Temecula Viper Volleyball Club

     We came in to our Regional Tournament ranked 15th, 2nd in our pool and with goals on the first day of staying in that top half. In the first match against RV 14-2 we did not start off the way we planned, though that team was scrappy we were out of sinc. We lost in 2, close in score, but not in play; 22 & 23. Next up was OCVBC, we knew we had to play stronger with our only chance to win the next 2 tough matches. The team stayed determined and pulled off the first game 28-26, then getting into a good rhythm winning the next game 25-18. Now on to Bakersfield, the #2 overall in SCVA. They are a beatable team, but they never give up. My girls showed up for this one. We were so focused that we never even heard the coach from Bakersfield, that is focused! The first game we started off too slow, coming on strong at the end to lose 19-25, but determined and the next game was ours, 25-22 in an amazing tie breaker with a big crowd both teams battled, fighting for every point. It was a game with few errors on either side and eventually we proved stronger this day 16-14...........Ensuring 1st in the Pool after a tough start. WOW.

     Day 2;

     Club West is our first opponent, we have met them a few times this year and beat them more than lost to them. My team gets off to a slow start again and we do not put up much of a battle. Though we are missing our Middle, we are struggling with chemistry in general on the court, we never played strong and lost 17 & 20. Just like the day before we new we had to dig deep in order to finish in the top 2, next we played SMBC. Again, we got back in to our game and were unbeatable in the first 25-19. The next game held less errors overall and both teams playing great volleyball, it was an exciting match and great for me to watch my team completely focussed on winning and we did, finally 30-28. So now we are in a position that if we beat SVVC (we have before) in 2, then we win the pool and playing for top 4 and if we lose we will be 3rd and playing for 9th. Unfortunately it never got going for us on this last pool play match. SVVC played very strong and we had far too many errors to compete, we lost in 2, 17 & 13 (yikes). So we are in 3rd and playing for 9th place.

     Now remember we came in to this Tournament ranked 14th, so we will end up better than that, keeping that in mind took pressure off the girls and they really played well against SG Elite. It was a great battle and I was proud of the team for pulling off a first round win 28-26. Next was SCVC for 9th. After 7 months of volleyball, I actually put in the wrong line-up--switching the setter and middle numbers in one rotation, it proved to be our downfall. At first the girls were having fun with it and had a commanding lead, but once we got out of rotation and lost 2 points our opponent was able to take advantage and pull off a win; 26-24. So we finished 10th.

      We came through the tournament better than we went in, which is not as easy to do as some might imagine. Overall the team had some of their best games and moments yet!!  It proved to me what we are capable of and the need for this team to be more consistant throughout the day would be one of the big things for us to work on before Reno.

     The good thing about today was that we could not drop as it was the last Mandatory and you receive points for your Regional Standings. I feel like the team may play better when they have pressure, but the sign of experience is composure in all types of scenarios, we showed some inexperience and some youth this day. Though we started our strongest against # 2 overall-Bakersfield and went 3 with Wave, we were in a funk with serving and finishing both rallies & opportunities; 2 struggles that would remain with us throughout the day.

     Though we did drop all 3 today, we will take it back to practice and build it and strengthen it as we have all season. The one thing I know for sure about my girls is that they have passion, focus and drive like no one else. They will dig and  they will grow because this team is made of kids that their entire life they have met challenges head on. This time that we work on the court is no different.

In the words of Frank Lloyd Wright;
"The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen"

And we Believe!!!

Team #4 in one very tough Pool. That is not just words it is a fact as at the end of the day the outcome of our pool was Miz LB-1st, Laguna Beach T 3rd, Wave 14 B-9th and Temecula 10th (this means with the exception of Laguna taking 3rd instead of 2nd that our 4 teams did the very best they could do!).

Match 1 up against the strong Wave team, we had something to prove and that was that beating them at the JNQ was not just luck. We were ready and driven. Serious amazing stats; tough jump serves-by every single player on the team, phenomanol passing by our incredible back row that let nothing drop. Front row was killing balls, drop shots, blocking and our setters were distributing balls and very decieving. Played exactly like a coach would dream. We beat them in 2 straight 25-19 & 21.

