McCLELLAN PARK, Calif. – St. Francis frosh volleyball went undefeated in pool play, then advanced to the finale of the 22-team Carmichael Invitational Freshman Tournament of Champions before losing to Christian Brothers in split sets at Capital Sports Center Saturday.
Meanwhile in the same venue, the Troubadour junior varsity swept its two pool play opponents and all four foes of the championship bracket to best the 14-team Junior Varsity TOC.
The Troubadour jayvees improve to 26-1 on the year, and pick up their second tournament title of the year along with Oak Ridge's Christine Craft Invitational. In fact, the lone loss of the year came in the title match of yet another tourney, the 15th Stockton Classic one week earlier. The SF frosh squad suffers its first setback of the year, moving to 21-1.
St. Francis JV had a shorter pool play, sweeping Woodcreek and River City to finish first in the group. The Troubies then knocked off CB, West Park, West Valley and Pleasant Valley, each in straight sets for the four rounds of bracket play.
The frosh had three round robin matches, dispatching Rosemont, Weston Ranch and West Valley. They then swept Pleasant Valley in the quarterfinal, split sets with Windsor, before falling to the Falcons in the title match. The Troubies seemed to have the first set in hand when Audrey Bashore's ace provided SF with a 24-22 set point. But two aces and a solo block gave CB four unanswered to snipe the frame and take an early lead. St. Francis finished the second frame on a 9-1 run to even the match before losing a thriller of a rubber set. The Troubie freshies nearly erased what had grown into a 14-8 deficit, getting kills from Trinity Ito and Gianna Flesoras in the process. But CB's Kara Brewer got a roll shot to slip over the tape for the winner, ending the SF comeback.
The CIVT also closes out the non-league portion of both Troubie subvarsity schedules. The frosh and JV reunite with the varsity squad on Thursday for a Delta League road tripleheader at Davis.
ST. FRANCIS AT CARMICHAEL INVITATIONAL VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
Capital Sports Center (McClellan Park, Calif.)
JUNIOR VARSITY TOC
St. Francis 2, Woodcreek 0 (25-22, 25-10)
St. Francis 2, River City 0 (25-7, 25-8)
St. Francis 2, Christian Brothers 0 (25-18, 25-18)
St. Francis 2, West Park 0 (25-7, 25-14)
St. Francis 2, West Valley 0 (25-12, 25-12)
St. Francis 2, Pleasant Valley 0 (25-18, 25-12)
FRESHMAN TOC
St. Francis 2, Rosemont 0 (25-10, 25-13)
St. Francis 2, Weston Ranch 0 (25-10, 25-15)
St. Francis 2, West Valley 0 (25-23, 25-9)
St. Francis 2, Pleasant Valley 0 (25-15, 25-13)
St. Francis 2, Windsor 1 (25-7, 19-25, 15-7)
Christian Brothers 2, St. Francis 1 (26-24, 15-25, 15-13)
