Sunshine Volleyball Club

 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

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.

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

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 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!"

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!

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!!