So on to Match 2 #1 Long Beach Mizuno. It is great to come off a big win and fired up to play the top team. Somewhere along our 1st game battle, we let up and let LB over power us, they are a strong team, but if we play well we can really give them a great match, but not today (hopefully soon) they beat us 20 & 12.

Match #3-Laguna Beach again--I am not sure now how many times we have played them. They are not only a very solid team, but they have 1 player that we have not been able to stop--YET. They had just lost to Wave, so we needed to put pressure on them, winning this would put us in 2nd, but that is not what happened. Laguna was pumped to play us and we were struggling, they beat us the 1st game 25-11. Though we showed some bits of hope in the 2nd game we made far too many errors and with some fight at the end we lost 25-18.

3 way tie for 2nd--puts us in 4th. Fighting for our stay in D-1 for M #5 and without our starting Middle Blocker out in pool play with a knee injury.

Playoffs-Club Jamba (they beat us in JNQ), they are a tough team, but had not had the best day (without their coach today). As my team slowly put themselves in to a 23-12 slump, I asked for them to dig deep and find some fight. Apparently they had it in them, as incredible serving followed by a lot of aggressive play, no errors and a bit of luck, we were back in there and in contention for the 1st game, which we end up winning and fighting for 26-24. Game #2, all I can say is 11-25 we lost it. So 1-1, tie breaker to stay in D-1, our Middle sub working hard and backed by alot of belief, we found our strength and took the game 15-7. It was great to see us come from behind and finish the match in our favor.

With a whole new mindset we just dominated SVVC and took the one game playoff- 25-11.

Finals of the Lower Bracket against-yes Wave 14-B--how many times?? This proves that team #3 & #4 from our pool were the toughest this day. We were without our Middle and Wave was out to get us, they played determined and stayed ahead of us the entire match. This time we were not able to come from behind and lost 18-25.

We were up and down, played our very best and then not so good. One thing for sure is that these girls are proving that they can compete with top teams, they are hard working in practice and respond to every thing that is thrown at them. In practice they are improving every single minute, always growing, what we will see is they are going to get more consistant and bring it to the games, because they truly are here to PLAY--

We entered into the Open Division of the JNQ in order to meet up with competitive teams and do our best to qualify for the JN. Though we did not qualify outright, we did gain great experience against tough competitors which has definately made us a stronger team.

On Day One; A very important day as you really need to come out 1 or 2 in your pool to stay in the top half for the tournament. It was a battle, though we beat Desert Sport 22 & 12 we struggled with a tough Jamba team (#3 in pool) and lost in 2 after a great comeback in the 2nd game. The big match for us this day was against #1 in the tournament-Wave 14-1, after losing the 1st game, we revived ourselves and took the 2nd 25-20, in a very exciting tie breaker game for everyone around we played with heart and toughness and won 16-14. Yeah!! We stayed 2nd and are in the top 1/2.

Day Two-humm--we had some tough teams in our pool and unfortunately did not come ready to challenge them. We can battle with Sunshine and Laguna, but not this day, we fell to both. Our Match against a tough SMBC team proved a better fight and went 3, 25-22, 21-25, 10-15, we remained 4th in the pool. Best we could do now was 13th.

Final Day; First let me preface with the temperature in ASC by 1pm--probably 100 degrees and humid, and it only got hotter. Well we never succumb to the heat. First round our friendly rivals-Club West-we just came ready to play. We were efficient and focussed and were able to win in 2 straight, great games; 25-21&23. Next match for 13th place against Golden West Asics. It was really inspiring to see all these athletes going so hard, no giving up only getting better with every play. It was another great match with TVC the Champions in 2 straight; 25-21 & 25-20. Taking 13th overall.

Overall the experience was just what we needed. We held our own with tough teams, then we struggled with tougher teams, but we reached deep to finish strong. We are figuring out how to stay intense and also seeing our potential. As a bonus the girls got the be together at the hotel and enjoy the whole Volleyball Experience!!

