Five Palisadians led the Sunshine Volleyball Club’s 12-and-under team to victory at a Junior Olympic Qualifying tournament last weekend at Artesia High in Lakewood. The first-place finish ensured the team a spot at the Junior Olympics, held this year from June 28 to July 5 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. A trio of Corpus Christi students was instrumental in the squad’s march to the championship. Outside hitters Christine Irvin and Lanti Moie-McLaren and middle blocker Lauren Waters all contributed in Sunshine’s narrow semifinal victory over Los Gatos Vision. Also playing key roles in the team’s success throughout the tournament were local defensive specialists Madison McAndrews (St. Paul) and Kate Sommer (Lighthouse Christian). The team went on to sweep Bakersfield Kern River 25-11, 25-10 in the finals. Under the leadership of head coach Stephanie Wigfall, Sunshine fell behind Vision 9-1 in the third and decisive game before Skylar Dykstra took over the serve and won five consecutive points to pull Sunshine within 9-6. Then, one point away from defeat, Irvin reeled off nine consecutive points on serve to give Sunshine a 16-14 victory. Rounding out the team were twins Lauren and Manon Fuller, Maddy Klineman, Rachel Vetter and Grayce Campbell. Sunshine’s 13s Crimson squad finished third, the 14s Gold squad and 14s Platinum squads were third and the 16s squad finished fifth.
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