Finishing first: Corsairs win big at the Western State Conference Pairs tournament
On April 25 and 26, Moorpark College hosted the Western State Conference (WSC) Pairs tournament, in which the Santa Monica College (SMC) Corsairs participated. But before the matches started, the tournament honored Bakersfield College (BC) head coach Carl Ferreira. Ferreira is retiring, and this was his last season as head coach of the BC Renegades. Ferreira started his coaching career in 1994 and has been the Renegades’ head coach since 2005.
The first day of competition had a few upsets. Corsairs’ blockers Kyla Dothard and Finley Meyer started the day in the Play-in round, winning their match against Samantha Holmes and Journey Blueford of Glendale Community College (GCC) to move onto the next round.
Dothard and Meyer were then matched up against Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) Vaqueros first team, Nevaeh Tillet and Kaylin Cooney. The Corsairs upset the Vaqueros by beating their top pairs to move on to the Sweet-16 round. Dothard and Meyer then lost in the Sweet 16 round to the Renegades, first seeded team led by Maya Barron and Raelynn Saunders.
Split Samatha Harvey and defender Sophia Vandenberg were the No. 2 team for the Corsairs, and had a bye in the first round. In the Sweet 16, they played against the Moorpark College (MC) Raiders’ first team Mia Paculan and Gaby Shirado. Harvey and Vandenberg would go on to defeat the Raiders before moving into the Elite 8.
Harvey and Vandenberg lost in the Elite 8 round to Vaqueros’ Madelynn Papia and Sage Thorne-Thomsen.
The Corsairs’ No. 1 team blocker Nicole Lankton and defender Annah Legaspi also earned a bye for the first round. In the Sweet 16, Lankton and Legaspi were matched up with fellow Corsairs and No. 4 team, defender Makena Gamby and blocker Allison Horin.
In the first round the Corsairs’ No. 3 team, splits Sadie Town and Eden Lorin, played against the Renegades’ Chloe Comstock and Alexandera Watts. Town and Lorin won both sets and later met up against the Ventura College Beach Volleyball (VC) Pirates' No. 1 team Talia Behrens and Sadie Lishman.
Corsairs’ Gamby and Horin’s first round match was against GCC Vaqueros’ Shiho Uchida and Jessica Casper. They defeated the Vaqueros to move on to the Sweet 16 round.
The second day of the tournament started with a rainstorm that died down right before games began, but would come and go throughout the day. In between matches, players struggled to stay warm and dry. Coming into the second day of the tournament, Lankton was suffering from back pain.
Lankton and Legaspi faced SBCC Vaqueros’ Tana Long and Lina Husek. The Corsairs won both sets to move onto the semifinals.
Corsairs’ Harvey and Vanderberg matched up against SBCC Vaqueros’ Papia and Thorne-Thomsen. This was a close match as each pair won a set, leading to a tie breaking third set to decide a winner. Harvey and Vanderberg ended up losing in the third set.
Hoping to finish strong, Harvey and Vanderberg played against SBCC Vaqueros’ Long and Husek in a battle for fifth place. Harvey and Vandenberg won both sets, finishing fifth overall in the tournament.
In the semifinal, Lankton and Legaspi faced off against the VC Pirates’ Viola Barrios and Shai Daniels, winning both sets to move into the finals for first place.
The finals match was between Lankton and Legaspi and SBCC Vaqueros’ Papia and Thorne-Thomsen. Each set was close, with both teams going back and forth with each other, and neither team was able to build a comfortable lead at any time. SBCC won the first set 21-18, and SMC won the second set 21-19. A third and final tie-breaking set was needed to determine the champion of the tournament.
The third set played out similarly as the previous two. Scoring back and forth, players laid out to save the ball and extend the rally. In the end, Lankton and Legaspi won the set, 15-13, to finish first in the tournament.
“Nicole was less mobile. I tried to pick up those, like, (the ones) she usually can get, but not at that time, and let her handle the hammering,” said Legaspi when asked about the key to winning both sets.
“Honestly, they had to overcome injury. There's adversity in every single match. It can come in the beginning, in the middle or the end. Then with teams that are this good and the level of play is really high in this conference. You expect everybody to push back,” said Corsairs’ head coach Christian Cammayo.
The Corsairs finished the season tied for first place with the SBCC Vaqueros. The Corsairs’ strong season was validated by sending five pairs to the WSC finals.
“Our five teams advanced, one round, and then they beat the No. 1 team from Santa Barbara, which was a huge upset. Our fourth team beat the No. 1 team from Glendale and then got eliminated by our No. 1 team,” said Cammayo after their achievements in the tournament.
The Corsairs finished first and fifth place in the WSC Pairs Tournament.
On Tuesday, April 29 the Corsairs will compete in the upcoming Southern California Regional Team Tournament at Ocean Park in Santa Monica.