Temecula Viper Volleyball Club

The 16-Elite tournament was highlighted by some terrific volleyball. This team improved tremendously throughout the season and each match was a battle to stay in the hunt.

On day one and two the girls competed in a 6 team pool. They won their first match in 2 (25-15, 25-20) against Portland and showed that they were ready to play! Next up was Legacy, which was a good team with very dynamic middle blockers. They lost the first 22-25, but came back to win the second 25-23. The thrid game started off close, then Dana Backlund sprained her ankle and came out. Taylor Johnson jumped into set and the team was right there. They barely lost 15-13.

Next up was Texas Team, who had one of the best middle blockers in the country on it (she's already commited to Texas). Viper truly dominated though, with their passing and quick offense. They ended up beating them easily, 25-20, 25-14.

The next pool play match against WA Lighting was their easist win of the tournament. The last pool play match against Triangle from North Carolina was a tough match. They were difficult to get out of system becuase their passing was so solid. They also had a big block with a 6'4" RS and 6'1 middle blockers. In the end, they were bigger and better on that day.

Next up was "moving" day! The team lost their first pool play game against the eventual champion, Main Beach, in a tough 3 game battle 17-25, 25-20, 13-15. They fought back in their next match to beat Spiral from Arizona in three 25-15, 23-25, 15-9.

Next up was the cross over match to stay in the Top 8. They played against a very tall Toleda team (all six starters were over 6'). Toleda really came out strong and was clearly playing well. Viper came out a little sluggish and not as smooth as they had been playing up to that point. They lost 25-17, 25-18.

This was a great first time Junior National experience for these players! The girls finished 13th overall!

Junior Nationals was a great experience for our 18-Elite players. Though many of them missed their younger sisters competiting at Festival, many of them enjoyed attending JN's for the first time. The team played some really great volleyball but on "moving" day, the girls had a really tough pool and lost both matches in three. Showing tremendous heart, they came back to win their cross over later in the day even though they were down 2-8 in the 3rd. One of the highlights for this team was that they got to stay in the Penthouse at the Silvery Legacy. After being put in smoking rooms and some hotel fiasco, the team and head team mom, Mary, were moved into three Penthouse suites! Pretty exciting stuff!  The girls finished 19th overall.

Viper 14 Elite won the Club Division SCVA JO Qualifier this past weekend. The girls truly came together as a team and put on a terrific performance. The biggest matches of the tournament were against Surf City & Colorado Performance. They beat Surf City in the semi's 25-21, 20-25 and 15-11. They beat Coloardo Performance in the finals 27-29, 25-22, 15-12. The Coloardo Performance match was truly an epic battle from the beginning and they just barely lost the first game. The second game was a serving and defensive battle. The final game was tight until 11-11 when Brooke Short went to the service line and rallied off 3 straight points. Taylor Barnson and Katelyn Neilsen both had big kills to keep the lead advancing. Championship point was won on a transition kill error from CO Performance, out of bounds, and the girls all jumped and hugged in victory.

Congratulations to all the players and families!

Justus Tuiolosega, Julia Cubbedge, Lindsey McIntosh, Amanda Pedersen-Henry, Taylor Barnson, Cadie Bates, Katelyn Nielsen, Brooke Short, Sam Flores and Devyn Pritchard.

And then... it started! The Viper "swarm" hit on Day 2 when the 12s took on Puerto Rico for the first time. Everyone was texting to get to the 12s court and suddenly a herd of supporters rallied to create a Championship Court environment. Within minutes there were over 200 Viper players and families cheering on our team to an incredible 3 game victory. Puerto Rico ended up working their way back to win the tournament, but our 12s were the only team to beat this team! The 12-1s ended up finishing 4th overall and showed simply incredible progress from the beginning of this season. Congratulations! 

14-2s played and competed for the top bracket on day #1. After losing to the #4 seed Wave, the team won 3 straight matches including a cross over match to Pacific Juniors (the team we had lost to in SCVA qualifier #3). We lost to the eventual winner Puerto Rico Vaqueros, which was a great experience for our girls to play against the best! We played well on our final day... winning the Bracket and bringing home a trophy! Great tourney any year for our future stars.

The girls played awesome and had tough matches each day.  They ended 75th overall winning the trophy for the "Confidence" section in the 14 age division.  The entire team worked so well together and it truly was the best match they have played all season.  It was a joy and pleasure to coach them this season and to see the growth from each player.  Another highlight of the festival was playing the Steve's 14's team.  Of all the teams to play at this tournament we get them in pool play!!  Great job girls!!

One of our most competitive teams at the tournament was the 15-1s. They had an absolutely crazed and competitive week that was filled with nearly all 3 game battles. After winning and then losing and then battling back and staying in contention this team battled and improved tremendously throughout the week. The highlights for this team were taking the Canadian Junior National team to three games and barely losing 28-30, 25-19, 15-17. The court was surrounded by Viper fans and it was a true demonstration of the talent of these players. This team finished on a high note, taking 7th overall!

