League Play
JV Girls Volleyball had a busy week, with two league matches followed by the first annual Acalanes JV Invitational Tournament on Saturday. The league play matches served as a good warm up, with an easy two-set win against Berean Christian on Tuesday, followed by another two-set win against the College Park Falcons. In both matches, the Dons played clean volleyball to put their competition away quickly.
Acalanes JV Invitational Tournament – Pool Play
Bolstered by their success, the Dons entered into the first annual JV Invitational tournament with confidence. In pool play, they started the day facing undefeated Carondelet Cougars, and the Dons came out firing. The teams were evenly matched through the first 15 points, but the Dons slowly pulled away. Up 22-19, Devyn “Devination” Murphy had a well placed kill, followed by a block, to give the Dons a 25-21 set 1 win. Set 2 was a different story, and Carondelet built a lead, with the assistance of the Dons’ unforced errors. Carondelet topped the Dons, 25-18. In the final set, the Cougars earned the first five points, again building a lead that the Dons couldn’t overcome, on their way to a 15-6 Set 3 win, and the match victory.
In their second match of pool play, the Dons took on the Berkeley Yellowjackets, another tough team (based on their 3,200 student population). In the first set, the Dons traded points through the first 15. But then, a series of unforced errors (serving, passing, hitting – the volleyball trifecta!) helped the Yellowjackets build a 23-16 lead. While the Dons fought back they dropped the set 22-25. The second set followed the same pattern, where the Dons were trading points, and even built a 21-20 lead on four successive serves by Dora Henel. But again, a series of unforced errors allowed the Yellowjackets to earn the match victory with a 25-21 set 2 win.
Acalanes JV Invitational Tournament – Bronze Bracket
The Dons joined Head Royce (Oakland) and Ukiah (you guessed it, Ukiah) in the Silver bracket. Parents were deeply appreciative of the Dons’ strategy of falling to the Silver bracket and the much cooler small gym as the temperature outside peaked at 97 degrees, which is totally normal for October. Against Head Royce, the Dons rattled off 10 straight points behind the serving of Devination on their way to a 25-12 win. The Dons won the second set 25-18 to take the match.
Their second match was more competitive, but it started with five difficult serves by frosh Colbie Bailey to set the tone, followed by three aces by frosh Fran Barbano, to build a convincing lead. Meher Jeyakrishnan, not wanting the freshman to have all the fun, added two kills to close the set out, 25-13. In the second set, the Dons allowed the Ukiah Wildcats to build an 8-3 lead on a few more unforced errors. The Dons dropped the set 25-18. The Dons were apparently angry that they allowed Ukiah to stay in the Bay Area longer than they were welcome. Colbie Bailey started with an ace, followed by kills by Murphy and Jeyakrishnan, to build the early lead. Meher then had a well placed kill to get the side out, followed by seven consecutive serves (with a few aces sprinkled in) for the 15-4 Set 3 win.
What’s apparent – when the Dons play clean, smart volleyball, they can compete with anybody. But when they act like Zach Bryan late night on Twitter, unnecessarily angering Taylor Swift’s massive global fan base by claiming Kanye is better than Taylor, it’s not going to end well. C’mon Zach – you’re just beating yourself!