First Annual NPHS "King of the Beach" Tournament
Dos Vientos Park played host to the first "Beach" Tournament. The Tournament was the brain child of Phil Royalty and Tim Mays, who put together a great event. We also want to thank Dan Bonfiglio for the great breakfast. I am sorry but I did not get the name of our great cook who spent the entire day cooking hot dogs and cutting up watermellon. Phil, please thank your brother for the great job he did in feeding all of us. Fifteen teams and many onlookers came to participate on a beautiful Sunday morning. Although a lot of the boys seemed to be lagging after a late night on the club circuit (club volleyball).Everyone got a taste on how tough it is to play in the sand as the old AVP rules were in effect.
Play started at 9:00 am with two courts hosting some great games. The Best game of the first round was Phil and Chris Royalty as they battled Jack Lecka and David Reeves. There was some great rallies as both teams fought for every point. Phil and Chris looked at home on the sand as they made some great digs and passes. The Royaltys emerged victorious and looked like the team to beat. As the team left the court, the players said that it all came down to serving. The second round had some great battles at the double elimination system started to take its toll on some of the teams. Nate Roman and His Grandfather Richard were a big surprise as they knocked several teams from the sand. Everyone was cheering for Richard as he hustled on the court and made some great plays.
Michael and Daniel Burns looked like a team who had played together, as they fought hard out on the courts. Vaughn Wellenreiter and his dad, David worked hard and had some early success on the court. Brandon and AJ Rista got two tough seeds and were knocked out early as were Sean and Glen Garry. I think Sean had a tough time without his shiny shoes. Andrew and Greg Comeaux also got tough seeds and had to play against some tough teams in the first two rounds. Jacob Haws and his cousin never scored a point in their first game, but suddenly started to gel together as a team. They won their second next two matches in great form.
Jorge Ostrovsky flew in last night after five grueling days of volleyball at the Nationals in Georgia. He looked fresh as he and Alex knocked the Royaltys off the court. Jorge consistently made precision hits which dropped to the sand for points. Alex appreared to be no stranger to two person volleyball as he Jorge seemed to be in perfect sync. Mick And Mickey Kelleher faced the Ostrovskys in the quarterfinals. Mick and Mickey had been knocked into the loser bracket by Trevor Willenburg and his Brother-in-law, Marcel Ayers. Marcel had a great tournament for never have played before. With Trevor's great passing and hitting abilities, it was an obvious tactic to try to serve Marcel everytime. Unfortunately for the other teams,Trevor was all over the court, making great bump passes and hits. His serving also caused many errors by the other teams.
A tough match between the Ostrovskys and the Kellehers took place in the quarterfinals, as every serve seemed to be a side out, and the score never changed. A few good serves and a couple lucky hits let the Kellehers come out ahead. They Then faced the Trevor and Marcel again. Trevor and Marcel had sailed through the first several rounds without even working up a sweat. They met the Tim Mays and his Dad, Mike in the final game of the undeafeted round. Tim was OK but Mike stepped up with some great, well aimed shots on the line that put them ahead for good. Tim brought out the MOON serve that went at least forty feet in the air before coming down onto Trevor. With the wind, it was a tough ball to field. After the game, the Mays were the only undefeated team.
In the semifinal The Kellehers serving seemed to be the difference. The sun was high in the sky and it was obvious that everyone was getting tired. Marcel did everything he could to make Mick run, and it seemed to be working, as he seemed winded. Some big digs by Mickey made the difference in the game as the Kellehers walked away with the win and a chance to take on the undefeated Mays team.
In n uphill battle, the Kellehers would have to win two games against a solid team. Tim and Mike seemed to just be in cruise control as they beat every team they faced. Mike Mays' setting and passing was smooth and consistent and Tim, was Tim. I would like to describe Tim's appearance, but there are no words, please look at the pictures. The game started with both teams exchanging side outs, over and over. After what seemed a lifetime on the court, the score was 3-1. With most of the serves going Mike Mays way, the Kellehers were able to get a slight edge on the score. Suddenly Mickey's Passing, Mick's setting and then Mickey's hitting seemed to come together as the Kellehers put a lose on the Mays for the first time today.
The final match started like the first, with a bunch of side outs. Each team refusing to give an inch or a point. The Kellehers got a slight lead, but then the Mays came on strong. The final game was to 11 and of course the score was stuck at 11-11 for quite a few side outs. The Mays serving was consistent all day long and it didn't change in the finals, as the Kellehers had several bad serves. With the score 11-11, Mike mays came to the line and drilled two aces in a row to win the tournament. The time: 2:30 pm.
The Kings of the Beach for 2008 are Tim and Mike Mays. Congratulations on a well played tournament.
Everyone had a great time, win or lose and a it was a great chance to watch some fantastic volleyball.
