Sandpoint team storms national event

SANDPOINT - Sandpoint's club volleyball teams have done some remarkable things on the regional and national level over the past three decades.

But never has a Sandpoint team done as well as the Sandpoint Volleyball Club's under-16 Black team did recently at the National Volleyball Festival in Reno, Nev.

The Sandpoint U-16 Black team placed fifth at the Festival - the highest finish ever by a Sandpoint team at that level.

“Everyone on the team did their job very well all the time,” Sandpoint coach Jack Dyck said.

“We were amazingly consistent at a very high level. Occasionally, we did some things that were exceptional but we were very good for four straight days, which is why we were able to win so many matches against quality teams. At times we literally out-fought/outlasted our opponents and won because we were stronger mentally.”

Sandpoint's team consisted of Alissa Millard (defensive/serving specialist), Spencer Schultz (libero), Koko James and Sierra Pancho (setters), Maddy Emmer and Allison Halliday (middle blockers) and Christina Johnson and Piper Wahlin (outside hitters). 

“The amazing thing about this group of girls is that they go into every match expecting to win,” Dyck said.

“They also have as good of a team dynamic of any group I have seen. Everyone accepts their job, takes a lot of pride in doing it well so as not to let their teammates down and then really competes. A great example is Maddy Emmer. Here is a libero playing middle (at 5-foot-6) and doing it with a smile on her face and, doing it very well. Amazingly selfless.”

Earlier this season, the Sandpoint team won the Yakima tournament, finished ninth at the Pacific Northwest national qualifier and third at the Emerald City Classic. Sandpoint finished as the top U-16 team in the Evergreen Region.

At Reno, the Sandpoint team was mis-seeded. They had beaten seven teams seeded above them this season, including two teams from their own region. Sandpoint beat Portland Volleyball Club in the finals at Yakima and Portland was seeded sixth while Sandpoint was seeded 31st.

“I actually think it might have been an advantage in some ways, while in other ways it definitely hurt us,” Dyck said.

“We had to play both the number one and two seeds (and finishers) and while we played them tough and took a game from Sports Shack, it definitely took some extra energy, but more importantly it made us play five more matches than the other top five teams.”

On the first day Sandpoint beat the Rhode Island Blast, South Sound Ohana from Seattle and Storm 16 from Los Gatos, Calif. In the crossover match to go up to gold, Sandpoint beat Las Vegas U16 Blue. 

On Day 2 Sandpoint had to finish first or second to advance to gold in a six-team bracket. Sandpoint opened with the Bakersfield Renegades and then had to play the top seed, Orange County Volleyball Club, losing in two games to drop into the loser portion of their bracket.

Sandpoint then defeated Synergy U16 from Santa Clarita, Calif. (Dyck's home town), then defeated the San Diego Volleyball Club and assumed their seed (17) and finally, in order to go to the Gold bracket, beat the 15th seed Phoenix Force U16-1 and assumed their seen.

The good news is that Sandpoint continued to move up to Gold, the bad news was that as the 15th seed they had to open the Gold bracket with the second seed.

That team was Sports Shack out of Malibu. Sandpoint won game one and led in game two but eventually lost both that game and game three to drop back down into the losers bracket. Both Orange County and Sports Shack had numerous girls over 6-2 and a few at 6-4. Sandpoint went 5-9, 5-6 and 5-10 across the net.

“Regardless, we competed well,” Dyck said. “Our passing was exceptional which made our setter's job easier. They were very deceptive, which allowed our hitters a chance to have multiple lines of attack. They chose their lines well and hit a very high percentage. When we passed well we scored consistently.”

Sandpoint's next match was against the 10th seed, Impact VBC from Orange County. Sandpoint won in two to advance to the final 12.

Club Jamba Parker (the eighth seed) was next, and Sandpoint won 15-12 in the third game to advance to the final eight.

Next was the original third seed, the Santa Monica Beach Club.

They were huge (6-3 across the front). In what Dyck called perhaps their best game of the tournament, Sandpoint won game one 25-14. Game two was a different story as Santa Monica won 25-12. In game three, Sandpoint served much tougher and outlasted them 15-12 to move into the final six.

In the semifinals of the losers bracket Sandpoint faced the fourth seed, Empire VBC out of the San Francisco Bay area, and ran out of gas against a very big and good team and lost in two to move into the fifth-sixth place match.

In that match Sandpoint finished very strongly and defeated Club Epic out of La Jolla, Calif., in two to take fifth place.

“They love to play,” Dyck said of his team. “Between matches I would tell them to sit down and rest. I would go report a score and when I came back they had found an open court and were playing four vs. four. You have to love that.”