Last week 3 teams from the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club competed in the 43rd Annual AAU National Championships in Orlando, Florida. This marked the end of the 2015-2016 club volleyball season for all teams.

The 15 Blue team was competing in the 15 Premier division, and entered the tournament short a player due to an injury just days before the tournament. Coach Justin Hertlein said, “the team fought through adversity and ran a new rotation we had never practiced.” On the first day of competition, the team squeaked out a 3rd place pool play finish with a 1-2 record. The two losses came to Houston Stellar 15-Elite (25-27, 16-25) and Ethos 15-Elite (25-18, 25-17), while the win was against TVC 15-2 Svat (25-15, 19-25, 12-15).

The second day however, the team while competitive in all matches, struggled to close any out, and went 0-3 with losses to Borinquen Coqui 15F Yeyo (19-25, 24-26), Alliance 15-2 Molten (19-25, 20-25), and Academy 15-Diamond (25-20, 13-25, 13-15). The third day the team again faced tough competition, going 1-2 with losses to AVA of Texas 15-Attack (23-25, 21-25) and Cincy Classics 15-Red (18-25, 23-25), before their win over Neb Jrs 15-1 (25-11, 25-15). On the fourth and final day, in bracket play, the team lost their opening match versus Chicago Elite 15-Elite (25-20, 22-25, 13-15), ending their tournament with an overall ranking of 51st.

Coach Hertlein was proud of all his players, and how they continued to fight through a difficult tournament for them. “Georgia Brace stepped into a 6 rotation role (as Outside Hitter) she had not played this year and rocked it! While Kendall Williams was our go-to powerhouse right side the whole tournament; she showed a lot of skill by changing up her offense (swing, tip, tool, cut shots…). Jayne Wood went hard every game and became our pressure situation attacker; she never held back and was a huge part of our offense. Alison Minnich moved from Libero to Outside Hitter for the first time this year and showed she was more than capable of making the switch. She found ways to score and made countless great defensive plays. Taylor Robertson played full time Libero for the first time this year and crushed it. She was consistent in serve receive and made other teams work very hard to score. She took a leadership role and helped our team stay positive. Kristine Fimlaid was, as always, a scoring machine! She led the team in hitting percentage and aces; and her never say die attitude was impressive and helped raise the level of play for the rest of our team. Molly Kirkbride was so reliable; she was always out working the competition and scoring with her block through disciplined play. She set a great example for what it means to "do your job". Ellie Chenoweth led the team with confidence and fire. Her high risk high reward choices from the setter position were impressive and pivotal in our successes. Maddie Walker not only ran the offense with consistent confidence, but played incredible defense. She was an all-around stud the entire tournament. Overall the team fought hard with the players we had available and showed everyone that they could hang with any team in the division.”