USD Women's Volleyball In Final Four
Plus: Local LV non-profit helps Tijuana students, Wood Ranch for delicious sides and BBQ dishes, and Bayside holds fun celebration
The University of San Diego’s Women’s Volleyball team has achieved a giant milestone, reaching the Final Four round of the Division I NCAA tournament. They will be playing tonight in Omaha, Nebraska against a perennial power—the University of Texas. If they win this semi-final match, the Toreros will advance to Saturday’s championship game to play the winner of tonight’s University of Pittsburgh—University of Louisville contest.
This is the first year that a USD’s Women’s Volleyball team has reached the Final Four.
USD reached the Final Four after a highly successful regular season that resulted in a stellar 27-1 win/loss record, a conference championship, and a number two national ranking. The regular season was followed by wins over Northern Colorado and Washington State in the first round of the NCAA tournament (held here at the Jenny Craig Pavilion), and then victories over Kentucky and Stanford in the NCAA regional tournament. The victory over Stanford was especially dramatic; the Cardinal were ranked number one in the country, and the program has the most NCAA championships (a total of 9). The win is considered the biggest in the USD volleyball program’s history.
Tonight’s game will be begin at 4:00 pm PST and will be broadcast on ESPN.
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In honor of reaching the Final Four, the Linda Vista Update conducted an interview to spotlight one of the Torero team members—star setter Gabby Blossom. A native of St Louis, MIssouri, Gabby is a graduate student at USD. After playing four years at Penn State, she transferred to USD last January with one more year of sports eligibility remaining. She is a student in the school’s Masters of Leadership Studies program. Yesterday, she received the high honor of being named a first team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
We asked her a few questions about herself and the program. Here is what she had to say:
—How long have you been playing volleyball?
Since I was 11.
—What have you enjoyed most about being on USD’s volleyball team?
Having fun with all my teammates.
—In your position of setter, how would you describe a successful game performance by yourself?
Delivering good balls to my hitters.
—What were your personal goals for this volleyball season?
To do whatever I could to help the team and help make my teammates better.
—What’s the most challenging aspect of playing your position?
Running the offense, knowing what to set, knowing the team game plan.
—Name a favorite class you had here at USD? I have enjoyed all my courses in the Leadership Studies program. I have been able to apply my volleyball experiences in all the courses.
—What is your major, and what professional aspirations do you have once you graduate?
As an undergraduate, I majored in business and psychology. I plan to play professionally in Europe after I finish my graduate studies, and then after that I’m not sure.
—Besides volleyball, what have you enjoyed the most about being at USD?
My teammates, the nice weather, and the beach.
—Do you have a favorite place to eat in the Linda Vista area?
Tender Greens in Mission Valley.
—Finish this sentence….when you are not studying or playing volleyball you can be found…
Hanging out with my friends.
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We congratulate Gabby Blossom for her selection as an All-American volleyball player, and we wish her and the entire USD team success at the Final Four.
Binational Non-Profit in LV helps Tijuana Students
People living in the San Diego area are aware of the level of poverty that plagues many of the neighborhoods in nearby Tijuana. Most local residents have either visited these neighborhoods or seen them portrayed in news reports. One can just imagine the toll this poverty has on the opportunity for a quality education for young Tijuana students. In fact, only 62% of these students reach secondary school and at secondary school, about half of the students drop out.
Fortunately, there is a non-profit organization in Linda Vista that dares to make a difference in improving the educational opportunities for some of these underserved students. The non-profit Advancing Students Forward (ASF), based on Tait Street in Linda Vista since 2019, was founded in 1984 with the intent of reducing the disparity in access to education for Tijuana students primarily in the Colonia El Tecolote section of Tijuana.
As mentioned on the ASF website, this organization has the mission of providing “underserved students access to education and support for academic success so that they can create a promising future for themselves and for the community in which they live.” At any given time, ASF is providing assistance to 70 students in Colonia El Tecolote. Students can enter the program beginning in middle school (7th grade).
ASF pursues this worthy mission by providing staff members (from both this side of the border and in Tijuana) and volunteers who assist students with such things as tutoring, mentoring, school supplies, lap tops, work study programs, and a place to study.
Students receive or attend leadership training, emotional well-being care, guest speaker presentations, participation in age-level teams, and club activities. Older students are also trained to help mentor younger students. And they participate in various projects that address societal problems such as one centered on up-cycling, which involves finding new uses for materials.
Volunteers from this side of the border make monthly visits to Tijuana to meet with students and provide various forms of assistance. ASF activities in Tijuana are mainly conducted at the Centro de Comunidad “El Tecolote” community center, which partners with ASF and is staffed by three ASF employees.
