January 14, 2013 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with 1 comments
This weekend, the first college tournament of the new year, the Santa Barbara Qualifier, earned two teams bids to the Santa Barbara Invite later this month.
Here’s a look at what happened:
Open
Las Positas, a small community college about an hour outside the Bay Area, rolled through the competition, facing their only close game in the finals against #1 seed UCLA, who had a similarly easy path through the bracket. With the 13-9 victory, Las Positas will have a chance to get some games against some top West Coast teams early in the season.
Last year, they made a surprisingly deep run at Regionals, losing by two to UC-Santa Barbara in the semi-finals of the backdoor bracket after playing close against Arizona and Stanford in pool play. They finished 4th after coming in as the 9 seed.
It’s hard to read much into this tournament, but this team could be poised to surprise some teams at the SBI.
Women’s
After a brutal Regionals last year that saw them lose every one of their games, Arizona had to earn a spot in the Invite this year through the Qualifier (they earned a direct bid last year). But they did earn that spot, getting a small measure of revenge with a finals win over San Diego State, who beat them at Regionals last year. With the 13-6 victory, Arizona moves on to the SBI.
They did face a challenge from UC-Irvine in the semifinals, where they pulled out an 11-9 win.
***
Ultiworld will have more about the Santa Barbara Invite as we approach the first big tournament of the year. Stay tuned for more big announcements about our forthcoming college season coverage!
