Sunshine is proud to announce that three of their players have been named 2012 High School All Americans by Prep Volleyball.

Tori Jasuta received Special Mention ending her senior year at Marymount with a CIF State Championship and is currently a player on the 18 Westside team.

Reni Meyer received High Honorable Mention finishing her junior year at Marymount with a CIF State Championship and is currently a player on the 17 Hurley team.

Jasmine Burton received High Honorable Mention and finished her senior year at Louisville. Jamie is currently a player on the 18 Westside team.

We want to congratulate all of them on their high school success! Go Sunshine! 

This year Sunshine had a collection of players and coaches represented in the CIF playoffs throughout all of the divisions.  In Div. 1AA Marymount won the CIF title and then went on to win the CIF Div.1 State title as well.  The Marymount squad, coached by Cari Klein (Club Director), Tuan Le (Trainer), Sean Fallowfield (16-South Bay), and Amy Newman (11-Firecrackers) features players from 4 different Sunshine teams, this was the third consecutive CIF title for Marymount.  Cari Klein was also named the CIF Coach of the Year in Div. 1 AA.  In Div. 2 A Chadwick bowed out in the CIF finals making their third consecutive appearance in the finals, having won the previous two years.  Chadwick features players from 2 different Sunshine teams.  In Div. 3 AA Windward, coached by Jesse Tupac (18-South Bay) lost in the CIF finals and then made a run to the Quarter-Finals of the State championship.  Windward features players from 2 different Sunshine teams. And in CIF City Section play Palisades High School completed a three-peat of their own winning their third straight CIF title while featuring players from 2 different Sunshine teams.

Aside from the incredible play of the aforementioned teams Sunshine had numerous players earn individual awards.  These are the following 1st team All-CIF players from Sunshine:

Div. 1AA

Renee Meyer-Whalley (17-Hurley) Marymount

Tori Jasuta (18-Westside) Marymount

Kristen Castellanos (17-Hurley) Notre Dame Academy

Div. 1A

Jasmine Burton (18-Westside) Louisville

Div. 2AA

Erika Eastley (18-South Bay) South Torrance

Shelby Livingstone (17-Hurley) Oaks Christian

Div. 2A

Sarah Lucenti (18-South Bay) Chadwick

Abbe Holtz (18-South Bay) Chadwick

Div. 1 City Section

Molly Kornfiend* (18-Westside) Palisades High School

*Not only was Molly named 1st Team but she also was named the City Section Player of the Year for the third consecutive year.  Molly has been a three time CIF champion and three time CIF POY for Palisades High School!

This year Sunshine had three players honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association on different All-American Teams.  We are proud of all of our alumni and their accomplishments and want to congratulate all of them on their collegiate success.

Honored as a 2nd team All-American is Sammy Selsky.  Sammy was a setter for Dayton University where she was named an Honorable Mention All-American in 2011, was 16th in the nation with assists/set at 11.57, ranks 7th all time on the Dayton career assists list and led Dayton to the second round of the NCAA tournament losing to eventual finalists Orgeon.

Our second Sunshine alumni being honored is Dani Shepherd.  Dani was named to the Honorable Mention All-American list after another stellar year with Penn University.  Dani set the Penn single season Dig record with 617 digs while holding 5 of the top 6 single match dig records for Penn, breaking her own record this year with 46 digs in a single match.  Dani is only the second Penn quaker to ever be named an All-American.

Finally, Toni Alugbue from Notre Dame was also named an Honorable Mention All-American.  Toni had a break out season for Notre Dame where she made the shift from Middle Blocker to Outside Hitter.  Toni was statistically dominant for Notre Dame: leading the team in Kills and Kills/set, 2nd on the team in Digs and Digs/set, 3rd on the team in Aces, and 6th on the team in Blocks.  She was also named to the All-Big East team where she was 5th in the conference in Kills.

Congratulations to all three players for their accomplishments.  Sammy ends a stellar collegiate career as a two time All-American and both Toni and Dani will return for their senior year in 2013.

Sammy Selsky, former Sunshine player and daughter of Sunshine Adminstrator Lou Ann Selsky, was named 2nd team AVCA All-american this year.   This is Sammy's second All-American nomination (she was Honorable Mention in 2011) and adds to a list of accolades that she has garnered including being 7th all-time on the school's career assist list, as well as numerous all-region awards.  The following is an excerpt of the press release on the Dayton website:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The American Volleyball Coaches Association announced their All-American teams for the 2012 season and recognized three University of Dayton Flyers for their accomplishments.

Senior Samantha Selsky was named Second Team All-American, while senior Rachel Krabacher and junior Megan Campbell were named All-America Honorable Mention. 

This is the second award for all three Flyers, who received All-America recognition in 2011.  Selsky, Krabacher, and Campbell were also First Team All-Northeast Region and First Team All-Atlantic 10 this season.

Selsky, a senior setter from Manhattan Beach, Calif., led the A-10 in assists per set with 11.57, which also ranked 16th in the nation.  The 5-10 Santa Clara-transfer moved into the UD Top 7 all-time in career assists this season with 1,273, and recorded 40 or more on 14 different occasions.  Selsky also posted 12 double-doubles and earned Atlantic 10 Setter of the Year honors.  She was an All-American honorable mention as a junior.

