With the completion of the USA Volleyball Boys and Girls Junior National Championship tournaments, the 2018 club volleyball season comes to an official close. This year, the girls tournament was hosted by the city of Detroit, while the boys were hosted in Phoenix.
For the teams who qualified to compete at Nationals, it is a great opportunity to compete against the best clubs from around the country as well as to absorb the volleyball “culture” that exists at these events.
Read on to see how our teams performed at Nationals.
Volleyball in the Motor City
Girls 12 Red
The Girls 12 Red team had their first taste of competing at Nationals and were really able to take in the volleyball culture. The girls had a great time competing against teams from Wisconsin, Northern Texas, Iowa, and Northern California. They are a fun bunch and we hope to see them competing at Nationals for years to come.
Girls 13 Red
The Girls 13 Red opened the tournament with a couple of early round losses, but picked up as the tournament progressed. They had an impressive win over a team from Minnesota by the score of 25-18, 25-15.
They followed up that win with another, this time over the Atlanta Express (Atlanta, GA) by the score of 25-23, 25-19. After a win over the OK Charge (Oklahoma), the girls were on to their playoff bracket, where they fell to Metro (Maryland) in 2 sets.
Overall, the girls placed 29 out of 49 teams. Nice job!
Girls 14 Red
The Girls 14 Red team opened the tournament by going 1-2 in the first round of pool play, picking up a win over Michio Chicago (Chicago, IL) in two straight sets (25-20, 25-22).
After dropping matches to teams from Palm Beach, FL and Ohio respectively, the girls picked up a win over the Rocky Selects (Colorado) in two straight sets (25-17, 25-18).
In their playoff bracket on the last day of the tournament, the girls fell to the NYC Juniors in two straight sets.
Girls 16 Red
Playing in one of the toughest age groups at Nationals is the Girls 16 Red team. The girls competed against teams from nearly every corner of the country – Florida, Texas, Iowa.
Their tournament was highlighted by a win in their playoff bracket over the Excel Premier (South Carolina) in three sets (21-25, 25-16, 15-9), before falling to the VA Juniors in the finals.
Great job by all of the girls playing against the best teams the country has to offer.
Desert Volleyball
While the girls were up north at their tournament, the boys 16 and 17 Red teams traveled west to the desert, Phoenix, AZ, for their National Championship tournament. Yes... It was hot. But there was plenty of volleyball action indoors.
16 Red
The Boys 16 Red teams' performance can be categorized as an exercise in resilience. The boys battled hard all week, but did not have the results they wanted to show for it.
They were in it until the end against nearly every team they faced. Finally, on the third day of the tournament the boys picked up that much needed win over Arlington Elite in two straight sets (25-20, 25-18).
Every set was competitive and the boys should be proud of their performances and look to build on it during the upcoming season.
17 Red
The Boys 17 Red team opened the tournament by going 0-3 during the opening day of pool play. They came back on the second day with a 1-2 record, picking up a win over Louisville Fury in three sets (23-25, 25-22, 15-10).
The boys finished out the tournament by going undefeated as they swept their pool on the third day of the tournament, defeating teams from Hawaii and Virginia.
On the final day of the tournament, the boys also swept their playoff bracket as they picked up wins over LIVBC (25-23, 25-16) and Ocean Bay Quicksilver (27-25, 25-14).
Congratulations to all of our teams who competed in the USA Volleyball Junior National Championships. We hope you enjoyed your experience and that you continue to push your limits and expand your horizons.