This weekend saw our two 14’s teams and 16 Blue team competing in another SCVA Mandatory tournament. We are getting down to the end, as each team only has a little over 1 month left in their seasons!

The 14 Blue team played some very high level volleyball this past weekend, with a 3-1 record overall on the day. The team posted wins over Forza1 14-National (25-13, 25-23), Southside VBC 14-Navy (25-19, 21-25, 15-8), and Rancho Valley 14-Select (25-15, 25-15) in pool play to take 1st place. In the crossover match to hopefully move up to Division 3, the team suffered its only loss of the day, in a close 3-set match to SDVBC 14-1 (25-23, 15-25, 11-15) therefore remaining in Division 4.

Coach Dillan Bennett said, “While this weekend was successful on many fundamental volleyball levels, ultimately, we are still in the same division despite playing at a high level early in the day. As a team, I thought we made great strides this weekend. Ultimately, we fell a few points short of our goal to move back up to Division 3, but our progress this weekend toward being our best was nice to see. Going forward, we will work on being able to compete for four long matches in a day, which is something many of the girls are not yet accustomed to. This group didn't see many playoff matches in season's past, and it's a big part of their learning curve this season.“

Bennett also noted a few standout players, “Madeline Gunderson played her best tournament yet this season, playing almost perfect defense and regularly serving teams off the court. Taylor Wilson and Elise Guerrand-Hermes worked well with setters Riley Borchardt and Grace Johnson to implement a few new offensive play sets that greatly paid off. Borchardt also played very well in the back row defensively, saving several balls from hitting the floor late in rallies.”

The 14 Navy team opened the day with a battle against eventually winners of the pool, Vinceret VBC 14-Black (26-28, 21-25). After that heartbreaking loss, the team rebounded to finish their day with back to back wins over Forza1 14-Elite (25-12, 25-22) and Triumph 14-1 (17-25, 25-17, 15-7). With a 2nd place finish in their pool, they hold their seeding in Division 12 for the next tournament in a few weeks.

Coach Mike Maas said, “The first match loss was frustrating as we had our chances to win and instead we made errors. I was glad to see the team rebound however and take care of business against the other two teams. Frances Carlson did a good job in the setting position all day long, while Alyse Gilliam continued to be the most consistent performer on the team.”

The 16 Blue team also competed this weekend with mixed results. They opened the day with a loss to top seeded 951 Elite 16-1 (25-17, 25-21). Up next was the 2nd seeded team, and the team played their best match of recent, and pulled out a 3-set victory over a strong team, Bakersfield 16-Judy (25-20, 23-25, 15-11). Unfortunately, the team could not continue that momentum, and dropped the next match to Legacy 16-Elite (21-25, 23-25). With a 1-2 record, and in a 3-way tie for 2nd place in the pool, the team ended up 4th based on set records and point differentials. Playing in the crossover match against Forza1 16-National Red the team couldn’t find a consistent rhythm and lost (25-17, 15-25, 15-8) to drop them to Division 4.

Coach Kat Niksto said, “It was a very frustrating day overall due to our lack of consistency in level of play on our side of the net. Setter Maddie Walker and outside hitter Talia Medel both stood out with their overall effort and performances on the day. At this point in our season we have to really focus on our side of the net, and realize it’s not so much about who we are playing, but how we are playing. I hope this weekend can be a learning lesson for us – since we have seen how well we can perform as a team when we are on our A-game.”