Olivia Van Norman
Staff Writer
Surfside Volleyball Club’s 15-Legend team which consists of 7 freshman from Mira Costa, qualified to compete for the Junior National Championship at the Junior Olympics in Indiana from June 25 through 28.
The Legends team has been together since the fifth grade and have qualified for this competition for the past three years. The Legends team have placed in the top five each year, and have been training to reach the top once again this year. They are competing in the highest division, which is the Open division, to get a bid to compete in JOs.
“This was one of the toughest years because we couldn’t get a bid in the Colorado tournament,” freshman outside hitter Sammy Underwood said. “We either had to win at the Los Angeles qualifier or not get a bid.”
Prior to getting their bid, Legends traveled to Colorado in an attempt to qualify for JOs, however they were not able to pull out a win. They’ve been through multiple coaches but their skill and competitiveness continuously leads them to successful seasons together. After Colorado their coach was replaced and the team started to improve.
“The coaches helped us out a lot,” freshman setter Malea Stanton said. “They supported us and kept us calm when pressure was being added on and off the court. Off the court, the chemistry with the whole team including coaches was really great so it made a big difference.”
At the Los Angeles Qualifier, the team faced teams from all across the country, as well as teams from the South Bay. They came out with a win in their qualifying match against Aspire’s 15s Black team in only two games. If they lost this game, they would have lost their last chance to qualify for JOs.
“If the other team won the game they would get a bid and if we won we would get the bid,” freshman opposite Carly Komick said. “We beat them in two games, it was the best we played out of all the three days there.”
The Legends have been competing this in the 16s league this season to improve and raise the level of their game. The girls put countless hours into improving their game weekly. They have weekly conditioning at the beach and Prime Athletes training in addition to their practices. They are currently ranked 23rd out of 284 teams in the 16 & Under division, despite being a 15s team.
“I think we realized that this was our last chance to win a bid and go to JO’s,” Underwood said. “So we all had the mentality to pull through.”
The team is expecting good competition at JOs. They will play teams from across the country as well as other California teams, such as San Gabriel and Sunshine Westside. They have been played many of these teams before and are equally matched.
“JOs is so much different than qualifiers in the sense that sometimes at qualifiers, the first day might be easier teams, but at JOs everyone is really good and worked hard to qualify,” Underwood said. “It’s unlikely to see any average teams which is why we’re very excited to be apart of it.”
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