I
Jorge Ostr
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Dos Pueblos Invitational- Varsity- March 15
The varsity boys woke up early to make the long trip up to UCSB's Thunderdome. this year, 35 teams were invited to take part in this tournament.
The Boys first match was against the Central California 5 time league champions, San Luis Obispo. Although it took the boys a little time to wake up, they won both games against the tough adversary. It was a true team win with all nine players pitching in to make the win
Our next game was against the San Fernando Valley powerhouse, Crespi. COlby did a great job setting and Mickey made some great digs but unfortunately we lost both games. Trevor was putting the Crespi defense off balance with his hard pipe hits. Travis stepped up and was hitting some hard spikes over the defenders.
The boys next faced the undefeated Orange Lutheran. The OL squad had ran through the previous two team with out a blink and had expected to do the same. The Panthers were not about to go down quietly. With great passing from our defense, Jonathon, Kevin, Mica, and of course Trevor, Colby was able to make easy sets to the hitters. This kept the entire OL team on their heels. The Panthers led the entire first game . Unfortunately a lucky serve tilted the scales of the game and the fell 25-23. The boys played hard the second game but never recovered and lost another close on
The last match of the night was against the High Desert league champions, Quartz Hill. Mickey came up with some big blocks, roofing one of the players in the face. Stephen made some great kills off off a couple over sets. Micah made some great passes from the back row to help the panthers. They ended up splitting the two games.
Unfortunately the day ended too early for the boys, but the did finish on a high note.
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Ventura H.S Cougar Classic- VARSITY-March 1
Last year we were so happy when we picked up a third place. How could we top that. This year the varsity moved up and took SECOND place. Our varsity squad was thrown into the toughest pool at the tournament. After an easy win against Nordhoff the boys had to fight their way through the tough St. Joseph squad. Their next match was against five time CIF Central division winner San Luis Obispo. The boys started off the first game by spotting the SLO team a 5 point advantage. Luckily our team came alive and swept them 25-20 27-26. Their last opponent was Palmdale. The top team in the high desert, the Falcons came into the match needing a win to take second place. The Panthers swept them behind solid setting and hitting and denied them the chance to move into the final pool.
After winning their pool, the Panthers were seeded 3rd in the tournament. Their next opponent was the 5th seeded Carpenteria. The Panthers won quickly and moved on to Arroya Grande, who had just defeated the first seeded Hart. The team played with a lot of emotion and beat AG in a see saw battle. Unfortunately they ran out of steam in the final.
There was some big play out there. Travis Zeller has made the big transition to outside hitter. After three years of playing middle blocker, Travis moved over to outside this year. You would never know that he hadn't played that all his life. Pounding spike after spike, he came up with many big plays. Brady Johnson punished the opposition with big hits from the middle. Both Kevin Alvarez and Jonathon Ramirez anchored the back row with great passes. Jonathon made a great pancake against Arroyo Grande to take the steam out of a long rally.
Colby Cameron and Trevor Willenberg were named to the tournament First Team because of their consistent, outstanding play.
Varsity with their second place trophy
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NPHS Panther Open- FROSH/SOPH- March 1
Our first tournament went off without a hitch. The play was very competitive and finsihed when Dos Pueblos Defeated Westlake at 8:00 pm. The teams each played two games against the teams in the pool. The scores for were divided by the scores given up and that determined the final rankings for the day.
Coach Tim did a great job of splitting the Frosh/Soph team into two equal squads. The boys got a months worth of experience in one day. The Black team started off the day beating Moorpark 25-13, 25-20. The next match was a split with Chaminade 25-22, 19-25. Unfortunately the boys went up against the jugernaut of Dos Pueblos and dropped both games 13-25,8-25. Their last match of the pool play was against a tall Rio Mesa team. Our boys pulled it out winning both games 25-10, 25-20. This score differential allowed the Black team to place 5th and get a first round bye. In their single game elimination, the boys played hard but lost to Valley powerhouse Chaminade 25-20.
The Gold team went up against a very tall and large (16 players) Calabasas team.The boys played them tightly and split the match 25-22,26-24. Their secnd match was against a very solid Westlake team. Again the boys played hard but ended up on the wrong side of the point line losing both games 21-25,24-26. The Gold team had a two hour break and obviously made the best of it, defeating Simi Valley 25-22, 25-22. Their last pool play was against a solid beach town of Carpenteria. They played hard and split the match 25-22, 27-29. Because the Gold team scored so many points they went into the finals rated 6th place. They drew the 3rd place team Calabasas. Obviously the play experience helped our team because they knocked Calabasas out of the tournament 25-6. Unfortunately they met the solid Dos Pueblos in the semi-finals and lost 25-14.
I had a chance to watch the boys and was impressed by the quality of play. One of the coaches from a visitng team was so impressed that he thought we had snuck some of our JV players into the match. That is a high compliment for our team.
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Royal Classic-JUNIOR VARSITY- March 8