Two Sunshine Alumni:  Dani Shepherd (class of 2010) and Emma White (class of 2011) were honored as All-Ivy League players recently.  Emma White, a 5-11 sophomore outside hitter was named to the 2nd team.  Dani Shepherd, a 5-6 junior libero, was named to the first team and was also named as the Ivy defensive player of the year.  Shepherd also leads the nation in digs/set as well as breaking numerous records for the league and for her school. 

Below is a section of the article on the Penn website:

PHILADELPHIA - The Ivy League announced its 2012 All-Ivy volleyball teams on Thursday, and after a year in which she led both the Ivies and the nation in digs, junior libero Dani Shepherd became the league's first-ever Defensive Player of the Year. Shepherd added a first-team All-Ivy nod, becoming a back-to-back choice for the league's top libero and maintaining Penn's hold on that particular position (a Penn player has won it four years in a row).

Sophomore outside hitter Emma White was honored as second-team All-Ivy after a season where she led the Quakers in kills at 2.84 per set and finished second on the team behind Shepherd in digs. Two of this season's tri-captains earned spots on the honorable mention All-Ivy team; senior right side hitter Lauren Martin and junior middle blocker Susan Stuecheli each averaged over two kills per set while tying for the team-high in hitting percentage at .239.

Shepherd began the year slowly by her standards, but was up to speed by the third week of the season. At the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West Penn Invitational, she racked up 97 digs in three matches, earning the first Ivy League Player of the Week award of her career. Ranked 15th in the nation in digs going into that weekend, Shepherd vaulted up the leaderboard and never relinquished the top spot from that time forward. Just days after that tournament, Penn was on the road at Delaware. Trailing the Blue Hens 2-0 in the match, the Quakers exploded to win the final three sets in dramatic fashion and nab the come-from-behind victory. At the center of the comeback was Shepherd, who broke her own school record with 46 digs. She would add another 43 digs the next weekend in a five-set match against Princeton and then win a second Ivy League Player of the Week in October after compiling 51 digs in a pair of sweeps over Cornell and Columbia. Shepherd averaged 6.56 digs per set and totaled 617 digs on the season, breaking Penn's all-time single-season record of 607 set previously by her predecessor, Madison Wojciechowski, in 2009.

ACC Release

Franny Hock has been named the ACC Freshman of the Week for the week of Oct. 1-7 marking the third time this season that an Eagle rookie has garnered such honors, as announced by the conference office on Monday evening.

The Manhattan Beach, Calif. native's team-leading 36 digs and 5.14 digs per set helped lead Boston College to their first ACC road weekend sweep in school history and first ever victory over Duke.

In BC's 3-1 win at Wake Forest on Friday, Oct. 5, Hock led all players with 19 digs -- giving her double-digit digs in a match for the ninth time on the season.

The Marymount High School product followed that performance with a tied for match-high 17 digs at Duke for her 10th match on the season with double-digit digs. Hock posted nine digs in a pivotal 26-24 second set win over the Blue Devils.

In ACC play, the 5-7 libero leads the team with 3.65 d/s on 62 digs with double-figure digs in each of three matches. On the season Hock ranks second on the team with 194 digs and 3.18 d/s.

Earlier this season, Katty Workman won ACC Freshman of the Week honors on Sept. 10 and Sept. 24. The Eagles have received three conference weekly honors in a single season for the first time in program history.

Hock and the Eagles (10-9, 4-3 ACC) are set to host the ACC's top two teams this weekend as Florida State (14-2, 6-1 ACC) comes to Power Gym on Friday, Oct. 12 at 7:00 p.m., and Miami (14-3, 6-1 ACC) visits Chestnut Hill on Sunday, Oct. 14 at noon.

Sunshine class of 2012 alumni Lanti Moye-Mclaren was recently nameed MVP of the Columbia Invitational tournament as a true freshman.  Lanti helped carry the Columbia squad through a tough tournament that ended with her team finishing 3-0 and Lanti earning All-Tournament team honors.  Another Sunshine Alumni, Michelle McCarthy class of 2010, was named All-Tournament for her performance for Colgate university.  Congratulations to Lanti and Michelle for their strong performance in the tournament! 

Here is a segment of the article from the Columbia Athletics website:

Columbia, which defeated Colgate 3-1 on the first night of the tournament in its home opener, was led by the tournament Most Valuable Player, first-year Moye-McLaren, who put up double-doubles with 10 kills and 13 digs in both matches vs. Hofstra and URI. She also narrowly missed a double-double against Colgate, as she recorded nine kills and 16 digs.

Gaughn and Fletcher were also named to the All-Tournament team after recording impressive numbers throughout the tournament. Gaughn put up 23 kills, five blocks and 22 digs, while contributed 13 blocks and 13 kills in total.

Also named to the tournament team was Nikki Kinnier (Hofstra), Kelsie Wills (Hofstra), Britta Baarstad (Rhode Island) and Michelle McCarthy (Colgate).

