Club volleyball team closes out season at Far Westerns
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RENO >> After winning their first three matches, the Never Say Die 18s finished up in the silver bracket Sunday at the conclusion of a three-day-long club volleyball tournament at the Reno/Sparks Convention Center.
NSD won all three of its matches Friday, returned to the court Saturday and went 1-2, and lost their only match during single-elimination play Monday.
“The girls had a great tournament, and I am very proud of the way they ended their season,” NSD head coach Marci Psalmonds said. “The 18s team has a very strong bond, which helped them through a lot of tough losses and also helped in some great comeback wins.”
During play Friday, the 18s beat T-Street VBC (Orange County), Sweet VBC (Washington) and Xcell VBC (East Bay).
“The girls came out ready to go and won all three matches in two sets each,” Psalmonds said. “In our third match, our offense was very productive with 22 kills on 48 arm swings with only six swinging errors.”
NSD lost to the Titans (Santa Clara) to open Saturday’s action, then beat NV Elevate (Nevada) before falling to CB-Elite (Washington).
“Saturday was a very good day even though we only had one win,” Psalmonds said. “The teams were a lot more competitive, and we were able to stay with them. The CB-Elite team was ranked No. 1 and we kept with them (losing 25-19, 25-20).”
The 18s closed out tournament play Monday by losing to COVC (Oregon).
“We were very close to moving on against another good team,” Psalmonds said. “We hung through three sets (COVC winning 25-17, 16-25, 15-11).”
The 18s finished the tournament with team totals of 168 kills, 333 digs, 144 assists, 22 blocks and 34 aces.
“I am definitely going to miss the seniors, but I will still have a few of them on the court next year, just in a different jersey,” said Psalmonds, who is an assistant coach for the Mendocino College volleyball team that a handful of her NSD players have committed to for the 2025 fall season.