ASF was founded by Monica Santos, who currently serves as the organization’s Director. She was moved to start ASF after originally working at an orphanage in the El Tecolote neighborhood. She is a retired teacher who taught in Chula Vista. In 2019 she began operating ASF out of Linda Vista, in a structure that once hosted a Montessori school.
Like many other organizations, ASF’s operations were greatly affected by the COVID pandemic, however, ASF was able to keep moving forward by emphasizing virtual meetings with students. In this effort, ASF was able to see to it that students received lap tops, and money so that families could have internet access.
In addition to helping students in Tijuana, ASF has been active locally, partnering with the Bayside Community Center to provide space for one of their Tiny Gardens, and also providing meeting space for Bayside groups.
ASF is looking for additional volunteers to help students. Please visit the ASF website to see what kind of volunteers opportunities are available. In the meantime, if you want to immediately help out, please be aware the organization is holding a Backpack drive this Saturday. They are especially looking for donations comprising of school supplies. Check out the below flyer for details on what kind of donations are needed.
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The Linda Vista Update wishes to thank Monica Santos for taking the time to provide us with information about her wonderful organization. We hope many of our readers will feel inclined to contribute to the Backpack drive.
Wood Ranch in MV for Delicious Sides or BBQ Dishes
I was recently thinking of what restaurant we haven’t yet reviewed. Hopefully, some new Linda Vista restaurants open or we will be running out of places to try. At the same time while I was wondering where to review, I was getting ready for our neighborhood’s regular monthly book club meeting. We usually hold our meetings at lunch time at the Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill in Mission Valley’s Hazard Center. It suddenly hit me that this would be a great place to review. Although not technically Linda Vista, it is only a five-minute drive from our house—closer than many Linda Vista establishments.
What our group really likes about Wood Ranch is that at lunch time you usually don’t want to consume a large heavy meal with all the sides, and at Wood Ranch you don’t have to do that. This restaurant has the best selection of healthy sides you ever saw. They have Signature sides and Premium sides, and a couple of these sides make for a great meal. Among my favorite are smashed sweet potatoes, grilled or steamed broccoli, Brussel sprouts or asparagus, peanut cole slaw, baked potato and many more.
The prices for these sides range from $6.95 to $7.95 each, and the portions are a good size. These are especially good for non-meat eaters, though even the meat eaters in our group often go for the sides.
Of course, this is a BBQ place, so they have baby back ribs, BBQ chicken, brisket, Tri- Tip and many more BBQ items. They also have salmon. Their sandwich selection includes chicken pulled pork, brisket, tri tip, sliders, and more. On Friday they have clam chowder and other soups. Their salads are delicious, and their Natalie’s Salad especially is Steve’s favorite. They have a nice dessert menu although we have never had room for dessert.
At our book club meeting on Sunday, I had the smashed sweet potatoes and the peanut cole slaw. I love both. One of the group members had steamed asparagus, two had grilled Brussel sprouts, and our resident book club carnivore (not to be confused with the Carnivore Sidekick) had chicken wings and baked potato. You can see from the pictures how fresh everything looks. I brought home a Natalie’s salad for Steve but he ate it before I could to take a picture. You’ll just have to go to Wood Ranch and see (and taste) it for yourself.
Wood Ranch has indoor and outdoor seating. The wait staff are very attentive and service is excellent. The garlic rolls are put on your table immediately and often eaten before the meal arrives. The bar area is very attractive.
So, next time you want to eat in a smart casual place, but do not want to spend your week’s pay, make a stop at Wood Ranch and have a couple of their delicious sides, or enjoy any of their full course meals. We think you will really like it. They take reservations and have booths and table seating.
Bayside 90th Anniversary a Big Success
One of Linda Vista’s favorite institutions—the Bayside Community Center— celebrated its 90th anniversary last week. The celebration was held in conjunction with the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market, which operates every Thursday at the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Center.
The celebration included a visit from San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, who presented a City Proclamation honoring Bayside, as well as a presentation by Jawad Al Baghdadi, who represented the office of Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (53rd District).
Performances were conducted by Ballet Folklorico El Tapatio, Genbu Daiko (a local Taiko drumming group), singer Daniel Moceri (original Bayside participant and long-time Little Italy resident), and the Fern Street Circus. Bayside also also showed its documentary titled “Bayside: 90 Years of Empowerment."
The celebration added a very festive note to the Farmers Market, which saw a larger than usual crowd made up of local residents paying a visit to check out the numerous vendors and enjoy the Bayside celebration.
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The Linda Vista Update publishes informative, interesting and fun news about Linda Vista and its neighboring communities.