Toni Alugbue, a class of 2011 Sunshine Alumni and current player at Notre Dame was recently honored for her third consecutive week on the Big East honor roll.  Toni was a long time member of Sunshine Volleybal Club, a Senior Ace, and continues to make us proud as she garners numerous accolades at the collegiate level.  Congratulations to Toni for all of her success and hard work.  The article from the Notre Dame athletics site follows:

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - For the third consecutive week Notre Dame volleyball player Toni Alugbue has earned a spot on the BIG EAST's Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announced on Monday.

Alugbue, who was selected to the all-tournament team at the Golden Dome Invitational, led the Irish to a 2-1 record on the weekend, highlighted by a 3-1 win over Kansas, who entered the contest riding a nine-match winning streak. For the three matches, the Del Aire, Calif., product tallied 48 kills, 38 digs and nine blocks. Against the Jayhawks, Alugbue pounded out 20 kills while hitting .340. She also added 10 digs and four blocks. Algubue had three double-doubles on the weekend to up her total to six this season. She has had three 20-plus-dig performances and leads the team in kills with 177.

The sophomore has now appeared on the all-tournament teams for the Shamrock Invitational, the USC Classic Tournament and the Golden Dome Invitational, earning MVP honors at the Shamrock Invitational.

Alugbue and the rest of her Irish teammates kick off BIG EAST play on the road this weekend as they travel to Cincinnati on Friday before playing at Louisville on Sunday.   

This year Sunshine has had three players announced on the Prepvolleyball.com Senior Aces list that ranks the top senior volleyball players in the country. 

Leading off the Sunshine athletes at #92 is Kaity Edwards, the Middle Blocker for our 18-Westside team and for her team at Marymount High School. Kaity has garnered awards for All-CIF and All-League during the High School season as well as being named an Honorable Mention All-American last season.  She has committed to play for Wyoming starting next fall.

Second on the List for Sunshine in the last 20 out category is libero Tori Shephard.  Tori plays for Marymount High School and is a passing phenom that keeps all of her teams steady and calm during matches.  Tori is committed to play for Yale in the fall.

In the "Next 150" category is Jasmine Burton, a 5'11 Opposite who played for our 18-Sunshine team last year and is currrently committed to play for UVA next fall.  Jasmine was instrumental in the success of last years 18's team and is looking to continue that success playing for Sunshine again this year.

An Honorable Mention on the Senior Aces list is another of our outstanding seniors Jackie Bowman.  Jackie is a setter/right side hitter who captains her high school team at Brentwood and is committed to play for Boston College next season.

One final Senior Ace honoree is Ashlie Williams of Marymount High School and our 18-Westside team.  Ashlie is committed to Georgetown and has been honored as one of the next 150 in the middle blocker category.

Congratulations to all of our Sunshine players and good luck during the high school season!

This year Sunshine has earned 11 bids to the Junior Olympics in Dallas, Texas.  This means that Sunshine has increased from their total of 9 bids from last year that made the club #1 in the state in number of earned bids.

Congratulations to all of the Sunshine teams that have earned a bid, have some fun and kick butt in Dallas.

GO SUNSHINE!!!

Open

18-Westside

17-Hurley

National

13-South Bay

12-Westside

USA

16-South Bay

15-South Bay

American

18-South Bay

15-Westside

14-Westside

14-South Bay

13-Westside

This year in the 2012 NCAA Tournament Sunshine is well represented.  With a collection of former players competing in the tournament with numerous colleges across the nation.  Sunshine is proud to recognize its alumni for their accomplishments.  The following is a list of all Sunshine players competing in the Div. 1 NCAA tournament:

Santa Clara-Alyssa Anderson

Notre Dame-Toni Alugbue

Colgate-Michelle McCarthy

UCLA-Meg Norton (2011 NCAA Champion)

Michigan-Ali Sabol

Dayton-Sammy Selsky (2011 AVCA All American)

College of Charleston-Andi Zbojniewicz

Congratulations to all Sunshine Alumni for their accomplishments ad best of luck in the tournament!

This year Sunshine has had multiple players honored by the SCVR (Southern California Volleyball Report) to the All So-Cal Teams.

 18's 2nd Team

Kate Sommer-Libero

18's 3rd Team

Joslyn Hayes-Middle Blocker

17's 1st Team

Kaity Edwards-Middle Blocker

Tori Shephard-Libero

17's 3rd Team

Molly Kornfiend-Outside Hitter

Erika Eastley-Middle Blocker

16's 1st Team

Kristen Castellanos-Libero

Reni Meyer-Whalley-Opposite/Setter

Shelby Livingstone-Outside Hitter

16's 3rd Team

Nikki Withers-Opposite Hitter

15's 3rd Team

Tyler Spriggs-Outside Hitter

All these players were honored and named to the all Southern California teams.  Congratulations to the girls.  We wish them the best of luck in their continued success individually and with the club.

Sunshine has had 2 players listed to PrepVolleyball.com's Soph 79 list on the top sophomore varsity players in the country.  One of the top Soph 79 is Kristen Castellanos, the libero for our 16-Hurley team.  Kristen has garnered numerous awards such as being a 2 time 1st team All CIF Div 1A player, being named one of the top 25 Freshman in the Country, All-Tournament team at the MLK Speak Easy Tournament and is currently committed to LMU.  Also making the list as an High Honorable Mention is Shelby Livingstone.  Shelby plays Varsity at Oaks Christian HS in Westlake and was named 2nd team All-Area.  Congratulations to both girls for their awards and continued success!

