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Mand 3: Went in 1st and took 2nd. Played Revolution in first match of day. They jumped out to early lead and played with great emotional energy, we played with emotional nervousness. Once we settled in, we began our comeback and won the first game. The second game they were never really in it as we served incredibly tough. Next we played Synergy who beat us with power on the OH and a big MB. Our final match against Crush showed our improvement as we went 3 with them the firs time we beat them and this time we did it in two. They were very scrappy and smart. Our girls have come a long way and we look forward to going into Regionals playing some great volleyball.
Mand. 3 Went in 2nd and took 1st...will move back into Gold division. The difference this tourney were two major things: the girls executed a team strategy and they were very in tune with each other. It was nice to see all aspects of our game come together. We look forward to staying healthy and playing well in the next Mand. Andrea Buckner www.SportsNutritionEtc.com AVVC 16-Debbie took their first win of the club season winning all three matches. Our first match was against Central Coast. It was great to see the girls bring it together the first game. They played clean volleyball impressing me with how far they have come in passing. We ended up going three games, but pulled off the win. The second match against Beach Cities went two games with a 25-18 and 25-17 victory. Our last match of the day against the Starlings was unexpected...meaning we completely underated the team we were playing. We thought they would be the easiest match of the day and they proved us wrong. We made a lot of serving errors and did not play our best, but we won the first game 27-25; in the second game we had a 15-2 lead and let our lead slip away, but in the end pulled off a 33-31 victory...(a nail biter). I must commend one of our defensive players, Sara Springer, especially in this last game. Sara usually comes in the game for our opposite after they serve. Because our libero was out on Saturday, she played that position the entire day. In the last game, she wanted to win and nothing got by her, she was all over the place, and she saved the game for us. It was fun to watch and a very good day for us.
JOQ Results: Day ONE--played well but lost 3 games by 2 points, including to a team that finished 29 overall, Colorado Performance. It was a day of learning and working out our new defense and a day realizing that the more we talk, the better we are.
Day TWO--a last minute change from playing at 3pm to 8 am did not throw off our game. THe girls played very well despite many mental toughness challenges. We took second despite having not played our best.
Day THREE--UNDEFEATED! We had several close games and for the first time in the tournament pulled out the victories! Every player contributed to the team win and team morale. We had tremendous family support on all three days and were the flight 3 CHAMPIONS.
We head into Mand 2 with a new defense, new perspective on what it means to be a great teammate, and hopefully a fully healthy team.
18-Dave had to persevere past some obstacles at mandatory #1. We were missing two of our starting front row players which meant we had to make some adjustments. Fortunately we were able to compete even without two of our starters and we earned a three way tie for second. We ended up third in the pool for the day which means that we will remain in division five and survive to fight for gold another day. Our serving has really been improving lately, and it showed at this tournament. We are looking forward to competing intact at the next mandatory and hope to challenge the top ranked teams in the future. Went into tourney second in pool and finished 3rd. We had SEVERAL 3 game matches we didn't finish and losing "close" games became the norm for the day. We went into playoffs (being in GOLD you have playoffs after pool play on the same day) and lost to Mizuno Long Beach in 3. Mand. 1 My team took second. It was a rough day going 1-2 but but we battled all day long. Three teams ended up with a 1-2 record but because we won in two games and lost in three games, and the other teams went to three games more times, we had fewer losses and catapulted from third or fourth into second. The girls are looking more and more like a team and are looking forward to making a move in San Diego in a couple weeks. Qual. 3 Results: Qualifier number three was a great success for 18- Dave. We started the day ranked 96th in the SCVA after a difficult performance at the last qualifier. This time we were healthy and at full strength and it showed. We were ranked second in our pool. The top ranked team was 68th! After convincingly defeating the third and fourth seeds with improved passing and serving, we were set up for a final showdown with the number one team who was also undefeated to this point. We lost a close first game to them after giving up a solid lead, but we were able to regoup and make an emotional comeback to steal game 2. In game three we were dominant as we used the momentum and confidence gained to seal the match. We were undefeated in match play for the day, which puts us in division five, and gives us a new ranking which might crack the top 70! Randi’s 15-1 team finished 2nd place in Qualifier #3. They beat SMBC 15- Bobbie and Beach Cities. The win over SMBC ended 25-14 and 25-23. Outside hitters Sophie Rodrigues and Kelsey Hundhoff helped the team earn a win with 10 combined kills. Lauren Hernendez, Jessica Perez, Sophie, and Kelsey all added three aces apiece. Their win against Beach Cities was achieved through great passing from both Natalie Mata and Devon Moore. The girls showed great teamwork, ball control and versatility as many of the girls were playing new positions. Their only loss was to OCVBC. This was attributed to missed serves, passing, and lack of communication. They play next weekend and are hoping to have all the things in they have been working on practice come together and take first place.p>
Qual. 3 Results: We took 4th place (1 - 6), but I was more pleased with the way our team played this tournament than I was the last two tournaments that we took 2nd place in. Two of our starters were missing, but our AVVC 16's team did not give up and for the first time really played as a team. We were in every match...every game until the end of the day. Our setter (and one of our Captains), Christina Guerrero, is always at the top of her game and proves every practice and every tournament what an asset she is to our team. We even had the shortest person on our team, Sara Springer, play every position on the court (except for setter, but including middle front) at one point. She was a trooper and did not care where she played just so long as she was in the game. I commend these girls for all of their hard word, dedication, and improvement they have made. I see a lot of potential in their future and I know they will only keep getting better. Qual. 3 Results: Started ranked 3rd in pool after winning last tournament but finished a disappointing fourth. We are still in the Gold division but a sloppy and unaggressive day of volleyball certainly was not what we were hoping for after the tremendous success and improvement we have had the last 3 weeks. We make no excuses, for there are none. We get back to work for Mandatory 1 which will include playoffs and a LONG day of volleyball. Often times you learn more from losing than you do from winning...lol, yesterday we should have learned TONS! We are a good team that had a lousy day. Mavericks (ranked #6) took us down easily. #2 ranked San Gab elite had to work for their 2-1 victory and SVVC scraped by in game one 28-26 and we ran out of gas in the second game. 18- Dave had a strong weekend at the Las Vegas tournament. There were nearly 160 teams in the club tournament. Each day we needed to be in the top two teams in order to advance to the gold division. On day 1 we went 2-1 with solid serving and passing which earned us second place, and a seed in the top 70. Day 2 began with us seeded fourth in our pool against much tougher opponents. We held our own, narrowly losing to the top seed, then defeated the second seed in one of our best performances of the tournament. We made some errors in our third match and lost a close three game finale. We had won enough to claim second place in the pool which meant that evening we would be playing for GOLD! In the evening match we rallied to take a very tough top ten team to three games, but lost it in the end by only THREE POINTS. Day 3 we were ranked in the top forty and played a difficult match that caught us unprepared. We finished tied for 29th. Overall, a huge improvement!
