This weekend saw the conclusion of the Beach Travel season, and the 3rd and final SCVA Qualifying tournament for the 12’s, 13’s and 15’s before the start of their regular season Mandatory events.

Beach Travel Team

This weekend was the last AAU Beach Tournament for the Beach Travel Team, who finished the season on a high note with a victory against San Diego VBC Black, before falling to San Diego VBC Gold. SBVC Beach finishes the season at 3-5 overall.

Head Coach Dillan Bennett lauded the play of the team on Saturday, but was most impressed with the overall improvement of the squad over the course of the season. “It is always such a great feeling to watch the body of work our athletes accomplish in a short period. This season, we had by far the youngest roster in the league, and to win the matches we did with girls just entering high school is a great success for our program, but also a testament to the talent this group possesses.”  Most players are moving onto their high school beach seasons now – we wish them all the best of luck!

12 Blue

The 12 Blue team had a successful tournament this weekend, going 2-1 for a 2nd place finish in their pool! They opened the day with their sole loss to the top ranked ACT 12-Lindsay (17-25, 19-25). They rebounded with two great wins however over SDVBC 12-1 (25-18, 25-27, 15-13) and Temecula Viper 12-Jordan (25-11, 25-13). Coach Tina Brown said, “the team had a great 3rd game upset against the 2nd seed winning 13-15 – so exciting! We had solid play all day from Eloise McGibben, Brooke Hoadley, Chloe Hoffman and Sullivan Riechel.” The 2nd place finish starts the team in Silver Division 6!

13 Blue

The 13 Blue team will be starting in Silver Division 7 for the 2017 season. Coach Ed Gover said, “the team played very well despite finishing 1-2 two in pool play; they steadily improved their defense and serving throughout the day. Great job in the setting department by Ava Cole and Natali Flint, outside hitters Ella Jones, Lily Singhass, Erin Curtis, middles Katarina Erickson, Riley Green, Emma Zuffelato, and defensive specialists Charlotte Caesar and Mary Johnson.” The team improved throughout the day with losses to Seal Beach 13-Tara (11-25, 21-25) and Bakersfield Club Jamba 13-Brooke (18-25, 25-23, 6-15), before breaking through with a win against Rise VTA VBC 13-Josue (25-20, 25-15).

15 Blue

The 15 Blue accomplished one of their many goals this weekend in Qualifying Day #3 by starting their season in Gold Division 1! Finishing the day 3-0 the team posted wins over Bakersfield Club Jamba 15- Lorraine (25-16, 26-24), LAVA West 15-Adidas (25-11, 25-23), and T-Street 15-Bryan (14-25, 25-20, 15-9). Coach Dillan Bennett said, “the play was at a high level this weekend, but none higher than the battle to win the pool against T-Street. We lost the first set in a depressing fashion, before storming back in the second set, to send the match to the third and deciding set. The team used our strong serving and ball control to win the deciding 3rd set, and earn the right to start in the highly competitive Top 16 of the SCVA. Ingrid Blau, who stepped into a back-row role this weekend, playing great defense and solidified the serve receive passing for the team; while Mikayla Butzke also had a great tournament, providing a plethora of service aces, as well as orchestrating a well-balanced offense.”

15 White

The 15 White team also found success on the court – going 3-0 for another first-place finish in their pool. The win places them in Bronze Division 9 to start their regular season. The team scored victories over Beach Cities 15-Platinum (25-19, 25-23), New Wave 15-Gold (25-14, 25-21), and SDVBC 15-Kristen (25-12, 25-13). Coach Taylor Warmerdam said of her team’s performance, “the girls played the best they've played so far this season! It was so much fun to watch and coach them. They were competitive, hustled to every ball, and they were aggressive at the net. Everyone worked hard to get us the win. Now that we have Ashley Day recovered from her ankle injury, we went back to running a 6-2 offense which allowed us to dominate in the front row. Our setters (Ashley Day and Alessia Crickette) worked hard to disperse the ball to all hitters. Our defense and serving was unstoppable. I'm so proud of the way everyone played!”