18s, 15s struggle at tournaments in Sacramento, Turlock
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RANCHO CORDOVA >> Playing the best they’ve played this season or last, the Never Say Die 17s club volleyball team went 5-0 on Sunday during tournament play in Rancho Cordova, capping a busy weekend for the NSD squads.
While the 17s were going undefeated in Rancho Cordova, the 15s (at Turlock) and the 18s (at Sacramento) both went 1-3.
17s
“The 17s had a great day after struggling last weekend,” NSD head coach Marci Psalmonds said. “They really worked hard at practice this past week and decided to have a big reset to turn things around. They were all in on Sunday with high spirits and determination.”
The 17s, in order, beat LTVI of Manteca, XCEL from the East Bay, NCVC of Rocklin, Core of Rancho Cordova, and Aftershock of Sonoma.
Leaders for the 17s were Ashlyn Wurm with 38 kills, 44 digs, 16 assists and six aces; Ati Patino with 54 digs and six aces; Bella Patti with 25 kills, 43 digs and six aces; Aniya Jauregui with 54 assists, 30 digs, 13 aces, Kaylah Billig with 15 kills and five blocks, Lindee Bingham with 10 kills and two blocks, Aliyah Valdez with 20 digs, and Isa Barnes with seven kills and nine aces.
Jauregui served back-to-back-to-back aces to close out NSD’s win over Aftershock in the championship match.
“Everyone contributed to all five wins,” Psalmonds said.
18s
The 18s started slow and never recovered, dropping consecutive matches to Rage of Ripon, Samba of Nevada City, and Diablo of Walnut Creek before finally beating Amplify of San Rafael in their final match.
“The 18s had a rough day on the court, but they kept pushing through with good spirits,” Psalmonds said. “They ended the day with a win, which helped make the long ride home a little bit better.”
Oliva Hommer led the 18s with 23 kills, 39 digs and six aces while Cali Schnabl recorded 41 digs. Mati Mateer, Carly Johnson and Aimee Schaefers had 12 kills apiece. Schaefers and Johnson added five blocks apiece while Mateer had three aces.
15s
Playing in Turlock, the 15s opened with a win over MVVC of Sunnyvale but lost their final three matches, falling to the Twisters of Merced, Crush of Turlock, and FPVC of Elk Grove.
“The day started off great and then after sitting two games, we couldn’t get the offense going again,” Psalmonds said. “The setters struggled on being consistent with their sets. Defensively we did pretty well and ended up with 233 digs as a team.”
The 15s also had to overcome the loss of Moana Chamberlin to an ankle injury during their loss to Crush.
“That set us back in the morale department,” Psalmonds said. “Madi Byrne and Jaycee Lucchetti had to pick up the slack and they both stepped it up and did very well filling into positions they weren’t used to. Jordyn Wurm and Olivia Bushey were the most consistent and tried to keep the energy up all day,”
Bushey finished with 20 kills and 34 digs while Wurm had 15 kills, 54 digs, six aces and six blocks. Other leaders were Chamberlin with 17 kills and 34 digs, Byrne with 10 kills and 26 digs, and Lucchetti with 36 digs.
The 15s finished with 212 digs and 97 kills.
Schedule
The 17s and 18s return to action March 15-17 in Las Vegas while the 15s play March 22 in Sacramento.
