This past weekend was a busy one for the SBVC teams, as the 15’s, 13’s, and 12’s all competed in their 4th Mandatory Tournament on the season.

The 15 Blue team had their second tournament in Division 1 this weekend and it was a tough one. They opened up the day with their easiest match, a sweep over the 4th seeded OCVBC 15 Blue (25-11, 25-16). Next the team pulled out a close match versus the 3rd seeded team SG Elite 15-Elite (25-17, 20-25, 15-11) before dropping a 3 set battle to the top seeded T-Street 15 Curtis (25-17, 13-25, 6-15). The 2-1 finish left them 2nd place in their pool and in the top 8 teams among Division 1. In their playoff match, the lost to Temecula Viper 15-Kevin (18-25, 16-25) to finish tied for 5th place. Overall Coach Justin Hertlein was very proud of his team’s performance and said, “the team showed great promise putting away Orange County and SG Elite with confidence. Kristine Fimlaid was an offensive powerhouse that none of our opponents could stop. She led the team in kills and aces. Georgia Brace put on a blocking clinic throughout the day and Josie Ulrich made her usual, highly impressive, defensive plays. Our best passer of the tournament was definitely Taylor Robertson. Many coaches served ball after ball her way and she took advantage of it with some quick footwork and great angles.” The team has a couple weeks off before their 5th and final SCVA Mandatory event on Sunday June 5th, in preparation for their AAU Championship 4-day tournament in mid-June in Orlando.

The 15 White team had “a slow start” according to coach Katie Julian, but picked up their play later in the day to finish 2nd in their pool. Starting the day seeded 4th, the team narrowly missed upsetting the 2nd seeded California Heat 15-Backdraft (26-24, 18-25, 13-15), before kicking it into gear and knocking off the top seeded So-Cal Juniors 15-Select (26-24, 26-24). They finished off their day with a solid win over SVVC 15 Ralph (25-15, 25-19) to secure their 2nd place finish. Coach Julian commented that, “both setters did a great job throughout the day. Caitlin Gainey contributed 30 assists and Bailey Steelman had 12 assists and 3 aces.  Also, outside hitter Belle Gilliam, led the team in kills and digs with 16 each.” The 15 White team will conclude their season at the 5th Mandatory Tournament in June, continuing to play in Silver Division 7.

On Sunday the 12 Blue team concluded their SVCA season with their final Mandatory tournament. Entering the day as the 4th seeded team, they started off with a bang – upsetting the 2nd seed Commerce Crush 12’s (25-5, 15-25, 15-7)! They followed that up with a strong performance against the top seeded Mizuno Long Beach 11-Mizuno (25-21, 25-16), before dropping their final match of the day against SVVC 12-Ralph (21-25, 14-25). The 2-1 record was good enough to earn them a 2nd place finish in their pool. Coach Tina Brown said, “our team ended the season with a great day of volleyball! We played some of the best volleyball of our season - led defensively at the net by some strong blocking by Katarina Erickson and an amazing stuff block by Ava Cole.  Ava, Katarina and Riley Green were strong for us all day, but each and every player stepped up throughout the day to score us a point either at the net, or by digging a ball, or by serving tough.  Our team worked so hard all season and it really showed in the last tourney.” They end their season rank around 65th out of over 150 team in the SCVA – great job girls! Congratulations on your first volleyball travel team season!

Also competing on Sunday was the 13’s divisions. The 13 White team competed hard all day for some close matches, but could quite breakthrough. They suffered losses to BVA 13-3rd Degree (25-18, 21-25, 13-15), Coast VBC 13-R2 Megan (13-25, 22-25), and LAVA-North 13-Adidas (21-25, 11-25). Coach Andrew Grimes said, “despite our losses today, Lily Singhass displayed some solid defense all day long, while offensively we were led by Kayla Padilla.” They will drop to Division 15 for their last SCVA Mandatory event, Sunday June 12th.

The 13 Blue had a great tournament day, going 3-0 winning each match in straight sets to move up to Division 6 for their last SCVA tournament. They posted wins over Coast VBC 13-3 Casey (25-12, 25-12), Rancho Valley 13-Select (25-23, 25-18) and A4 Volley 13-Purple (25-13, 25-11). Coach Ed Gover said, “leading the way for the team was the fine hitting and blocking by Taylor Wilson as well as excellent serving by Riley Borchardt and Tiffany Medel; in the second match of the day Riley had a 13 point serving run!  Grace Johnson, Annabelle Tiller, Paige Doughty, and Elise Guerrard-Hermes were also solid contributors on the pins for the entire day.”

This tournament was a great prep for the 13 Blue’s upcoming big weekend – they are off to Las Vegas to compete in the 3-day AAU West Coast Championships from May 28-30th. We wish them the best of luck!!