It was another busy weekend for volleyball for SBVC! The Beach Travel Team was in Huntington Beach for a tournament, while the 14’s and 16’s teams played in Qualifier #3 on Sunday.
The Beach Travel Team competed in 2 matches during their tournament against American Beach VBC and San Diego VBC. Up first against American Beach the pairs teams lost in a close 2-3 spilt with the final match coming down to overtime points. The girls rebounded in their next match against San Diego VBC, pulling out the 4-1 victory! Coach Dillan Bennett said, “Elise Guerrand-Hermes and Hayden Randolph won both of their matches today and really played together nicely. Bella Johnson went undefeated on the day, playing with different partners each match! Filling in for a sick player, Ally Mintzer combined with Paige Doughty for their first win on the season; and Ellie Gamberdella and Devyn Randolph defeated the top pairs team in their final match of the day!”
Up next the beach team plays their final team competition this Saturday in Hermosa Beach.
The 16 Blue team on Saturday competed in their final qualifying tournament of the season to see which Gold division they would begin their regular season in. The team opened their day with a loss in match up against a top 5-10 team in Southern California, Sunshine 16-Westside (20-25, 11-25). The team then bounced back for 2 big wins against the 2nd seeded Baja 16-1 (25-18, 12-25, 15-7) and then Flash 619 VBC (25-21, 25-19) which put the team in Division 2 to start their regular season! Coach Justin Hertlein said, “Molly Kirkbride was the work horse of the day. Molly was the offensive team leader as a very terminal attacker from the middle. She combined a great offensive performance with solid defense and aggressive serving to lead her team to two victories. Strong defense from Taylor Robertson and Kendall Williams allowed us to extend rallies and chip away at the opponent’s confidence. Kendall also served a variety of locations and speeds to keep the opposition off balance. Overall it was a good day and the team pulled out wins when we had to.”
On Sunday the 14 Blue team was also vying for a spot in the Gold Division to start their season. They were met with a tough day of competition against, SCVC 14-Roxy (12-25, 17-25), SDVBC 14-1 (26-24, 24-26, 12-15) and Icon Mizuno 14-Lightening (25-22, 23-25, 10-15). With the 4th place finish in their pool, they will start in Gold Division 4 to open their regular season. Coach Dillan Bennett noted the standout performances of Taylor Wilson and Maddie Gunderson. “It was a tough weekend for us, but we realize now what we have to work on if we want to be able to compete with other teams at this level.”
Also competing on Sunday was the 14 Navy team. Entering as the 4th seeded team in the pool, they started off with a bang by knocking off the 2nd seeded team, Surfside 14-Silver (21-25, 25-23, 15-7). The rest of the day got even tougher however, with two losses to Forza1 14-Elite Black (20-25, 15-25) and Aliso Island 14’s (11-25, 20-25). Taking 3rd in their pool places the team in Bronze Division 11 to start their season. Coach Mike Maas said, “Sophia Webster learned overhand passing which was great to see, Gigi Geyer and Alyse Gilliam both hit some great balls, and Carolina Koceman also served very well. The team moved up significantly from the initial qualifying day to this day 3 – they have come so far, and yet also realize they still have so much to learn.”
Up next for the indoor teams, the 12’s, 13’s and 15’s head to their 3rd qualifier tournament this weekend on Saturday and Sunday – good luck to all our teams!