West Slope Volleyball Club Wraps Up Successful Season with Two Titles
(see article below)
GDRD Community Partners
Our Community Partner Program goal is to solidify relationships with community groups and assist them in successful activities thus improving life on the Divide. For details call Carl Clark, 823-9090 or 333-4000 or e-mail: cclark@gdrd.org
West Slope Volleyball Club Wraps Up Successful Season with Two Titles
West Slope 16’s Power Team showing off their t-shirts after winning the final league tournament. Front Row: Mariah Fernandez, Sierra Cokinos, Sierra Monroe. Back Row: Jamie Hinton, Katie Christner, Kiley Phillips, Head Coach Bill Christner, and Tiffany Grey. Missing from photo Katie Holzen due to illness.
Sacramento, CA. – The West Slope Volleyball Club (WSVBC) 16’s Power Teamwrapped up this year’s club volleyball season winning two titles; the 2010 Sacramento AAU Power League, and the 2010 AAU Regional Championship.
West Slope 16’s Power Team showing off their t-shirts after winning the AAU 2010 Gold Division Regional Championship. Front Row: Head Coach Bill Christner. Back Row: Katie Christner, Sierra Monroe, Mariah Fernandez, Jamie Hinton, Katie Holzen, Tiffany Grey, Sierra Cokinos, and Kiley Phillips.
The 16 Power League title came down to the final tournament of the season with West Slope, Orangevale, and Colfax, all vying for the crown. The Championship match pitted #5 seed West Slope against #1 seed Colfax. The teams split the their opening sets with West Slope dominating 25-10 in set one, and Colfax persevering 25-27 in set two. West Slope combined superb defense with aggressive offense to win the deciding third set 15-13.
West Slope reached the tournament final beating Team Sierra 2-0 (25-18, 25-20) behind the hitting of Katie Christner (8 kills) and blocking of Sierra Monroe (3 blocks). This set up a match with Orangevale, the #1 seed who easily beat 5-Starz from Davis 2-0. West Slope quickly dispatched OVC 2-0 (25-10, 25-15) to earn their shot at the league title.
The AAU Regional Championship was a 2-day tournament with one day of pool play followed by one day of bracket play to determine the champion. West Slope finished 2nd in their pool; losing only to a strong Delta Valley team 1-2 (25-13, 16-25, 12-15). Bracket play was a double-elimination tournament with a losers and a winner’s bracket, which meant each team had two opportunities to win the tournament. West Slope entered bracket play as the #4 seed with their first game against Colfax, the #1 seed.
West Slope jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the first set, but Colfax battled back and the two teams were all tied up at 9-9. West Slope responded with a 12-4 run powered by aggressive defense at the net. But Colfax wasn’t done and fought back to tie the set at 23 all. The two squads stayed within one point of each other in an epic battle; but aggressive serving and attacking from West Slope led it to a 29-27 victory.
Colfax regrouped and took the second set 18-25 setting up a third set showdown. Colfax hoped their momentum would carry over, but West Slope came out on fire in the third set and led 8-4 at the switch. Colfax would make a run, but West Slope advanced with a 15-12 victory, putting them up against the #2 seed Delta Valley.
The first set against Delta Valley was another tight contest with six lead changes and neither team leading by more than two. With the score tied at 25-all, West Slope combined a Delta Valley hitting error with a kill by Katie Christner to close-out game one 27-25. West Slope tightened up its defense and cranked-up the offense in the second set winning 25-15 to put themselves in the championship match. But Delta Valley wasn’t through, and beat Colfax 2-0 in the loser’s bracket final to punch their ticket and set-up a rubber match with West Slope.
Nerves appeared to be affecting both teams, as tentative play marked the early stages of set one. West Slope built 10-6 lead but Delta Valley responded, tied things up at 14, and took advantage of a series of West Slope errors to build a 16-21 lead. West Slope called timeout to talk things over and their strategy worked. They came out of the timeout with a 5-0 run to even the score at 21 all. The teams traded side-outs up to 25 before West Slope closed-out set one with a 27-25 win.
West Slope opened the second set with a double block on Delta Valley’s first attack and quickly established a 4-1 lead. Delta Valley responded to tie the game at 4-4, but would never get any closer. West Slope built a 13-7 lead on flawless defense and aggressive, error-free offense that they would ride all the way to a 25-13 victory. The final points were marked by two Sierra Cokinos aces; the last with some extra heat to seal the victory and earn West Slope the Regional Championship. The team registered 55 blocks over the 2-day tournament, lead by Cokinos (15), Monroe (13), Phillips (9), Grey (8), Christner (8), and Fernandez (2).The offense was run by Kiley Phillips (7.7 assists/game) and powered by Christner (5 kills/game) with support from Cokinos, Monroe, Hinton, Holzen, Grey, and Fernandez.
The league title was the culmination of a goal the West Slope girls established back in January. After securing the league title, the girls refocused and set their goal on the Regional Championship. The attitude and dedication of these young ladies, combined with their unselfish play, allowed them to achieve their goals. Well done West Slope.
Sacramento, CA. – The West Slope Volleyball Club (WSVBC) 16’s Power Team wrapped up this year’s club volleyball season winning two titles; the 2010 Sacramento AAU Power League, and the 2010 AAU Regional Championship.