Go Sunshine!

 Sunshine had 3 players named to the MLK Tournament All Team. Congratulations to these players for their hard work and dedication and being recognized by the tournament: 

16's- Kristen Castellanos

17's- Clare Olivares

18's- Kate Summer

This year in the 2011 NCAA Tournament Sunshine was well represented.  With a series of former players competing in the tournament and garnering numerous awards and recognition Sunshine is proud to recognize its alumni for their accomplishments.

NCAA Champions (UCLA)

-Meg Norton Class of 2010

-Jenna Scillaci Class of 2010

-Aaron Wexler (Vol. Asst. Coach) Coach

AVCA Player of the Year

-Alex Jupiter (USC) Class of 2008

AVCA All-Americans

-1st Team Alex Jupiter (USC) Class of 2008

-Hon. Mention Sam Selsky (Dayton) Class of 2008

Sunshine has had  players listed to PrepVolleyball.com's High School All-american list.  Following a CIF Div. 1A Champsionship and a run to the state finals in a 5 set nailbiting match, Kaity Edwards and Lauren Fuller of Marymount high school (of our 17-Westside and 18-Sunshine respectively) have been honored as some of the top prep volleyball players in the country!

1st Team HS All American-Lauren Fuller Senior, Marymount HS

Special Mention HS All American-Kaity Edwards Junior, Marymount HS

This year Sunshine has had four players announced on the Prepvolleyball.com Senior Aces list that ranks the top senior volleyball players in the country. 

Leading off the Sunshine athletes at #48 is Lauren Fuller, the setter for our 18-Sunshine team and for her team at Marymount High School Lauren has garnered awards for All-CIF and All-League during the High School season and has committed to play for Arizona starting next fall.

Second on the List for Sunshine at #71 is Sydney Wright.  Sydney played on our 18-Westside team last year as a Junior and is leading her high school team this year at Chaminade in multiple statistical categories.  She will be playing for UC Irvine next year.

Listed as one of the top liberos in the country and rounding out the top 150 players in the country is Libero Kate Sommer.  She has been team captain and a multiple All-CIF player for her high school Lighthouse Christian Academy. 

An Honorable Mention on the Senior Aces list is another of our outstanding seniors Kate Giddeons.  Kate plays Middle Blocker and is captain for her high school Palos Verdes that started the season ranked in the top 100 high schools in the nation.

Congratulations to all of our Sunshine players and good luck during the high school season!

Sunshine has had 8 players selected to their respective divisional 1st Team All-CIF Teams, as well as two POY awards!  Each of these girls worked hard during the off-season with skill set training and conditioning and helped their teams progress deep into the playoffs.  Sunshine's 1st team All-CIf players are:

Lauren Greskovics-Fuller (18-Sunshine)-Div.1A Marymount High School POY

Lanti Moye-Mclaren (18-Sunshine)-Div. 1A Marymount High School

Kristen Castellanos (16-Sunshine)-Div. 1A Notre Dame Academy

Sarah Lucenti (17-South Bay)-Div. 3AA Chadwick

Abbe Holtz (17-South Bay)-Div. 3AA Chadwick

Brittany Butler (18-Sunshine)-Div. 3A Windward High School

Kate Sommer (18-Sunshine)-Div. 5AA Lighthouse Christian High School

Molly Kornfiend (17-Westside)-Div. 2 Palisades High School POY

Also, A HUGE congratulations to Molly Kornfiend and Lauren Greskovics-Fuller.  Molly was named 1st Team All-CIF City Section for Palisades High School, and was also unanimously voted as the CIF Player of the Year for CIF City Section Div. 2 for the second straight year! Lauren this year garnered CIF Player of the year for CIF Southern Section Div. 1A after leading Marymount to its second straight CIF Championship and a run to the finals of the state championship!

Kellie Barnum, of Sunshine's 2010 18-Westside team, was recently named the Freshman of the Week for the ACC while playing for Boston College.  Below is the press release on her accomplishment.  Congratulations Kellie!

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Miami senior outside hitter Lane Carico has been named the ACC Volleyball Player of the Week, announced Monday by the Atlantic Coast Conference. Boston College freshman setter Kellie Barnum was named Freshman of the Week.

Carico helped Miami extend its winning streak to four matches and its home court winning streak to 10 straight as she registered 5.50 kills per set and 3.67 digs per set in wins over Wake Forest and Duke, respectively. The native of Manhattan Beach, Calif. hit .389 over the weekend and put down a team-high 33 kills against just five errors on 72 swings for the Canes.

She helped Miami sweep Duke and break a three-match losing skid to the Blue Devils, recording the first win over Duke since a 3-0 decision in 2008. Additionally, Carico became the school’s all-time leader in kills with 1,495, surpassing Karla Johnson for the top honor. In both matches on the weekend, Carico picked up double-doubles to extend her streak to four and increase her total to nine on the year.

The award is the third of the season for Carico. The Hurricanes return to action on Friday when they take on NC State at 7:00 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C.

Barnum orchestrated the Boston College offense en route to their first weekend sweep in conference play since the 2007 season with wins over Virginia, 3-1, and Virginia Tech, 3-0. Averaging 12.0 assists per set, the setter helped Boston College hit over 140 points higher than it had been averaging prior to last week’s matches.

