Laguna pair fares well at Volleyball Festival

Local athletes Mychaela Miller and Jilly Petersen played for the

Laguna Beach Volleyball Club 14 to 1 team that last weekend captured

second-place in its championship division of the 2003 Volleyball

Festival.

Miller, a setter and Petersen, a middle blocker, are the only two

Laguna Beach residents on the 14 to 1 team that draws members from

throughout Orange County.

Laguna entered the division tournament, which drew 223 teams from

across the nation, as the No. 3 seed.

The team played 15 matches over a five-day period and dropped its

only match to No. 1 seed and the division’s eventual champion,

Temecula Valley.

Laguna lost a tight match, 25-22, 25-23.

“We had a great time,” said Miller who was playing in her third

Volleyball Festival.

Last year, she played on Laguna’s 14 to 1 team that finished fifth

overall; in 2001, she played for the Laguna 12 to 1 team that just missed a top 10 tournament finish.

At the 2002 festival, Petersen played for Laguna’s 14 to 2 team

that placed 29th overall; in 2001, she was on the 12 to 2 team that

finished 22nd.

The current season is the first time the two, each 14, have played

together on the same team.

“The festival is a great experience,” she said. “It’s an exciting

event and there’s a lot of energy both in the crowd and with the

other players on the court.”

The girls’ tournament was played at UC Davis in Davis, Ca.

Miller is attending St. Margaret’s in San Juan Capistrano where

she will be a freshman in the fall.

Petersen will begin her first year at Laguna Beach High in

September.

“What’s great about this festival is that it’s really fun,”

Petersen said. “I had the opportunity to play for a really cool team

that has a lot of neat girls on it and I think this was the best

performance that I’ve had in Davis. I was happy with my play and felt

that I improved over the course of the week there.”

The Volleyball Festival, the world’s largest girls’ sporting

event, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2003. The tournament

drew nearly 1,000 and 10,000 players representing 46 states and

Puerto Rico and is open to teams in divisions 12-and-Under through

18-and-Under.

The festival’s opening ceremonies were held at Arco Arena in

Sacramento.