Monday started tough. We had a 10th and 39th seed and they were big teams. We ended up holding our seed which was 58 coming in.  Tues we came in !st and held our seed... we couldn't move up that day. Wed, we came in 2nd seed and took over 39th seed, and won our pool. Thurs was our day off and some of the girls got to see the great matches for the 12's, 13's and 15's.  Friday we played in the AM and couldn't quite hold on to that 39th seed... both matches we lost were tough 3 game matches, and a couple of bad ref calls really stopped our momentum, ended up 3rd with a 50th seed for Sat. Sat the girls played hard but couldn't break through to get to the playoffs but they had fun and enjoyed themselves We ended up 47th overall moved up 11 places from where we started.The highlights was our serving... we struggled the first day and upped our focus for the rest of the week with some of the girls jump serving and doing better then on the ground.

The 15-3s team turned what most teams might have seen as a rocky road into smooth sailing as they overcame multiple coaching substations to WIN the 15s consolation bracket at Festival this year. Something that could have given the team an excuse to not fight their hardest and just roll over. In the end they did the exact opposite.

This team rallied together as a team and with all their coaches to beat some very skilled teams on their way to victory. The girls played their highest level throughout the tournament. Coming in at a very low seed they played some big and talented teams and held their own.

And the best part about their final day victory is that every player on the team played hard, made adjustments the coaches asked, and contributed to this victory. A great way to end the season for everyone that was involved: Marissa, Chancy, T, Shianne, Valerie, Kelli, Hannah, Hanna, Brianna, Daisy, Kat, Steve, Tommy, Brian, and Rachel. Great job everyone!

The team had a difficult first day with some changes to their line-up, but fought back the rest of the week and found a new stride. The team played with a ton of heart and showed tremendous individual and team improvement from the beginning of the season to the end.

16 EdT had an incredible festival tournament.  We came in seeded 106 and ended up seeded 93 with the 2010 Campaign Division title.  On day 4, they were able to make a comeback against Kern River from 10-2 down in game 3 amidst a very hostile fan environment to win the match16-14. An impressive comeback and never say die attitude where the team never believed they were out of it.

All of this team work, unity and mentality culminated in a 3 set match win over a Canada West team to win the Campaign bracket. By all accounts we were in over our heads and out matched against a VERY strong Canadian team, but the team won with their biggest assets: playing SMART, staying together as a TEAM and just heaving more HEART. We were literally the last match playing at festival, the support staff were taking down the courts while we were still playing our Championship match against Canada West. 

The girls improved so much this season.  This was not just noticed by myself and by the players parents but also from parents of players in other clubs that were so impressed by the growth of our players.  What a way to end the club season....it was AWESOME!!!!!

The team battled throught the week against the competition. The highlight of their tournament was Thursday when the team really committed to giving it all, played their volleyball and took home a victory. This team was made up of a lot of beginning players and the individual improvement that each player made really shined through at Festival.

The 17-1s had a rough path this year. The team had a coaching change mid-season and was hit with injuries that severly changed the team. Festival was not any easier on these girls. An injury to our lefty opposite right before we left for festival; a key passer, defender and setter in the hospital up to the day before we played our first match; a setter with a fever and unable to eat real food for 3 days leading up to our first day of play; all on top of already losing one of our seniors and team captains for the year to an ACL injury…some tough times.

Despite the rough times and some tough/heartbreaking 3 set losses, there were some absolute highlight reel moments while at Festival. Watching Shea set some of the best volleyball that I have ever seen her do while battling getting sick on the court and a fever was impressive. Seeing Lexi be a much more dynamic and smart hitter than she had been all year and hit the best she ever has and the way that we had talked about and trained her to be was great to see. Having our undersized OH and do everything player, Emily, go up against some big blocks and tough defenses and find ways to get points and put the ball away. Discovering that a couple changes to Janelle's approach and blocking had her getting kills OVER the block at Opposite and putting up a huge block herself. Seeing both our middles, Liz and Carissa,  fully put together their footwork and form to be great middles and kill the ball all over the front row (1s, As, Slides, 3s). Seeing Juju hit and play in a couple matches on the last days of the tourney and being the full package we had asked for all season: hitting smart, being a huge hitter and blocker, and not making errors. Seeing Becca fight thru issues and keep working to be the positive and strong leader of our back court. And Ashlee fighting thru her body fighting her while all she wanted to do was be on the court to do anything that would help her team out, as she has done all year. Watching the improvements that everyone had made at hitting, being smart, using their hands, understanding how a team defense works, how to be aggressive and get teams out of system with intelligence and not just brute force. All very impressive and even proud moments for me as a coach. 

I watched this team build from a team that just had a ton of fight, to a team that has a ton of fight, within a structure that will allow them to take on top teams even despite our hardships. I had watched this team buck the initial changes we wanted to put in place, to accepting the changes and seeing the benefit, to executing the changes a few times - here and there, to putting it all together as a unit.Those moments were just pretty to watch and made me so proud of the girls. Watching them execute in those moments and games it was almost hard to believe. Really... some AMAZING volleyball!

The girls played their best volleyball of the season. At one point, they won 4 matches in a row and were simply dominating the competition. They moved up to the 36th seed on day two and were really coming together as a team. This team, made up of mostly seniors, showed tremendous heart and improvement throughout the week.Their maturity and will to win was apparent in every match. Good luck to the seniors who are off to college!