The Pacific Palisades, Calif. native distributed a career-high 34 assists and went 4-for-6 with no attack errors in the sweep of the Hokies. The setter returned to establish new career-marks of 50 assists, the most for the Eagles this year, and three blocks in the win over the Cavaliers. The win over Virginia is just the second in program history and first over both teams in four seasons.

The weekly award is the first for Boston College since Sept. 4, 2007, when freshman Audrey Eichler was named ACC Player of the Week. The Eagles will return to action Friday when they hit the road and face Clemson in South Carolina at 7:00

This Year at the Junior Olympics in Columbus, Ohio the Sunshine 15-South Bay team, which qualified for the tournament in the National Division won the silver medal!  The team had a fantastic tournament with three players garnering all tournament honors.  This is the second consecutive year that this team has won a medal at JO's and we are so proud of them.  Below is a write up of their amazing run in the tournament.

The 15-SB team was undefeated up to the final match. Finally losing to the Iowa Rockets (also undefeated) 23-25, 25-23, 11-15 in a very competitive match. The team came into the tournament ranked 4th overall and finished with a silver medal in the National division. 

Tyler Spriggs dominated the tourney with her outside hitting, Mia Mason lead the team in service aces, setter Keala Rusher did an outstanding job quarterbacking the team, Kyra Smith controlled the net with relentless blocking along with Grace Campbell, and Olivia Rodberg's great ball control lead a strong back row defense.

This year in Columbus the 12-Westside team had an incredible tournament and came out with a bronze medal in the American division!  The girls had a very long hard fought weekend that included taking down the overall #1 seed of the tournament to place them in the gold bracket where they eventually took bronze.  This was the a strong showing by a young 12's team that featured 4 players that could play 12's again next season!  Congratulations to the girls and to coach Lenka Jamrichova for an amazing run!

Playing in the challenge round match at the end of day 3 that would determine which team advances to the championship round.  Sunshine faced Lone Star, a team from North Texas that was undefeated and holding the #1 seed.  In the third set, Sunshine came back from 4-11 and 11-14 deficits, stared down 8 match points without blinking and pulled out a stunning 22-20 win. A win for the ages that earned the girls their medals.

This year Sunshine was #1 in the state of California (ties with Vision and T-Street) for the most teams that earned bids to the Junior Olympics at a total of 9 teams!  Sunshine also, finished as one of the top clubs in the country earning two medals at the tournament.  A silver medal in the 15-National Division and a Brone medal in the 12-American Division.  Sunshine also had three players from the 15-South Bay Team that earned all-tournament awards: Tyler Spriggs, Keala Rusher and Mia Mason.  Congratulations to both teams that medaled and all the girls for their accomplishments.  Below are the final results for all teams at the tournament:

18-Open

18-Sunshine Finished 25th

17-Open

17-Westside Finished 21st

17-South Bay Finished 27th

16-Open

16-Hurley Finished 26th

15-National

15-South Bay Finished 2nd Won Silver Medal

14-American

14-Westside Finished 11th

13-National

13-Westside Finished 13th

12-National

12-South Bay Finished 13th

12-American

12-Westside Finished 3rd Won Bronze Medal

Now that all the bids for this year's Junior Olympics tournament in Columbus, Ohio have been posted, Sunshine can proudly announce that it is the #1 (tied with T-Street and Vision) girl's volleyball club in California with 9 Junior Olympic bids!  Sunshine also ranks tied for seventh in the entire country behind Sky High (Illinois) (12), MAVS (Kansas) (11) and  A5 (Georgia) (10), Circle City (Indiana) (10), TAV (Texas) (10) MadFrogs (Texas) (10).  Tied with Sunshine are OVA (Florida) (9), Vision (Northern California) (9), T-Street (Southern Califronia) (9), Colorado Juniors (Colorado) (9) and Skyline (Texas) (9) for the #7 ranking in the entire country!

Sunshine ranks tied for #1 in Socal and all of California with 9 bids.  At least one team in every age division 12-18's earned a bid, with 2 teams in the 12's and 17 open age groups.  Other California clubs with a large number of bids are T-Street (9), Vision (9), Coast (8), Club West (6), Wave (6) and Long Beach Mizuno (5). 

Using the USAV Junior Ranking System, Sunshine as a club is the #2 overall club in the country on a point scale designed by Hangastar.com.  This includes Sunshine 17-Westside being ranked the #1 team in the 17's age division and the 18-Sunshine team being ranked #5 in the 18's division.  Many of Sunshine's teams are ranked top 15 nationally and we have a team in the top 10 of every age group in Southern California 11-18's.

Congratulations to all of the Sunshine teams, players and coaches for an incredibly successful season.  Good luck in Columbus!

This year Sunshine has earned 9 bids to the Junior Olympics in Columbus, Ohio.  With four bids in the Open division, three in National, and two in the American division.  Sunshine was #1 in the qualifiers with 6 teams earning bids at wualifiers this year and three bids being earned through regional allocation.  Sunshine is sending at least one team from every age division and two teams from 12's and 17's with both 17's teams in the open!

Congratulations to all of the Sunshine teams that have earned a bid, have some fun and kick butt in Columbus.

