Locals Lead Junior National Volleyball Squads to Medals

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

USA Volleyball’s Junior National Boys Championships wereheld last week in Columbus, Ohio and many Palisadians led their respective teams to medals.

Will Bantle’s Southern California Volleyball Club 17 Quiksilver squad, coached by Palisades High alumnus Bill Ferguson, won the gold medal in the Open Division Sunday, sweeping Puerto Rico’s San Juan,  25-23, 25-19, in the title match.

Seeded second, SCVC upset top-seeded Long Island VBC in three sets in the quarterfinals, then swept defending champion 949 in a rematch of last year’s  final.

Also on the squad was middle blocker Vecas Lewin, who earned All-City Division I honors at Pali High after helping the Dolphins to the section title in the spring.

Bantle now owns a gold, silver and bronze medal from Junior Nationals. He earned silver with the Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club’s 15s under club director Matt Diaz and bronze with the PPVBC’s 14s team, piloted by Pali High coach Carlos Gray.

Bantle, who will be a junior at Loyola High in the fall, will also play on USA Volleyball’s junior national beach team this summer.

One of his SCVC and Loyola teammates is setter Rob Mullahey, with whom he partnered to  tie for ninth place at the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball U17 World Championships in Mexico.

Earning a bronze medal in the Open Division (top 36 teams in the country) was PPVBC’s 15s Nike squad, coached by Palisadians Oliver Deutschman and Matt Bagnard, who formerly led PPVBC to five medals in six years.

Loyola High setter Andrew Bagnard and outside hitter Joe McNamee earned All-Tournament honors as the 12th-seeded team won its first eight matches.

Also contributing to PPVBC’s third-place finish were middle blockers Wyatt Lewis and Connor Bellitti (Loyola), setter Riley Byington (Palisades), opposite hitter Alex Lee (Loyola), outside hitter  Kevin Mardirossian (Loyola), middle blocker Zach Pittard (Santa Monica), outside hitter John Schwengel (Santa Monica), libero Jeff Stuart (Palisades) and outside hitter Scott Stuart (Palisades). Also on the team but unable to make the trip to Junior Nationals was Drew Daniele, a libero from Loyola.

PPVBC went 3-0 in pool play,  including a win against fifth-seeded Durham Attack from Canada.

Matched against third-seeded Vaqueros of Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals, PPVBC prevailed   20-18 in the third set before falling to Torimar, the top team from Puerto Rico, in the semifinals.

Also capturing bronze was Manhattan Beach Surf’s 16s team, coached by Palisadian and Loyola alumnus John Beckwith and led by Loyola setter Will Hobin and libero Ryan Pecsok.

MB Surf’s 15 Nike squad took third place behind Loyola setter Sinjin Smith. Cubs outside hitter/defensive specialist Matt Grinsfelder also plays on the squad. Sinjin’s older brother Stanton Smith plays on the MB Surf 18s Nike team.

The Santa Monica 14 Asics Premier team, led by middle blockers Justin Howard and Marcus Partain, opposite hitter William Elander, defensive specialist Nick Conte and setter Miles Partain, also took home the bronze.

Santa Monica Beach Club’s  17 Black team took the bronze in the club division, led by Oaks Christian outside hitter Adam Snyder and Crossroads middle blocker Griffin Levitan.