3 Eastern Sierra Teams compete at California City
Three local teams traveled to the 24 team California City Tournament. Both Lone Pine and Mammoth made it into the Gold Bracket, while Bishop Union competed in the Silver Bracket. Mammoth Huskies coach John Morris, Lone Pine coach Mel Joseph and Bishop Union coach Linda Frigerio submitted the following recaps.
Mammoth High School
The Mammoth Huskies girls volleyball team completed another outstanding weekend of pre season volleyball by taking 3rd place out of 24 team at the 7th annual Cal City tournament. The Huskies faced a tough group of teams in Fridays pool play but bested Taft, Eastside and 2014 CIF Central Champs Frazier Mountain to post a 6-0 record heading into Saturdays double elimination Gold tournament. Said Huskies head coach John Morris “the Cal City tournament format is really tough. You basically have to win your pool on Friday to make it into the elite Gold tournament Saturday. Many of the other coaches commented on how well our team played on Friday to post that 6-0 record.”
The Huskies easily defeated Baker 25-14, 24-18 in the first round of Saturdays Gold tournament but then lost to eventual tournament winner Arvin 26-24, 25-11. “Arvin was a very strong team and we did not have our best stuff against them”, said Morris. Mammoth then faced 2014 CIF Southern Section 5AA champs Santa Clarita Christian in the 3rd/4th place consolation match. “We were a little disappointed to not play Desert in the final” said Morris. “I thought we might be flat against Santa Clarita. As it turned out, our girls were pretty fired up!” Mammoth defeated the Cardinals 25-20, 25-17 to take home the third place trophy.
Mammoth competed in 3 preseason tournaments posted an impressive 13-7 record heading into this weeks Desert Mountain League home opener against Vazquez this Thursday. The Huskies are led by a quartet of Seniors; outside hitters Kira Shultz and Taylor Sanders, middle hitters Tatum Sandvigen and Callie Mowat, and Junior Setter and team quarterback McKenna Smith.
Bishop Union High School
The Lady Broncos continued to gain the much needed experience this young team needs as they traveled to a two day tournament in Cal City this past weekend.
The squad started the tournament off by battling the highly ranked Desert team and battled with tremendous heart and effort, but suffered a two game loss. The bright spots of that game were charged by Carly Todd’s 6 kills against their 6-2″ blockers and a tremendous defensive effort by the whole team. They went on to split with Palmdale led by Maria Jimenez’s 6 kills, Carly Todd’s 4 kills, 100% serving from Rebeka Riesen and 6 assists by Sydney Frigerio. We wrapped up the day beating Vasquez in 2 games dominating them with Rachel Turner’s 5 kills, Little Eva Lent’s 3 kills, Ashley Worley’s 3 serving aces and Sydney Frigerio’s 9 assists. Dani Stone led the team in defense with 6 impressive digs.
Saturday, the Lady Broncos competed in the Silver Bracket suffering their first loss to Eastside High School, but bounced back to beat ACE high school in 2. They met up with Palmdale and lost in two very close games to finish 6th place in the silver bracket.
Bishop High School volleyball looks forward to continuing their learning process through diversifying lineups and good old fashioned hard work. They continue to improve with each ball touch and will continue to improve through the season. They’re next match is at home Tuesday, September 29th versus Tonopah.
Lone Pine High School
The Lone Pine Lady Eagle volleyball team took 6th place in the 24-team California City Tournament over the weekend. The Lady Eagles finished Friday’s pool play as the tournament’s 8th seed overall advancing them to the Championship (Gold) Bracket on Saturday. In Coach Joseph’s eight appearances at this tournament, the best any team had done prior was qualifying for the Bronze Bracket. “Going into this year’s Cal City Tournament, we set a team goal to at least make the Silver Bracket, to make Gold was amazing”. Results of the Championship (Gold) Bracket were:
1st Place-Arvin (CIF Central Section)
2nd Place-Desert (ranked number 2 CIF-SS 4A)
3rd Place-Mammoth (ranked number 9 CIF-SS 4A)
4th Place-Santa Clarita Christian (ranked number 1 CIF-SS 5AA)
5th Place-California City (CIF Central Section)
6th Place-Lone Pine
7th Place-University Prep (ranked number 3 CIF-SS 5A)
8th Place- Baker Valley (ranked number 5 CIF-SS 5A)
This was the second straight weekend that Lone Pine had the eventual tournament champion in their Friday Pool, that being the Arvin Bears from the CIF Central Section. Another great weekend of volleyball has helped prepare Lone Pine for its tough upcoming DML campaign. Lone Pine opens up DML play on Tuesday as they travel to Mojave to take on the Lady Stangs (varsity only) at 4:00PM.
Individual Statistics
Setter Niki Martinez, 37/44 Serving (85%), 3 Aces, 6 Kills, 74 Assists, 24 Digs.
Outside Hitter Abby Southey, 46/50 Serving (92%), 2 Aces, 17 Kills, 39 Digs.
Opposite Hitter Lena Cariou, 46/46 Serving (100%), 4 Aces, 15 Kills, 25 Digs.
Middle Hitter Taylor Corona, 18 Kills, 2 Blocks, 5 Digs.
Outside Hitter Katelyn Button, 32/33 Serving (97%), 3 Aces, 24 Kills, 22 Digs.
Libero Lacie Jones, 28/29 Serving (97%), 2 Aces, 61 Digs.
Middle Hitter Katie Lacey, 35/43 Serving (82%), 3 aces, 15 Kills, 7 Blocks, 16 Digs.
Cover Photo by Gary Young.
Bishop Union High School, Mammoth High School, Lone Pine High School, cal city volleyball tournament, high desert volleyball