Finding ourselves dropped to Division 2, hoping to find some toughness in ourselves and some fight in finishing games/matches.

1st match; Mavericks 14, a talented and tall team we had our work cut out for us. We had not played a tournament for a month and we came out strong and ready to play, though we had some lapses we stayed tough and won in 2, 25-19 & 21.

2nd match-South Bay; Again we started off strong and the first 7 points of the game we looked unstoppable. We then let them back in through mid game and SB was fighting, but we proved to be the better team and though it was not always pretty they stayed composed and pulled through with the opponents scoring 20 & 19 again.

3rd Match; Club West 13-1; a great little ball control team with strong Defense. My team proved to be bigger and stronger, we really played our best match of the pool. We looked fluid and worked as a team, with everyone contributing, we won 25-18 & 17.

Of course the true test of the Playoff rounds is winning that very important first round. If you win you move back to D1 and if you lose you stay in D2. Our opponent; A very energetic San Gab Elite team. Temecula played their best match of the day, confident and connecting with passing, setting and hitting we never let them have a chance. It was great to see the team realize that they truly belonged back in the top 16 and they worked hard all month for this day and they came to play.

Our goal of winning the tournament was stopped by our friendly rivals Rancho Valley 14-1, a strong team that we have seen already, but this time they beat us even after and amazing run by my team at the end, 22-25.

We looked solid today and it was awesome that every single player on this team showed what they can bring to this team. I am proud of their accomplishments today and excited to face the competition in D1.

We really showed what we are capable of today. Our first match against #3 seed overall, Club West was a display of everything this team has been working on coming together. We started strong, FBSO was improved, aggressive offense and very vocal. We won in 2.

Against #2 in pool, Laguna Beach we did not stay as consistant and though we had many great accomplishments we had too many lapses and in a great match we lost 14-16 in the third.

Next was Santa Barbara, a team that came up from D-2, but is deserving of their D-1 presence. Though they were strong, we played exhausted after our LB loss and never was able to get that intensity back, we dropped in 2.

After a good round of pool play we ended where we started in 3rd place and had Bakersfield-Jamba in our playoff match. We came on strong the first game and had a nice win 25-15, but then a bit of the roller coaster came in the second game and we were not able to hang on and the match went 3. In that final game we battled with our consistancy, we played aggressive but had too many errors and lost 12-15 to put us down a division.

We are doing great things and it was a day that revealed mostly our strengths and our potential above anything else. We have played against tough competition and we will prepare ourselves to rise to our future challenges.

Match 1 against Rancho Valley 14-1.................. Started off flat and lost the 1st game, but got some confidence at the end and came back to win the 2nd and 3rd game. It was great to see this team never give up and come up with a win here.

Match 2 against Encinitas 14-1..................... We scrimmaged them last month and they were tough, so it was great to see my team get stronger and battle with them the 1st game, we lost, but we could see that we had improved. The second game was not as good and we lost that one.

Match 3 against OCVBC................. We got off to a slow start, but fortunately got it together and the players really stepped it up winning the 1st game. The 2nd game was close and though we struggled offensively we finished the game 27-25.

Great pool play day for Temecula, we end up 2-1, however we still took a 3rd place with a 3 way tie for 1st. Unfortunate to now be put in a postition to play to stay in D-1, but we were up for it.

Played Golden West in the 1st round and the team just got stronger and stronger. We had great energy and power, it was great to see the focus and determination, which I always see in practice, but haven't seen in the games as much. We won in 2 and stayed in D-1. We lost the next round 21-25.

This team is so together, it is great to see them cohesive and enjoying the rewards of their hard work.

Finished 1st in Pool, we will start Mandatory Tournaments in GOLD DIVISION 1.

