JVA West Coast Cup Final Day & Recap

<p>Long Beach, CA - At the end of the holiday weekend, several PVL teams finished at the top of the podium. In fact, all of the divisions except one had a PVL team finish in first place and of all the divisions only two did not have a California team finish on top.</p> <p>In the 18s division, Temecula Viper 18-Jo took first place without losing a match in the tournament. Viper has been consistent all season and they have a superb libero in Brianna Belfi. This libero covers a lot of ground and also sets very well, with a consistent location for the attackers. She also has a very aggressive jump float serve that can get teams in passing trouble and can go on runs of points. 951 Elite landed in second place, only losing to Viper in the final in three sets (25-15, 23-25, 10-15). It was a tale of two liberos as 951’s libero, Cal State Northridge commit, Brianna Mitchell, was also superb. Pulse 18-Henry found themselves in third place which was a first-time podium finish for the club on the girls side. Pulse has had boy’s teams for several years but this is their first season with girl’s teams. Their only loss in the tournament was a close one, and it was to 951 Elite in three sets (19-25, 25-22, 12-15).</p> <p>In the 17 open division, Wave 17 Juliana was pretty unstoppable, winning all of their matches up to the semi and final in two sets which went three sets. Wave’s middle blocker, [player_tooltip player_id="160339" first="Eva" last="Rohrbach"], is super solid at the net and very good off one foot, running slides with ease. She’s got long arms that put up a big wall for attackers to deal with. Rohrbach is committed to Maryland. Wave is doubly gifted in the middle with [player_tooltip player_id="162805" first="Cayla" last="Payne"], also being a great presence at the net in the middle for them. Payne is committed to Colorado. Sunshine 17 LA fought hard with Wave in the final but came up just short losing in three sets (25-23, 20-25, 12-15). Opposite, [player_tooltip player_id="160313" first="Olivia" last="Babcock"], continued to be a force at the net for Sunshine. She has a great high reach and swing on the pin. In the 17 club division, SCVC 17 Roxy went undefeated in the tournament to take first place. Legacy 17 Elite took second, losing in straight sets to SCVC (23-25, 18-25).</p> <p>In the 16 open division, Coast 16 Rodrigo was undefeated to take top honors defeating Momentous 16 Dan in straight sets (25-19, 25-18). Momentous is headed to AAU Nationals in Orlando in a couple of weeks. Outside hitter, [player_tooltip player_id="159533" first="Isabel" last="Clark"], is incredibly athletic and has good size at 6’2”. She is an offensive weapon for their team. Additionally opposite, Cymarah Gordon, also has a high reach touching over 10’ making her a big offensive threat to opponents. Additionally impressive was Surfside PV Legends 15’s who played up in the 16 open and finished in the gold bracket. Their big six rotation outside hitter, 6’3” [player_tooltip player_id="188236" first="Kaci" last="Demaria"], continued to impress all tournament long with her offensive ability and consistency. In the 16 club division, San Clemente 16 Riley took top honors without dropping a match. Their only challenge came in the final battle with Seal Beach 16 Blue who wouldn’t go down without a fight and tried everything they could to pull out the win but came up just short (27-25, 21-25, 11-15).</p> <p>In the 15 open division, AZ Storm Elite finished in first, overcoming an upset on the second day of the tournament in the form of a shocking two set loss at the hands of Seal Beach 15 Black. This was AZ Storm’s only loss in the tournament, and only second loss at a national tournament all season. Northern California’s Vision 15 Gold finished in second with opposite, Isabella Romero and 6’1” outside hitter Nicole Steiner, looking strong and consistent out on the pins for them. In the 15 club division, it was an all T-Street battle with T-Street Las Vegas 15 Chris taking first place and T-Street 15 Jon taking second. Both teams were undefeated in the tournament going into the final, which was a three set fight in which the Las Vegas team prevailed (21-25, 25-9, 15-11).</p> <p>In the 14 open division, Wave 14 Brennan took the top spot after going undefeated in the tournament, winning the final against Forza1 VB North 14 UA in three sets (25-18, 21-25, 15-7). For Wave, outside hitter Finley Krystkowiak was a standout while, outside hitter Westley Matavao stood out for Forza. In the 14 club division, an impressive young Mizuno Long Beach Rockstar 13 L played up and took first place without dropping a set.</p>