GO SUNSHINE!!!

Open Bids:                                     American Bids:

18-Sunshine                                 14-Westside

17-Westside                                 12-Westside                

17-South Bay                                National Bids:

16-Hurley                                      13-Westside

                                                      12-South Bay

                                                      15-South Bay

This weekend Sunshine 8 teams competing in three different cities across the country.  In Minneapolis both the 15-Westside team and the 15-South Bay team competed to earn a bid to JO's.  The teams finished 4th and 13th respectively in the National and Open divisions.  In Kansas City the 14-South Bay and 12-South Bay teams had a very long weekend in a gorgeous city.  14-South Bay finished 13th with a weekend of close matches and tough losses.  The 12-South Bay team ended up taking 2nd place and earning a bid to Columbus Ohio and the Junior Olympics!  Currently four teams are finishing up competition in Reno.  14-Westside in Open and 12-Elite, 14-Elite and 13-South Bay competing in club.  All three teams in the club division fought through to the third day of competition in the gold division and results will be posted shortly. 

Congratulations to all of the teams who competed this weekend and the 12-South Bay for earning their bid to JO's!!

Sunshine's 18's team recently earned their bid in Baltimore, taking 2nd place in the NEQ!  Because of this the team has worked their way yet again to competing in the open division of the Junior Olympics which will be hosted in Columbus, Ohio.  The team has also recently been ranked in the top 15 teams nationally by PrepVolleyball.com.  They received a ranking of 14th overall in the country and have also garnered a USA Volleyball ranking of 5th in the country.  Only one other Southern California team (Coast, San Diego) is ranked above them at 5th for PrepVolleyball (8th in USAV).  Sunshine beat out local competitors Sport Shack, Santa Barbara, Laguna, Wave, T-Street and Club West who also made the list.

Cheney, Washington is feeling empty today, as if there is something missing…

A grey, drizzly town 20 miles west of Spokane-that of the famed red astro-turf field and frigid gym-sock fragranced field house-is home to Eastern Washington University and host to the 2012 Pacific Northwest Qualifier.  This past weekend, the Sunshine Hurley 16’s squad blew into this wayward patch of land and left their mark.  Day 1 was not too eventful, but Day 2 featured all that is great and horrifying about this wondrous ride we take on the Club Volleyball train. The squad was able to come back from an 11-4 deficit in a one game playoff match to avoid elimination and advance to the Gold bracket on Day 3.  With 3 bids up for grabs, the girls had to advance out of this bracket featuring the #1 tournament seed.  Again playing from behind (“we got ‘em where we want “em”), the girls overcame all odds and advanced to the semi-finals where they beat tournament favorites City Beach to advance to the finals, secure an Open bid to Junior Nationals and finish in a team-best 2^nd place.  Congrats to all the girls (and coaches), as it was a true team effort over the 3 day event.  The team fought through every obstacle and never gave up. As the 15-person passenger van drove off on a record-breaking pace to make the flight home, Cheney witnessed the last Sunshine it will see for some time vanish into the horizon...

Weather forecast for Columbus, Ohio July 3-7:

After a long and hard fought weekend the Sunshine 17-Westside team came out of the local SCVA JNQ with an open bid after taking second overall, losing only in the finals to the T-Street 17-Troy team.

The girls went 9-1 over the course of the weekend and played a tough weekend.  With wins over Payes 17-1 and Wave 17-1 en route to the finals of the tournament.  Congratulations to the coaches and the girls as they have solidified their spot in the Open division of JO's in Columbus, Ohio.

Go Sunshine!

This past weekend at the Colorado Crossroads Qualifier Sunshine sent three teams to compete for bids in three separate divisions. The 14-Westide team placed 9th in the open division and the 14-Premier took 68th after battling two early injuries to key players.

Sunshine 13-Westside had an excellent tournament going 6-1 in the first two days of play looking strong at all positions and playing with chemistry  and intensity.  The girls came out strong and played as a unit blowing through pool play on both days and were given a bye in the first round of the gold bracket on day three heading into the playoffs.  The final day of play two key players for the team came down with food poisoning and the team continued to fight.  They won their second round match and looked to be able to hold their own if they could keep their energy up.  Unfortunately the long weekend and sickness took their toll and the girls lost in the semifinals.  They took fourth overall in the tournament and got a lot of great experience going into the points tournaments for SCVA.  Currently the 13-Westside team is the number one overall 13's team in the region.  Congratulations to all of the Sunshine teams that competed this weekend in the Colorado qualifier.

Jackie Bowman, Kathleen Harris, Kaity Edwards, and Tori Shepard, all of the 16-Westside, were named to the prestigious "Sophomore 79" list on Prep Volleyball's website.  These girls are already tremendous talents and can only get better as they continue their club and high school careers.  We at Sunshine expect many more honors to come their way in the next two years.  Big Congrats, girls!

Kristen Castellanos, of Notre Dame Academy and the Sunshine 15-Hurley team was named one of the top 25 high school Freshman in the country.  Following her stellar high school play for NDA as a varsity starter and CIF Div 1AA 1st  Team player she most recently helped the Sunshine 15-Hurley team earn a 15-open bid in Spokane.  Congrats to Kristen for all of her hard work and dedication to the sport!