1st match against Coast. Our girls started out strong, then let them back in on a streak of errors across the board. At around 11 points, After a timeout something clicked for them and Coast only scored 2 more points. We played well the 2nd game, less mistakes and progressing, won 25-11

2nd match against Desert ( 4th in the pool, but coming up strong from the Silver bracket), we never quite got going, but pulled out the 1st game 25-23. The second game did not get much better. Though our serving and passing stayed strong, we made errors on hitting and broken plays, we lost 18-25. Then ½ the way through the 3rd game when we were down 8-5, the girls worked it out. In a very exciting and tough battle we pulled off a 17-15 defeat, never smooth, though, I was proud that they could still fight for a win when not in a groove and they did stop making errors.

3rd match against #2 (in pool) Laguna 13-1’s, we finally got in to “our game’, Just everything we worked on came together…..we looked smooth and sure. We dominated the entire match, I think they scored 13 or less both games.

This team is working hard to become stronger. They are progressing and just beginning to feel their power. Looking forward to tough competition in D-1.

We had a great opportunity to scrimmage against some of the strong D-1 teams on Saturday. Encinitas Wave invited us to their facility in Del Mar for a full day of Volleyball.

All teams played 2 games to 25.

First up was Encinitas 14-1; they really got off to a great start and had a very effective middle attack, though we played stronger the 2nd game, they beat us in both.

We then played Sunshine 14-1 and Laguna Beach 14-1 and split with both teams. They were exciting games and they were tough battles.

Our 4th games were against Wave 13-1, though we battled they stayed strong and took both games from us.

The great thing about these scrimmages is that we have nothing to lose, only to gain. That is exactly what we did, we know what we need to focus on, we know what we need to continue with and will make progression to become a stronger team as a result of some tough competition. We thank The Wave VBC for a wonderful day and being great hosts!

It was also topped off by a nice lunch at Souplantation, where the girls got to hang out and eat to their tummys content.*****************************

We did it, headed to Arizona to play in a 16's tournament, to learn and grow. The game plan was to get bonus matches, while working on improving our game in a tournament that would not effect our SCVA standings. I knew this team would be competitive, that is a given, but secretly we knew we wanted to win. 

First Day; Placed as team #3 in our pool we had a successful day and played strong, surprising, I am sure some teams. We won all of our matches, including a very exciting 3 game victory against Arrowhead Fresh. 

We took 1st in our pool Second Day; Top half of Tournament Coming in as team #2 in the pool, my girls started off too slow in the first match and had our first loss, against Arrowhead-Havoc. It was good for this team to realize you can never let up at this level, I did not think they would let that happen again. They stayed strong and focused winning the next 2 tough matches against AVA and Az Jrs to take 2nd in pool. 

Final Day; Top 10 Silver Division. After giving up about 10 points in the opening game, against yet another Arrowhead team, 16-LB 11, we battled back, but lost the 1st game 23-25, we came back taking the 2nd game 25-13 and with aggressive play we lost the tie breaker 15-13. Finishing in 10th place. 

So our tourney had come to an end. Impressed and proud of this team, we did what we came to do. Not only did their skills grow, but they learned what they can do when they rely on each other. The volleyball was amazing, the hotel was fun and the girls got to know each other. The chaperones were wonderful and our parents got to watch their daughters play some great volleyball. Our little and tough 13 and 14 year old held their own. I enjoyed every minute with my team, but if I had to pick one special moment; Little Lindsey on Day 2, jump serving unbelievably against 16 year olds, ace after ace, all the while with that happy confident smirk--literally, ruling the court, it brought tears of happiness to my face!!

Starting off our first scva tourney we were team #2 in our pool. We started off successful in our first match against SVVC, beating them in 2 straight, 13 & 11 points for them. Next we played against EPIC, coached by Kurt Donaldson (one of my College coaches) and it was and exciting match, where we were able to win in 3. Last we played the #1 team in the pool-Sunshine and were able to take them in 2, 25-13 and 25-14. The day was a great day, we played strong and worked alot of kinks out. I see the potential and it was a exciting to see how this team already is learning how to win. We also got to play at 'Home' and enjoy our RV camp, courtesy of the Nunleys, where the parents were able to enjoy the sun and the Football game. It was a tournament that makes you want to watch more.