Red Rocks Battle for Regional Volleyball Title on President’s Day

Eddie Chen--The Red Rock 11/12 Eddie team finished ninth out of 53 teams in the Northern California Volleyball Association President’s Day tournament on President’s Day Weekend. The team is composed of sixth/fifth graders from Alameda and the East Bay.

Red Rocks Battle for Regional Volleyball Title on President’s Day

Several Alameda Red Rock girls’ volleyball teams competed in the Northern California Volleyball Association President’s Day Tournament Feb. 19 to 21 at the San Mateo Event Center.

12-year-old division
The Red Rock 11/12 Eddie team, coached by Eddie Chen —teams are named after the head coach — and Nicolette Hagan, finished ninth out of 53 teams in the President’s Day Tournament’s 12-year-old competition. They went 4-1 in the pool 3 round-robin portion of the tournament with wins over Breakwater 12-1 of Half Moon Bay, SF Tremors 12 Hawks, Stingray 12 Blue of San Jose, and SynergyForce 12 Black of Rocklin. Their only loss was a 2-1 (9‑25, 25‑22, 5‑15) defeat against Absolute 12 Black of San Rafael.

After pool play, the Red Rocks competed in the play-in round as the 16 seed. They easily beat the nine-seed Titan 12-1 Premier Millie of San Jose, 2-0 (25-6, 25-10). The win set up a match against four-seed SynergyForce 12 Tricia with the winner advancing to the six-team George Washington championship bracket — the playoff brackets were named after former presidents. However, the Red Rocks fell short to the Titans, 2-0 (17-25, 20-25). The team started the tournament as the 16 seed.

15-Year-old division
The Red Rock 15 Leslie team, coached by Leslie Blakely and Azariah Hill, finished ninth out of 68 total teams in the tournament’s 15-year-old division. The team started in pool 4 of the power pool section — there were two pool sections, the other was the challenger pool. Leslie’s team went 3-0 in pool 4 against Samba 15, Siskiyou 15 Apex and Northern California Volleyball Club 15-2 Black.

The squad advanced to the gold pool, which was played on Sunday, Feb. 20. They started the pool strong with a 2-0 (25-19, 25-17) victory over Dynamix 15 Black of Woodland, but lost, 2-1 (19-25, 25-18, 8-15), to Encore 15 Maggie of Redwood City, and 2-0 (15-25, 13-25), to Marin 15 Black. The Leslie Red Rocks were able to rebound from their losses and win their play-in match, 2-0 (25 21, 25 21), against the Mountain View Volleyball Club G 15 White to advance to the William Howard Taft championship round. The team entered the 16-team bracket as the 11th seed. They lost in the first round, 2-1 (25 17, 23 25, 17 15) to the sixth-seed SF Tremors 15 Palkons.

Other results
Red Rock 15 Taylor, coached by Taylor Elliott and Jhunel Abellon, finished 43rd in the 15-year-old division.

Red Rock 14 Jhunel, coached by Jhunel Abellon Alvin Saelee, finished 33rd out of 102 teams in the 14-year-old division. They began the tournament ranked 43rd. Red Rock 14 Geena, coach by Geena Serles and Mirella Villalpando, finished 79th.

Red Rock 13 Erica, coached by Erica Hansen and Phillip Saephanh, finished 19th out of 50 teams in the 13-year-old division.