Gilliam, and opposite, Olivia Andrews, were hitting well with 10 and 11 kills, respectively.”
The 14 Blue opened their season Sunday by beating La Jolla 14 Roy (25-20, 25-13). Though they battled hard all day, they dropped the next two matches to SG 14 Thunder (25-23, 25-9) and Wave 14 Jimmy (22-25, 19-25). Coach Jon Newton said of his team, “They played very well throughout the day, starting off the season on the right foot.” He also noted the strong offensive play and serving from Reece Kelley, and that Alexa Osti did a great job running the offense and keeping plays alive.
The 14 White also competed on Sunday, going 3-0 in pool play to take first place. With wins over Nfinity VBC 14 R (25-14, 25-10), Starlings Oak Hill 14 J (25-13, 25-10), and Mavericks 14 Blue (25-16, 25-10), Coach Steven Crossland commented that his team, “played amazing for their first tournament! With a few more practices and working on rotations, we will be ready to rock and roll this season”.
This upcoming weekend the 16 Blue team will open their season with first tournament on Saturday.