Sports at Saint Ann School
Saint Ann School 8th Grade Volleyball Team Second at El Tejon
September 27, 2008
The Saint Ann Middle School Eighth Grade Volleyball team took second place on Saturday at the 4th Annual El Tejon Middle School Volleyball Tournament, which is held at Frazier Mountain High School in Lebec, CA.
The Saint Ann 8th Grade team faced 8th grade teams from Ollivier Middle School in Bakersfield, CA and the host school El Tejon Middle School from Lebec, Ca in pool A play. Saint Ann easily handled Ollivier in the opening match wining 15-5, 15-14 with the highlight of the games being the serving of 7th grader Michaela Metcalf.
Saint Ann’s second opponent was El Tejon Middle School who was fired up from an earlier split with Ollivier and they defeated Saint Ann’s 15-5 and 15-10. This left Saint Ann in a second place position after pool play and put them into the afternoon’s quarter finals against Lakeside Middle School.
In the quarter finals Saint Ann struggled through an opening game loss 11-15. They rallied back to win the next game 15-12 behind a series of devastating attacks by 8th grader Ashley Sherrick and a masterful serving performance by 7th grade libero Jazmine Stenger-Smith. Sherrick fired seven attacks for six kills seemingly scoring at will from the back row and both the outside and middle hitter positions. Stenger-Smith, the first middle school libero to compete in the four year history of this tournament, pounded eight consecutive serves which included four aces. The third and final game of this quarterfinal match was a 15-13 win for Saint Ann School with the serving and hitting duties being picked up by 7th grader Brooke Nelepovitz, who was an offensive force in the back row serving 4 consecutive aces and delivering several back row attacks.
In the semi-finals the Saint Ann team had to face the undefeated pool B winner – Fairfax Middle school from Bakersfield, CA. In the first game Saint Ann struggled both serving and attacking against Fairfax Middle School, who had a large, loud fan base in attendance and cruised to a raucous 15–9 win. In the second game Saint Ann, following the example set by sixth grader Bridget Ingle, stabilized their serving and attacking game. With the scoring spread equally throughout the team, Saint Ann rolled to a 15-10 victory which quieted the pro-Fairfax crowd.
The third and deciding game of the semi-finals found the Saint Ann team taking the court without Sherrick, their leading scorer of the day who was out of the lineup with a very persistent nose bleed. The team was allowed an exceptional substitution and Stenger-Smith was moved from her libero position into Sherrick’s setter position for this game. With their best setter, team captain and leading scorer on the bench, this Saint Ann team proved that volleyball is truly a complete team sport. Eighth grader Becca McGuire picked up the serving duties firing five consecutive aces. Eighth grader Samantha Harrison delivered a couple kills and partnered with Ingle to make several key defensive plays. With every member of their team scoring at least one service ace or attack kill, Saint Ann rolled to a 15-11 win and a place in the finals.
The finals match was a best two of three to 21 rematch between Saint Ann and the host El Tejon Middle School team. Unfortunately the results were not much better than their earlier pool play meeting. After their huge emotional win in the semis Saint Ann struggled to get their game back together against a very good and very determined El Tejon team. El Tejon won the finals in straight games 14-21 and 11-21.
Saint Ann’s second place finish was the best performance at this tournament for the Saint Ann Middle School 8th Grade Volleyball team. The previous two years, Saint Ann was eliminated from this tournament in the semifinals and came home with 4th place finishes. For this young team that consists of three 8th grade players, three 7th grade players and one 6th grade player, a second place finish against several all 8th grade teams was a great accomplishment.
In the coming weeks the Saint Ann 8th grade volleyball team will continue local play against teams from Murray Middle School, Monroe Middle School and Trona Middle School while they prepare for home and away scrimmages against Death Valley Academy and South Fork Middle School. They will end their 2008 season with tournament appearances at Rio Bravo Greeley in Bakersfield on October 25th and at the annual Trona Tournament on November 8th.
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