Long Beach Girls are Class AA NYS Champions!

Academy Volleyball would like to congratulate the Long Beach Girls Varsity Volleyball Program on winning the New York State Championship for Class AA schools.

The girls traveled to Glens Falls, NY to compete in the New York State Championship Tournament where they defeated Victor High School in straight sets - and capped off a perfect season!

Academy Volleyball would like to acknowledge the following Academy athletes who competed for Long Beach:

  • Kathleen Verastegui

  • Margaret Swegler

  • Anna Moller

  • Alexandria Kile

Iona College Womens Volleyball Wins Metro Atlantic Conference

The Iona College Women’s Volleyball program has won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship and earned a bid to the NCAA D-I tournament.

Academy Volleyball would like to congratulate the Gaels, along with the former Academy players currently on the Gaels roster:

  • Allie Brady

  • Jamie Smith

  • Taylor Cole

  • Cassandra Patsos

  • Julia Stewart

  • Patric Santiago (Head Coach)

Please join us in congratulating the girls and Coach Santiago on their outstanding accomplishment and good luck in the NCAA tournament!

The girls will learn who their first opponent in the NCAA tournament will be during the NCAA selection show Sunday November 25, 2018, which will be aired on ESPNU.

Read more about their accomplishment here.

Sachem North are New York State Finalists

Academy Volleyball would like to congratulate the Sachem North Boys Varsity Volleyball Program on winning the Suffolk County and Long Island Championships for Division I schools.

The boys traveled to Albany to compete in the New York State Championship Tournament where they were named New York State Finalists.

Sachem North is coached by Academy Coaches/Directors Matthew Rivera and Matthew DiStefano. Academy Volleyball would like to acknowledge the following Academy athletes who competed for Sachem North:

  • Jack Driscoll

  • AJ Fitzgerald

  • Mark Williams

  • Chris Lehnert

  • Brad Hall

  • Mike Bonura

  • Chris Hirt

  • Joe Pinner

  • Bryce McCann

Santiago wins MAAC Conference Coach of the Year

Academy Volleyball is extremely proud to announce that Patric Santiago has been named the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’ Coach of the Year as the Head Coach of the Iona College Women’s Volleyball program.

In his third full season, Coach Santiago led the Gaels to an incredible 16-2 record and the programs first ever regular season title. In the post-season, Coach Santiago led the girls to a conference championship and earned a bid to the NCAA D-I tournament.

Academy Volleyball is proud to have an NCAA D-I caliber coach, such as Coach Santiago, on its current roster of coaches. He is currently the head coach of the Girls 17 Red team and helps train the boys too.

Read more on Coach Santiago’s accomplishment here.

Smith Earns MAAC Honors

Academy Volleyball is pleased to announce that former Academy player, and current Iona College (NCAA D-I) Setter/Right Side, Jamie Smith, has earned All-MAAC Second Team honors.

Jamie is in her Sophomore year at Iona and is building off her successful Freshman season where she earned Rookie of the Year honors.

Read more about Jamie’s accomplishment here.

Congratulations Jamie!

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Eastport South Manor Wins Suffolk County Championships

Academy Volleyball would like to congratulate the Eastport South Manor Boys Varsity Volleyball program on winning the Suffolk County Championships.

Led by Academy, St. Josephs College, and ESM Head Coach, Bill Kropp, the ESM team has once again captured the Suffolk County Division II Boys Volleyball Championship.

Congratulations also go to Academy Volleyball players:

  • Will Kropp

  • James Ruggiero

  • Christian Owen

Keeping Up With...

Academy Volleyball is proud to feature the accomplishments of its former players. Please see below.

Stein Earns All-Patriot Honors

Former Academy Volleyball Player, Alex Stein, has been recognized by the Patriot Conferenced by being named All-Patriot League, First Team as well as their Academic All-League Team. The Colgate University Junior led her team in digs and aces this past season, while maintaining an overall GPA of 3.42. Congratulations Alex!

Wood Named A10 Setter of the Year

Former Academy Volleyball player has been named the Atlantic 10 Conferences “Setter of the Year”. The LaSalle University Junior led the A10 conference with an average of 11 assists per set and was also named to the First Team A10 All Conference team. See more here.

Hilton Featured by Wesleyan University

Former player, Nicole Hilton was named 2017’s NESCAC Player of the Year. Please see the video feature, created by Wesleyan University, featuring Nicole.

Green Means, GO!

Academy Volleyball is pleased to recognize Samantha Green of our Girls 14 Red team.

Samantha has been a dynamo on the junior beach volleyball circut lately as she earned the following:

Samantha Green of our Girls 14 Red, pictured on right.

Samantha Green of our Girls 14 Red, pictured on right.

  • Earned a bid to USAV Junior Nationals in Siesta Key Florida (by winning  a GEVA tournament in Coney Island - see our previous post on this here).
     
  • Qualified for VolleyAmerica Junior Beach Nationals in Atlantic City by winning another local VolleyAmerica tournament.  Samantha finished in 7th place in the gold bracket, competing against girls from across the country.  

In addition to the above accomplishments, Samantha as also finished in 1st place in three other beach tournaments this year (including some playing in the 16U division).  Samantha was also invited to attend the GEVA High Performance program (to add to her indoor accomplishments).  

Keep up the great work Sam!

Academy Athletes Participate in High Performance Programs

Academy Volleyball would like to congratulate it's athletes who recently competed in USA Volleyball's High Performance Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Every year, USA Volleyball runs this tournament for players in their High Performance pipeline as well as high performance teams created by the different USA Volleyball regions from around the country.  The USA Volleyball High Perforamance and GEVA High Performance program gives athletes the opportunity to play at a high level, among the best players in the country.

Academy Volleyball is pleased to present the following athletes who competed at the High Performance Championships:

BOYS

USA Volleyball Youth A1

  • Trey Cole, Boys 17 Red


GEVA High Performance

  • Will Kropp, Boys 18 White
  • Jack Driscoll, Boys 17 Red
  • Andrew Watts, Boys 17 Red
  • Ben Naouai, Boys 17 Red
  • Josh George, Boys 17 Red
  • AJ Fitzgerald, Boys 16 Red

GIRLS

GEVA High Performance

  • Caroline LaMacchia, Girls 17 Red
  • Molly Jandris, Girls 17 Red
  • Sally Tietjen, Girls 15 Red
  • Amanda Dewitt, Girls 15 Red
  • Faith LaMacchia, Girls 15 Red
  • Kasey Tietjen, Girls 14 Red
  • Alexis Stoehrer, Girls 14 Red
  • JC Stein, Girls 14 Red
  • Carley McAleavey, Girls 13 Red

 

USA/GEVA BeachVolleyball

Academy Volleyball would also like to recognize the following athletes for their accomplishments on the beach:

  • Hannah Naja (Girls 15 Red) made the GEVA HP Beach team (she and her partner also earned a bid to nationals in 16U to Siesta Key).
  • Grace Rosenberg (Girls 17 Red) and Kathleen Doherty (Girls 18 White North) won First Place in 18U Girls and a bid to Nationals in Siesta Key, Florida.
  • John Curaro (Boys 16 Red) and Tim Darress (Boys 16 Red) recently competed in the Beach National Championships in Siesta Key, Florida.

Junior National Championships are in the Books!

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

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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.  

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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.