One week after falling in the championship game of the Louisville Invitational, the
Assumption (Louisville, Ky.) Rockets rebounded to claim first place in the Durango Classic, perhaps the nation's most prestigious volleyball tournament.
The Rockets got past a quartet of California schools to win the championship, including a two-game finals sweep of
Los Alamitos (25-13, 25-19), which was the No. 1 ranked team in the Southern Section coaches poll entering the tournament.
Taylor Long, Assumption
Photo by Jann Hendry
Along the way, Assumption also topped Mater Dei (26-24, 15-25, 25-9) in Saturday's tournament opener, Redondo Union (25-20, 25-13) in the quarterfinals and last year's runner-up La Costa Canyon 25-21, 27-25 in the semifinals.
Katie George, a 5-foot-10 senior setter, earned tournament MVP honors for the Rockets, who also placed three others players on the All-Tournament Team. Senior libero
Chelsea Bowles made the list along with sophomore outside hitter
Alexa Filley and junior middle blocker
Taylor Paulson.
Los Alamitos landed three on the All-Tournament Team including senior outside hitter
Alijah Gunsaulus, sophomore middle blocker
Crissy Jones and senior opposite
Jaylen Villanueva.
The championship was the second for the Rockets, who also won in 2005. Assumption finished second three straight years from 2006 to 2008. Los Alamitos, which has never won the tournament, also finished second in 2004.
Marymount (Los Angeles), ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section Division 2 coaches poll, captured third place with a 25-21, 27-25 win over last year's runner-up, La Costa Canyon. Marymount fell in the semifinals to Los Alamitos 20-25, 26-24, 22-25 after knocking off Arizona's top-ranked team, Xavier College Prep, 18-25, 25-18, 25-17, in the quarterfinals. Marymount finished third in the Silver Division last year.
Xavier College Prep (Phoenix) bounced back to claim fifth place with a 24-26, 25-19, 25-22 win over Kamehameha. Xavier advanced to the fifth-place game with a 23-25, 25-23, 25-15 win over Clovis West. Xavier College Prep had a much stronger tournament this year after finishing 27th at last year's event.
Clovis West (Fresno, Calif.) topped Redondo Union, last year's Silver Division champion, 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, for seventh place.
Other division winners included: Sacred Heart (Louisville, Ky.) with a 22-25, 25-14, 25-21 win over Torrey Pines in the Silver Division; Vista Murrieta, with a 23-25, 33-31, 25-18 win over Thousand Oaks in the Bronze Division; Harvard-Westlake, last year's Gold Division champion, with a 25-22, 25-21 win over Long Beach Wilson in the Competition Division; Rim of the World, with a 25-20, 25-14 win over Clovis in the Classic Division; and Riverside Secondary with a 25-12, 25-9 win over Chugiak in the Contender Division.
Other members of the All-Tournament Team include
Lauren Fuller, Marymount, setter;
Lanti Moye-McLaren, Marymount, outside;
Brittany Abercrombie, La Costa Canyon, opposite;
Natalie Bausback, La Costa Canyon, middle blocker;
Brittany Kalepa, Kamehameha, outside;
Faith Ma'afala, Kamehameha, opposite;
Bianca Arellano, Xavier, setter;
Amanda Benson, Xavier, outside;
Danielle Lauber, Clovis West, outside;
Tiffany Morales, Redondo, outside.
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