Sunshine has had 9 players selected to their respective divisional 1st Team All-CIF Teams.  Each of these girls worked hard during the off-season with skill set training and conditioning and helped their teams progress deep into the playoffs.  Sunshine's 1st team All-CIf players are:

Emma White (18-Westside)-Div.1AA, Mira Costa High School

Caroline Workman (18-Westside)-Div. 1A Marymount High School

Lauren Greskovics-Fuller (17-Sunshine)-Div.1A Marymount High School

Kristen Castellanos (15-Sunshine)-Div. 1A Notre Dame Academy

Tara Robinson (18-Westside)-Div. 2AA Oaks Christian High School

Jackie Bowman (16-Westside)-Div. 3A Brentwood High School

Brittany Butler (17-Sunshine)-Div. 3A Windward High School

Kate Sommer (17-Sunshine)-Div. 5AA Lighthouse Christian High School

Molly Kornfiend (16-Westside)-Div. 2 Palisades High School POY

Also, A HUGE congratulations to Molly Kornfiend.  Not only was she 1st Team All-CIF City Section for Palisades High School as a sophomore, but she was also unanimously voted as the CIF Player of the Year for CIF City Section Div. 2!!

Sunshine's dominant middle, Toni Alugbue, was named by Prep Volleyball as the 37th best high school volleyball player in the nation.  Toni has amazing athletic ability and just keeps getting better each year.  She can totally take over a game and her jump is out of this world.  I have personally measured her jump at 10'3" and she hardly broke out a sweat doing that.  She has committed to Notre Dame after being pursued by almost every major university in the nation.  Not only is she a great athlete, but she does very well in the classroom and could not be nicer.  She has one last season with Sunshine before departing for college, we loved having her with us, but will miss her alot when she leaves.  We congratulate our new "Senior Ace" and wish her the best in her college career.

‘Twas the Night Before the Tournament

‘Twas the night before the tournament and all through the town
Not a girl was stirring - all their heads were laid down
The red duffle bags were packed and filled with their stuff
The day before they worked at making their muscles quite buff

Rainbow jerseys and bikers were laid out with kneepads
Yellow and red hair ribbons were becoming one of the fads
Sunshine striped crew socks were ready to be pulled on
And shoes would be tied while suppressing a yawn

Water bottles had been filled and healthy snacks were ready to go
The emergency bag was well equipped with every item you know
Beach chairs, tents and coolers were stuffed in the car
Some of the dads were dreaming that ASC had a sports bar

The girls were still bruised from around the chair drills
Our setters and hitters had perfected their skills
Our libero had been passing and rolling on the floor
But with a smile on her face always screamed – GIVE ME ONE MORE!

Our middles would be ready with their arms held up high
The amazing blocking and hitting you could not deny
The serves had been improved knowing each spot they would land
Tuan would signal specific areas and the players would understand
Scrimmages would happen against other teams
Coaches would yell and you could hear all their screams

Mr. Kelly and plyos became part of their week
Quick feet and strong abs is what they did seek
Medicine balls were lifted and their arms became strong
Running and stretching made their limbs super long

Coach Tuan and Coach Cari had their lineup intact
And were hoping that nobody had a massive serving attack
Plays had been planned and strategies confirmed
Each girls’ position was practiced and readily affirmed

Friendship, respect and passion for volleyball
Dedication, teamwork and a winning Sunshine call
Sunshine 13 is ready to win and to fight
They just need to get some good sleep tonight!

 I must give credit to the girls and Shari for working so hard over the season.  They truly inspire me to mirror their work ethic and raise the bar as team dad; consequently, after some prodding and words of support, I have made one last effort to produce something worthy of everyone's time and attention. Please click on the link to view my latest tribute to the Sunshiners.  Hopefully, the message comes across:  it's time to get serious as the team continues to prep for Junior Nationals.

This past weekend the 16-Westside team, coached by Eileen Heiss, became the second Sunshine club team to win a national qualifier in the 16's age group open division in the same year!  The girls were undefeated for the weekend and beat 2 teams in the top-25 nationally.  Notable wins over TRV, 915 United, Mad Frog, ASICS MAVs, Texas Pride, Tejas (#23), APAC, Instinct White Tigers and TAV Black (#1) propelled them to a record of 9-0 and the gold medal.  In the semi-finals, Sunshine fought back from down 9-11 in the third set to win 15-12 against a very strong Instinct White Tigers team.  In the finals, Sunshine defeated the consensus #1 ranked team in the nation with a never-say-die attitude and roared back in the third set, down 5-8 at the switch and 7-10 to win going away 15-11.  Every player on this team competed hard and played for her teammates.  Coach Hiss was quoted on Prepvolleyball.com, "This is a great benchmark win for us today, but we're not satisfied. We still have a way to go."  There is no doubt these players will continue to work hard and get better.  Congrats to a fine group of players and we never get tired of saying, "Go Sunshine!"

Sunshine earned 7 bids to the Junior Olympics in Atlanta this Year.  With five bids in the Open division, one in the National division and one in the American division.  There will be teams representing Sunshine in every age group but one, with two teams in the 16's open!!!

Congratulations to all of the Sunshine teams that earned a bid, have some fun and kick butt in Atlanta.

