Volleyball coaches often consider tournaments as providing experience for a team. The City Beach Tournament March 27-28 gave Ramona six matches of experience and also gave the Bulldogs their first two wins of the season.
Even the losses prepared Ramona for league competition and possibly the CIF post-season tournament.
“They still didn’t give up.  They kept fighting,” Coach Jeff Klauda said of the team’s handling of score deficits.
The tournament matches, along with a March 25 non-league loss at Westview, gave Ramona a 2-7 record for the season.
The Westview loss was a disappointment as Ramona won its first two games, both by 25-23 scores, before losing the match in five games.  
“Did not play well at all.  Just kind of stopped playing,” Klauda said of the final three games.  “We just kind of let up.”
Westview took 25-13 and 25-11 victories to send the match to a fifth game.  
“We couldn’t put a ball away,” Klauda said.  “They cleaned their game up, weren’t making as many unforced errors.”
Ramona was competitive in the fifth game but still playing without outside hitter Adrian Papps, who rolled his ankle in the March 11 season opener against Carlsbad.  Papps’ absence was noticeable when his position was slated for the front row of the rotation.  
“We could not get out of that rotation,” Klauda said.
Westview scored several points before Ramona obtained a sideout and a better rotation.  
“In a game to 15 that’s pretty hard to fight back, especially in rally scoring,” Klauda said.
The Wolverines secured the match with a 15-12 victory in the fifth game.
Papps returned to action for some games in the tournament, although he played sparingly and in the back row.  The Friday tournament matches were the pool play competitions, and Ramona began with a 25-9, 29-27 loss to Shadow Ridge High School of Las Vegas.  
“We played a whole lot better in the second game,” Klauda said.  “Had several serves at game point and just couldn’t put it away.”
The Bulldogs then beat Steele Canyon for their first win of the season.  
“Kept the pace on,” Klauda said.
Ramona defeated the Cougars by 25-10 and 25-12 scores.  
“I was able to get basically everyone in,” Klauda said.
Ramona closed out pool play with Sahuaro but lost 25-18 and 25-22 games to the Tucson-area school.  
“I wasn’t displeased with the way we played,” Klauda said.
Finishing third in pool play gave Ramona a slotting in the Silver Division, and the Saturday matches began with the seeding contest against Palisades.  The Los Angeles area school took 25-18 and 25-22 wins over the Bulldogs.  
“We looked confused.  We had guys running into each other,” Klauda said.  “At times we looked like circus clowns.”
Klauda called a team meeting after that match, and Ramona then defeated Las Vegas High School in the quarterfinals.  
“We played much better,” Klauda said.
Ramona overcame a deficit for a 26-24 win over Las Vegas in the first game and took the second game by a 25-22 margin.
The semifinals saw Ramona face Sanger High School. Ramona won the first game by a 25-15 score.  
“We did our job on our side of the net,” Klauda said.
The rotation issue hurt Ramona in the second game, as the Bulldogs were down 7-1 early in the contest.  
“We finally started playing a little better,” Klauda said.
Papps was able to contribute to that when he was in the back row.
“When he was in there with Trevor (libero Trevor Adelman) our serve-receive was good,” Klauda said.
When the rotation put Papps’ substitutes in the front row, Sanger resumed control of the game and won 25-22 to set up a third game.
Sanger advanced to the Silver Division finals with a 15-13 win in the third game.
Ramona hosts Bonita Vista today in a non-league match and will spend much of the weekend at the North County Invitational.