SCVA 17s Team Spotlights
Of the 11 teams competing in the top pool of the SCVA Power League 3 event last Saturday at Momentous in Irvine, at least five are slated to participate in 17 Open come this summer in Chicago. Two more in City 17 Gold and Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar are headed to Far Western this coming weekend in Reno where they could add to the region’s total or if not there possibly earn one through the at-large process. Let’s take a look at the group with our Team Spotlights: MOMENTOUS 17 DAN: Momentous came out on top of the latest power league round after beating SCVC 17 Roxy, 25-18, 25-17. Momentous earned its bid at the beginning of the month at the Big South Qualifier in intense fashion. First, Momentous pulled out a must-win match against highly-ranked and previously-qualified Triangle 17 Black on Day 2 to break pool then needed to take down highly-ranked and previously-qualified Wave 17 Juliana on Day 3 to break gold pool and keep its bid hopes alive. Momentous finally clinched after outlasting Alamo 17 Premier for the final bid. Momentous barely missed out on qualifying last season as a 16s group by one match, then lost out on the only at-large bid available. This year Momentous has proven it’s capable of finishing in the upper half of the field. The lineup is a strong offensively with outside Isabel Clark leading the way. Cymarah Gordon is another big arm on the right side, along with setter/right side Julia Kakkis. They are backed by outsides Camryn Hayek and Makayla Gates and middles Tatum Johnson, Megan Rice and Taylor Walsh. Helping fill the lineup out is setter Madeline Brown and liberos/DSs Annah Legaspi and Malyssa Cawa. SCVC 17 ROXY: After pool victories over Actyve 17 Black and Coast 17 Rafael, SCVC downed recently-qualified Seal Beach 17 Black before running into Momentous in the final. It kept up a string of strong performances for the club and featured similar lineups to what we’ve seen. Kendall Beshear and Malina Young were taking care of the outside with Rachel Moglia and Jade Dudley-Epps in the middle. Part of the 6-2 package SCVC was running were setters Hayden Lim and Althea Morris and right sides Kalia Debeer and Chloe Hynes. Defensively, Taylor Deckert was suited up at libero. The squad’s first shot at a bid came at the Red Rock Rave, where SCVC fell to Wave 17 Juliana on Day 3 and finished tied for fifth in one of the tougher fields of the season. SCVC punched its ticket at its next outing, coming in third at PNQ. There, SCVC pulled out a must-win contest over SG Elite 17 Rosh in the third-place match to seal the last remaining bid. It was a clutch victory as it was SCVC’s last qualifier. SEAL BEACH 17 BLACK: Seal Beach opened the latest power league by taking down Wave then followed that by sweeping Actyve. Seal Beach’s day ended with a setback to SCVC as it went 2-1. Seal Beach can count itself among the Open teams thanks to its time in Salt Lake City recently. Seal Beach stayed alive with key victories over previously-qualified Club V 17 Ren Matthew and City 17 Gold on Day 2. Seal Beach took advantage of its situation and with victories against DaKine Warriors 17 Surf and Tx Performance 17s earned its bid. Seal Beach has a flexible roster that offers options. Kaia Herweg, Ashley Repetti and Chloe Pravednikov are options at outside. Seal Beach typically uses Sydney May as a setter/right side, with Delaney Hughes setting across the back row and Addison Collum coming in to hit across the front. Anna Sanzaro and Kylie Leopard are mainstays in the middle, as is Tessa Hurley at libero. WAVE 17 JULIANA: Wave was playing without standout middle Jenna Hanes, which obviously impacted its lineup options. Wave split its pool matches with Sunshine 17 Westside and Seal Beach before downing Coast 17-1 in a match for fourth place. Wave and Coast were the first of the So Cal clubs to clinch Open bids when both qualified at Red Rock. Wave defeated Seal Beach and previously-qualified Hou Skyline 17 Royal in gold pool action to reach the gold bracket. There, Wave fell to Drive Nation 17 Red before beating Arizona Storm 17 Thunder for the third place and last bid. Wave also finished tied for ninth at Big South. Wave, like most teams Saturday, was using lots of players. With Hanes out, Grace Flanagan and Camden Bolane were the lone middles. Wave also used both setters in Amanda Saeger and Kiki Remensperger, as well as two liberos in Maya Evens and Kiana Olalia. Fallyn Blotzer, Ayva Moi, Nikole Egan and Sofia Williams were holding down the pins. COAST 17-1: Coast finished 1-2 with losses to City and Wave and a victory against Vegas Aces 17 UA. Like Wave and SCVC, Coast attended just two qualifiers. After qualifying in Vegas with a second-place showing, Coast tied for seventh at PNQ. That’s been it for Coast, which was relying on familiar faces in outsides Jaidyn Jager and Madison Triplett and middle Mackenzie Parsons. Tiana Owens was taking care of the right side with Sophia Meyer at libero. CITY 17 GOLD: The next two squads were using last weekend to prep for Far Western, where both City and Long Beach are attempting to bid for the last time before needing to rely on at-large luck. City and Beach happened to be paired together to open play Saturday, with Beach prevailing in three. City bounced back to beat Coast then downed Actyve to close out its day. City tied for seventh recently in Salt Lake City, where it competed without outside Danica Rach, who remains out. City has been using Kimi Watanabe-Mayhew and Mila Mijailovic to pair with Jenna Garner on the outside. Havyn Rolle and Maggie Lima were solid in the middle, with Kennedy Osunsanmi getting more and more comfortable on the right
