Hillsdale hosts second annual volleyball tournament

Hillsdale head coach Dwight Crump conceived of the event prior to the pandemic as an alternative to the invitation-only Spikefest tourney.

“We wanted to do something a little different and give everybody their first opportunity at a tournament at the beginning of the year,” Crump said. “And you’ve got some good teams.”

San Mateo County teams appearing in the tournament included Summit Shasta, San Mateo, Design Tech and Westmoor.

With each team guaranteed four matches, Hillsdale fell 25-16, 22-25, 15-8 in the semifinals in a three-set showdown with Lowell-San Francisco. James Logan went on to defeat Lowell in the finals 25-23, 21-25, 15-5.

“A lot of strong, good talent in this tournament,” Crump said. “The top five teams were essentially equal to each other. It was just one of those tournaments where you played your heart out.”

After sweeps of Mt. Madonna-Watsonville and Balboa-SF earlier in the day, Hillsdale took fifth place with a 25-14, 25-10 victory over Sobrato-Morgan Hill in the consolation bracket. Junior outside hitter Natasha Abbaszadeh scored a season-high nine kills in the finale and was backed by upstart freshman Ella Schaumkel, who recorded five kills and fired six service aces.

Schaumkel — the 5-11 outside hitter is Hillsdale’s only freshman — totaled 11 aces in the tournament. She is the Lady Knights’ first freshman starter since 2018, when the heart of the 2021 Northern California championship team, Jessica Dean, Sophia Makarewycz and Victoria Vanos, broke into the varsity ranks.

“[Schaumkel] is a dynamite player,” Crump said.

Hillsdale is relying on the youth movement this season, with just one senior on roster in Bianca Choy.

The Knights are two years removed from their first-ever Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division championship, but again advanced to the Central Coast Section playoffs last year after taking third place in the Bay behind co-league champions Burlingame and Aragon.

“I have a young team,” Crump said. “We’re in a rebuilding year but my talent is really good. And once we get the chemistry all figured out … it’s going to be nice because they showed signs of that in that last match of the tournament. Everything clicked, everything came together.”

Inexperience cost Hillsdale in the semifinals, Crump said. While Schaumkel recorded a career-high 10 kills in the match, the Knights scuffled with a .155 team hitting percentage and committed 25 digging errors.

“It was our toughest game but it’s a game we should have won,” Crump said. “That’s where my young team’s mistakes came into play.”

With four courts in use between Hillsdale’s main gym and practice gym, the Knights were in a holding pattern for two hours between the semifinals and their consolation match with Sobrato.

“I’m so proud of how they played in the last game,” Crump said. “Especially after a long day … it was really nice. They all had fresh legs and it showed.”

Hillsdale has some more downtime this week, with its next match scheduled for Friday. The Knights will travel to Marin Catholic-Kentfield, where they will face off against the team that won the first-annual Hillsdale Lady Knights Varsity Challenge last season, when the Wildcats defeated runners-up Hillsdale 25-10, 25-17.