The Southern California Volleyball Club (SCVC) 15 Quiksilver team from Redondo Beach recently won the 34th annual USA Volleyball National Championship in Reno, NV.
Led by tournament MVP Casey McGarry, the 15’s rebounded from a second-set loss in the championship match to defeat Balboa Bay 15 Hurley 25-20, 23-25, 19-17.
Sam Jones, Roy McFarland and Sean Morrissey also received all-tournament awards.
“The team improved greatly from the fall to the second half of the season,” head coach Bill Ferguson said. “I feel they improved at a higher rate than their opponents. Our only loss was to San Juan Volleyball Club but I think it helped us in the long run. The boys knew they had more business to take care of.”
The SCVC 17’s also reached the championship match, walking away with the silver medal after losing to Ka Ulukoa M17 Mizuno 25-21, 27-25. Ian Schwan, Chase Corbett and Vinny Puzzuti were selected to the all-tournament team.
Both SCVC 18’s and 16’s finished a respectable 5th in the nation. The 18’s entered Gold Bracket play as the top seed, but were upset by No. 8 Balboa Bay 18-Hurley 25-22, 25-18. Riley Mallon and Cole Fiers were named to the all-tournament team.
The 16’s lost to eventual champion The HBC 16-KC 25-15, 25-20. Nolan Sharp made all-tournament honors in the 16 division.
Ten national clubs qualified a team in all the Open high school divisions but SCVC was the only club to have all of its teams reach the Gold Medal bracket. SCVC teams recorded the most match wins and set wins while having the fewest number of match and set losses in the tournament.
Ferguson cited three main reasons for the success of the SVCV program.
“We have wonderful coaching and there is a breadth of talent in the South Bay and surrounding areas,” Ferguson explained. “We have nailed down a system of training and playing the game on offense and defense which has really paid off. Our (SCVC) teams may not be as talented as other teams but we’re winning championships and winning begets winning.”
