Queens Court Tournament Elite Varsity & Varsity Recap

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Which teams came out on top?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Queen's Court is one of the most anticipated tournaments in Orange County every year. It's a pre-season, non-CIF event that is highly competitive and helps get teams ready for league play. There's competition for Frosh-Soph, JV, Varsity, and Elite Varsity. Last year's champions for Elite Varsity and Varsity were Aliso Niguel and Upland High School. Who was crowned the champion?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Elite Varsity</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The elite varsity division had some titans of high school volleyball with Mater Dei, JSerra, Beckman, Ontario Christian, Orange Lutheran, Aliso Niguel, San Clemente, San Juan Hills, Santiago (Corona), and Tesoro battling it out over the two days. Day one saw Mater Dei cruise through their pool, going undefeated without dropping a set. Orange Lutheran had an intense day one showing, taking down last year's champ Aliso Niguel in an epic three sets in pool play (24-26, 25-23, 15-12). Beckman also had a strong first day, winning the same number of matches as Orange Lutheran in pool play but ultimately winning the pool head-to-head with Orange Lutheran. Mater Dei ended up finding themselves in the championship match without too much challenge, only dropping one set in pool play on the second day. Mater Dei took down JSerra in the championship match 25-10, 25-23. The Monarchs are led by senior middle blocker and captain,&nbsp; [player_tooltip player_id='159535' first='Liv' last='Hertzog'], who can really hammer a ball from the middle. They also have a ton of firepower on the pins with 6'3” junior OH, [player_tooltip player_id='159534' first='Babi' last='Gubbins'], who is committed to Stanford and 6'1” OH [player_tooltip player_id='159533' first='Isabel' last='Clark'] who is committed to the University of San Diego. Also impressive was 6' junior, Cymarah Gordon, who can really fly and puts up a huge block on the right side, and highly skilled libero, Melissa Cawa, who controls the backcourt.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Elite Varsity players that shone during the tournament also include Beckman's OH senior, [player_tooltip player_id='194237' first='Emily' last='Kyle'], who is a high flyer with a great vertical and has a lot of pop on her swing. Aliso Niguel's captain, Madyson Smith, was a big arm on the pin when the team battled with Orange Lutheran in pool play on the first day. For Orange Lutheran, 6'2” senior, [player_tooltip player_id='160364' first='Paige' last='Buzzerio'], was superb on the outside using her length to her advantage and providing her team with a big go-to attacker on the pin. Another standout was Ontario Christian's senior setter, Brooklyn Goedhart, who has great hands and was dishing out some really great sets for her hitters.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Varsity</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the Varsity division, Redlands was ultimately crowned the champion, going 8-1 overall in the tournament and only dropping one match to Chino Hills in pool on the first day. La Canada finished in second place, losing to Redlands in the championship after prevailing in a hard found three-set battle against Saugus to get to the final. Redlands is led by junior OH, [player_tooltip player_id='160962' first='Julia' last='Tolstova'], and senior setter, Maddie Brown. The setter-hitter duo is new this season but is already showing great chemistry on the court. Hart has a standout opposite/setter in 6'2” Madison Maxwell, who can dish out sets with great tempo and location from that back row and then poses a big threat in the front row as an attacker and blocker. She will be one to watch this fall. For Buckley, 6'2” middle, Sophia Wolfson, was a standout. Wolfson moves well along the net and uses her height to her advantage when attacking. Torrance's 6'4” middle, Kalyssa Blackshear, who is in the class of 2025, was a big part of the reason Torrance won CIF last year. She will look to be a bigger factor this year as their program has graduated some key seniors. At the tournament, we can already see her starting to step into that role, and she was a part of the reason that Torrance made it to the semifinals of the tournament.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->