What better way to cap off a the winter break than to play in a major volleyball tournament? That’s exactly what the Academy boys did as they traveled to Harrisburg (Hershey), PA to compete in the Boys Atlantic Northeastern Championships that were held at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. For the boys, this is the last major tournament they will compete in until Memorial Day weekend, when they travel to Richmond, VA. Read below to see how the boys did this past weekend.
15s
Both the 15 Red and the 15 White teams competed in this tournament.
The 15 White team had a rough start to their tournament, dropping matches to LIVBC 15 National, Vanguard, and Club Lehigh. However, the boys rebounded after that and defeated the CJVA club (25-17, 25-16) in their playoff challenge bracket game to qualify for the Bronze playoff bracket.
Once in the bronze bracket, they defeated Club Lehigh in their rematch after an earlier loss, in three sets (20-25, 25-17, 15-6). The boys fell to Phoenix in the semi-finals in two straight.
The 15 Red team opened the tournament going 2-1 in pool play. They defeated the LIVBC 15 Regional Blue team in two straight sets (25-16, 25-22) and the LVC 15 Black, also in two straight sets (25-18, 25-15) before falling to UVS.
Their 2-1 record set them up for a playoff play-in match the next morning with the LIVBC 15 National Gold team.
The boys won the opening set 25-19, but dropped the next two 22-25, 6-15.
The boys qualified for the Silver playoff bracket, where they dropped their match to Infinity 15-1 in two straight.
16 Red
Academy has only one boys team at the 16 age group – and these guys are good!
The boys won all of their matches in the opening pool play against Club Lehigh, BRYC, and Phoenix – all in two straight sets. This set them up with a match against the LIVBC 16 National Gold team in a playoff challenge bracket.
The boys won the match in two straight sets (25-17, 25-15). From there they advanced to the Gold playoff bracket, where they defeated Warren Sixpack in the opening round match (27-25, 25-20).
In the semi-finals, they boys defeated RVC in three sets (21-25, 25-16, 15-11) to advance to the Gold bracket finals. In the finals, the boys fell to UVS in two sets. For the tournament the boys finished in 2nd place overall – great job!
17s
All three Academy boys teams competed in the Atlantic Northeastern Championship tournament.
The 17 Blue team opened the tournament against some of the strongest teams at the tournament, dropping a three-set match to Prevail (25-21, 19-25, 8-15). The boys fell to Coastal 17 Navy before picking up a win over Yorktown Soul in two straight sets (26-24, 25-22). In their playoff challenge bracket, the 17 Blue fell to Sportime 17-1.
The 17 White team opened the tournament with a win over Sportime in three sets (25-23, 11-25, 15-11) before falling to Pace and Club Lehigh. The boys faced the Totally Extreme Falcons in their playoff challenge bracket, who they defeated in two straight sets (25-13, 27-25) to qualify for the Copper bracket.
In the Copper bracket, the boys picked up a semi-final win over the CJVA Boys 17 team in three sets (21-25, 25-18, 15-7) before falling to Sportime in the Copper finals in three sets (22-25, 25-14, 10-15).
The 17 Red team opened the tournament with three straight victories as they picked up wins over First Capitol, Princeton, and Infinity all in straight sets. Those three victories set them up for a Gold bracket playoff challenge bracket, which they also won in straight sets, defeating LVC (26-24, 25-22). In the Gold playoff bracket, the boys picked up a three-set win over Pace (25-17, 21-25, 18-16) before falling to Coastal 17 Navy. For the tournament, the 17 Red finished 4th overall (out of 39 teams).
18 Red
The Boys 18 Red team opened the tournament by going 2-1 during pool play as they picked up wins over Blue & Gold 18 (25-12, 25-13) and Revolution (25-15, 25-19) before falling to Club Lehigh in three (23-25, 25-23, 11-15). The boys fell to Pittsburgh in the playoff challenge bracket, but was able to qualify for the Bronze playoff bracket. In the Bronze, the boys fell to the Yorktowne Orange (22-18, 18-25).
The Academy Boys next major tournament will be Memorial Day weekend in Richmond Virginia for the East Coast Championships.