GO SUNSHINE!!!

Open Bids:                                     American Bids:

18-Westside                                   14-South Bay

17-Sunshine

16-Westside                                   National Bids:

16-South Bay

15-Hurley                                         12-Westside

This past weekend the Sunshine 16-South Bay team, coached by Brennan Prahler, went 11-0 and won gold at the Northeast Qualifier in Baltimore.  The girls had an unprecedented weekend dropping only 1 set the entire tournament to earn their open division bid to the Junior Olympics in Atlanta.  This is Sunshine's second 16's team to earn an open bid this year.  The team had an amazing weekend with notable wins over: Pitt Premier, Magnum, Volley FX, Tampa Bay, CAVA, Elite VBTC, Clash, Renaissance, Club West, Jamba and ECJ Elite.  They went undefeated and took gold to bring home their bid around excellent defensive play and a strong block.  A huge congratulations to the team.  Go Sunshine!!!

This past weekend our 15-Sunshine team, coached by Shari Sakamoto, took third place at the Spokane Junior National Qualifier and earned their bid for the 15-open division at the Junior Olympics this summer in Atlanta.  The team had a great weekend with notable wins over Long Beach Mizuno, WAVA (Washington), Club West, and Woodland Waves (Texas).  The girls came home with a bronze medal and an open division bid and played well as a team all weekend.  Congratulations to the 15-Sunshine Team.  Go Sunshine!

Sunshine 14-South Bay coached by Nancy Mason and Carrie Dodd won the silver medal at JO's last season in Atlanta (2011).  The girls had a fantastic tournament and ended up losing in the finals in a 3 set battle to Texas Image 14-Mizuno: 20-25, 25-10, 9-15.  We are so proud of the girls for playing hard all tournament long and bringing home another medal for Sunshine!

This past weekend the Sunshine 13-Westside team, coached by Tuan Le and Cari klein, took the Bronze medal at the SCVA qualifier.  The girls had huge wins over: Laguna, Orange County, Legacy, T-Street, Wave, Surfside and Protege.  They did not earn a bid but had an excellent weekend playing against some of the best 13's teams in the country.  The girls played tough and fought hard to earn their medal in the hardest qualifier in the country.  Good job girls and go Sunshine!

Last weekend at the Spokane JNQ Sunshine's 18-Westside team, coached by Heather Cullen and Mike Campbell, earned their bid to go to the Junior Olympics in Atlanta this July.  The girls on the team had a long and hard fought weekend, but in the end won in a three way tie-breaker 25-21 over a tall ITVC team to earn their bid.  Their eventual loss in the final was to TAV and the girls came home with the silver medal from Spokane.  Congratulations to the 18-Westside team and Go Sunshine!

In an amazing run at the Colorado Crossroads qualifier, Sunshine's 13-elite won the bronze medal in the American division placing 3rd in a field of 40 teams.  Led by the brilliant libero play of Jenny Thomas and the dynamic serving and all-around play of Hannah Bowlin, this special team went 8-2 for the tournament, losing a close match to a Texas team  in 3 in the semi-finals and then winning their last match to secure the bronze medal.  Our middles, Kate Bolkin and Bella Edwards, were strong and consistent, OH Abby McCoy served aces and got kills  in every match, and our setters, Claire Siwulec and Lena Foellmer served and set magnificantly.  Right side Natalie Wiegand consistently got kills.  Natalie showed great potential as hitter.  Morgan Williams grew as a player as the tournament wore on, making crucial shots at critical times in matches.  Newcomer to the team, Claire Meylan played well growing each day into an important member of the team.  The team sorely missed libero Payton White, who is out due to a back injury.  The team dedicated this major win to her and can't wait until she returns to the team.  This team took a giant step this past weekend and will be a force to be reckoned with in SCVA for the rest of the season.

This weekend in Spokane our Sunshine 12-Westside, coached by Lenka Jmrichova, won the 12's division, taking first place and earning their bid to the Junior Olympics this year in Atlanta!  In the finals they beat Tremors 12's from San Francisco who did not lose even one set before facing Sunshine in the finals.  Other notable wins over Mad Frogs from Texas, Beach Cities, and Extreme from Texas.  The girls continually got better over the course of the weekend and really bonded even while fighting illness, fever, sore throats and chills.  The girls had an amazing weekend looking out for each other on and off the court and came home with the gold!  Go Sunshine!

This weekend the 17-Westside team, coached by Laura Holloway, took second place and earned a bid to the 17-Open division of the Junior Olympics this year in Atlanta.  The team pulled through a tough weekend going 8-3 for the entire weekend with wins over big teams.  By the third day of the tournament the 17’s were posting victories over teams like the huge Minnesota Select 17-1 and Nebraska Juniors 17-1 which is the # 1 ranked 17’s team in the country.  Sunshine took second losing the Club Red 17-Mizuno in the finals and has earned a bid in the open division.  Congratulations to all the girls for playing well over the course of the weekend.   Many club coaches have admitted that the Colorado Qualifier was the hardest 17’s qualifier in the country this year and 20 of the 32 teams that were at the qualifier are expected to be representing their clubs at the Junior Olympics this year in Atlanta.  Go Sunshine!!