Las Vegas Tournament Results: Qual. 2 Results: Started out ranked first in pool and finished an UNDEFEATED first!! It was a great day of volleyball with huge team and individual improvement. We played bright and early at 8am against Impact who had won their last tournament. They beat us 26-24 in the first game but we never looked back. We took games two and three, they would prove to be our toughest competition. We then faced #4 Seal Beach and after identifying that they love to hit middle, we made quick adjustments and played very well winning in two. Lastly we faced #2 Quest and made quick work of them suffering a slight dip when they ran off 8 straight points. The biggest improvement was in leadership and ball control. The girls have been working incredibly hard and it paid off. We will compete in GOLD division for Qual 3 and look forward to continued success through VERY hard and specific work. Well done girls! It was a great team effort that saw everyone contribute. Andrea Buckner www.SportsNutritionEtc.com Qual. 2 Results: After going undefeated in qualifier #1 we knew that we would be in for a more challenging experience the next week. Unfortunately we were forced to make some line-up changes prior to qualifier #2. We were ranked 104 out of 104 in group A which meant that every team we played had a much higher ranking than us. We stayed close but failed to win a match in qualifier #2. We did, however, fair better than many of the teams with similar seeds and as a result our ranking should improve. If our calculations are correct we should now be a Top 100 team which is a long way from where we started (138). We look forward to qualifier #3 because we should be complete and ready. Qual. 1 Results: Started out ranked 3rd in pool and finished 3rd in pool. We started off bright and early at 8am with the #1 team and played VERY well with passing and defense, holding our own at 13-11. Then, serving, serving, serving KILLED us! We missed at least 6-7 serves eventually losing 25-15. We didn't recover well in the second game. After a two hour sit, we were back up against Club Vegas and they took us down with consistent tough serving 0-2. So now going into our last match we were 0-4 for the day having been on a roller coaster ride technically and mentally. Match 3 we let loose, having tried several different line up combinations, and still came up short in game 1. How did the girls respond? By winning the next two games and the match to finish 1-2 for the day in 3rd place. This means we will play in Qual 2 and BATTLE. It was a great learning and growing experience as we continue to blend the newbies with the oldies and find our hitting groove. As one of our girls quoted "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary"...so, back to WORK for us so we will have SUCCESS. Andrea Buckner www.SportsNutritionEtc.com
No. 8 UCLA Sweeps Past Alabama A&M in NCAA First Round(Shenorah and Shekorah Smith play for Alabama on scholarship)
Cal State East Bay finished #12 in the country (Roxy Neely)
AVVC's 18-Mike team finished their first tournament of the season in second place with a record of 2-1. In their first match they defeated Starlings 25-9, 25-10 and did it by serving up 26 aces! They followed that up with a mediocre performance against Synergy. Both teams looked to be playing with some early season jitters but Synergy was able to take the match 15-25, 21-25. The third and final match of the day featured a unique match up: AVVC v.s. Revolution 17-1. This marks the second time to two Antelope Valley-based teams have met up in tournament play; AVVC won the first meeting! The result would be the same this time as Mike's team defeated Revolution 25-15, 25-23. During the second game of this match, Mike's team found themselves down 20-23 before stepping up and shutting down Revolution by scoring the next five points to win 25-23.
January 22 - Fiesta Classic Tournament Results:
The 18's just returned from the Fiesta Classic in Arizona. We ambitiously entered the open bracket (34 teams) rather than the less challenging club bracket (38 teams). On day one we played well pushing the top ranked teams and losing by only two points in several of our games. At the end of day one we were 1-2 in our pool which was good enough to put us in the bronze bracket. On day two we played really well as we served and passed our way to a 2-1 finish for the day. The only team that beat us had to be worried as we were nudged out by only two points in the second game. On day three we drew a team that had lost their number ten ranking in the tournament because of a forfeit on a strange technicality. They were strong hitters but we led them 21-20 at one point before a couple of errors ended our day early. Out of 72 18's teams we finished tied for 22nd overall. This was a great learning opportunity for our team and hopefully this tune-up will pay off as we enter qualifiers this month.
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