Three teams from the Santa Barbara Coast Volleyball Academy have qualified to compete in this week’s open division of the Junior Olympics Boys Volleyball Championships in Dallas, Tex.
“We now have seven teams and, for the first time, three have qualified for the open division,” club director David Rottman said. “We are in our seventh year and began with just one team.”
Rottman’s son Will, who has received a scholarship to play at Stanford next year, played on that inaugural team and will be competing with the Santa Barbara Coast 18U squad.
The team, which is coaching by Brett and Casey McGarry, is seeded third in a six-team pool that includes teams from Northern California, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Chicago. Santa Barbara is seeded 20th overall out of 42 teams.
Other members of the Santa Barbara Coast 18U squad are Parker Bitner, Aiden Douglas, Jack Gay, Jack Hogan, Aaron Li, Trent Norkus, Shaymus O’Hearn, Toby Still, and Trent White.
David Rottman will coach Santa Barbara Coast’s 16U team which includes his youngest son, Alex, as well as Matt Suh, another original member of the S.B. Coast Volleyball Academy.
Other members of the team are Harrison Bennet, Andrew Douglass, Makia Lipson, Cade Mclean, Sam Meister, Ben Newton, Sean Ortiz, Alex Rottman, Peter Tebbe, and Finnegan Walker.
The S.B. Coast 16U Blue is also seeded third in its six-team pool that includes teams from Indianapolis, Houston, Phoenix, San Gabriel, and Milwaukee. It’s seeded 16th overall out of 42 teams.
Santa Barbara Coast 14U, coached by Chad Arneson and Matthew Walker, is seeded fourth in its six-team pool and 22nd overall out of 36 teams. Its pool games will be against Puerto Rico, MB Surf, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and Rochester.
Members of the team are Kincade Avery, Elias Finkel, Johnny Frohling, Luke Gilner, Ford Harman, Raglan Kear, Spencer McLean, Ryan Slater, Hansen Streeter, and Luke Walker.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
EX-DP STARS MAKE SEMIS
Carly Wopat and Kaite Spieler, two of the stars of Dos Pueblos High CIF-Southern Section Division 1-A Girls Volleyball Championship team of 2009, advanced to the semifinals of the Semana Nautica Santa Barbara Open Beach Volleyball Tournament with different partners at East Beach last weekend.
Wopat advanced to the semis with partner Molly Turner. They lost to eventual champion Abby Van Winkle and Savvy Simo, members of UCLA’s national championship women’s beach volleyball team.
Spieler and her partner, Delaney Knudsen, made it to the semifinals before losing to UCLA’s Zana Nuno and Chrissy Jones of Cal Polyl.
Winkle and Simo won the women’s final with a 21-16, 17-21, 17-15 victory – their second championship in three CBVA events this summer.
John Schwengel of Santa Monica and Cole Fiers of Palos Verdes won the Semana Nautica Men’s Open final, defeating David Vande Meer of Grand Rapids, Mich., and Cody Caldwell of Newport Beach, 21-16, 21-19.
Santa Barbara’s Ric and Shane Cervantes got the semifinals of the Men’s Open before losing to Vande Meer and Caldwell.
MEN’S GOLF
WESTMONT SIGNS FOUR
Four high school golfers, including St. Joseph High graduate Alexis Mitchell, have committed to playing for Westmont College’s new women’s golf team next year, coach Tom Knecht announced.
Mitchell, the No. 2 player for the Knights last year, plans to major in kinesiology.
“I am so excited to attend a school where I can grow spiritually, academically, and athletically, Mitchell said. “That was the most appealing aspect because I have the opportunity to improve in so many areas. I hope to gain more knowledge in both the classroom and on the green.”s
Also committing to the Warriors are Suzie Taylor of Draper, Utah; Mia Jimenez of Ventura’s Buena High, and Drew Thompson of Reno, Nev.
Taylor led Corner Canyon High to the Utah State Championship during both her sophomore and junior years. She also received second-team all-state honors as a senior while leading Corner Canyon to a second-place finish.
Jimenez was the team captain for Buena last season, and was voted as the team’s most improved player during her junior year. Thompson, meanwhile, competed in tennis and swimming as well as golf at Reno’s Bishop Gorman High.
The four incoming freshmen will join Rory Derr next season as members of Westmont’s first women’s golf team.
