1st – AVA 15 Rox (Open Division)
2nd – AVA 18 Rox (Open Division)
3rd – AVA 16 Rox (Open Division)
Punch your tickets for Dallas! What an incredible weekend for AVA as these three teams have earned the highest honor of competing in the open level competition of the Junior National Volleyball Tournament to be held this summer in Dallas, TX.
Coach David Hyte and the 18 Rox team was the first to punch their ticket with a gold pool win over Toledo Volleyball Club 18-1 and Triangle 18 Black. Entering the tournament as the 10 seed, the 18 Rox played consistent ball and took down the 3 seed and the 6 seed on its way to the final four. With a bid already in hand, the 18 Rox won its semi-final match over a tough Invasion team to land a spot in the finals against the number 1 seed OVA (Orlando Volleyball Academy). AVA stormed out with an impressive 25-15 win in game one and eventually lost a heartbreaking third set match 13-15. At the end of the day AVA finished second place in an open field that boasted 40 teams!
Next up, Coach Suzy Boulavsky and the 16 Rox team was the second team to punch their ticket with a wild tie-breaking pool win over Minnesota Northern Lights 16-1 (the three seed of the tournament). Starting as the 14 seed of a 40 team open field, AVA went undefeated in day one and took down seven seed OVA in a convincing two set sweep. In day two, the 16 Rox team again swept their pool in convincing two set sweeps over 6 seed Tampa United, Division I Tour finalist San Antonio Force and Tampa Bay One. This set them up in a gold pool on day three with Northern Lights 16-1 and Triangle 16 Black. The winner of this pool was almost for sure guaranteed a bid as four teams had already punched their tickets in an earlier qualifier. After a convincing win in two sets against Triangle 16 Black, AVA lost their first match of the tournament in a three set loss to Northern Lights 16-1. AVA received the number one seed but would have to have a one game playoff over the winner of Northern Lights and Triangle Black. Northern lights pulled out a 31-29 win in a one game playoff over Triangle, but fell to AVA in a one game playoff as AVA won 25-23! The second bid for AVA was secured as one of the previous four teams that were already qualified, Club West, made the final four. AVA lost the semi-finals in a close 3 set match to Club West, but ended with a convincing two set win over hometown favorite A5 Mizuno for their 3rd place Open performance.
And if that didn’t bring enough excitement to AVA’s performance, the 15 Rox team under the coaching of Brianne Barker-Groth landed the final punch. Can you say UNDEFEATED? Coming in as the number 9 seed of the tournament, the 15 Rox team knocked down everyone in their path and it was not an easy path as three of the four teams in their first pool ended up in the division I pools on day 2. After taking over the 6th seed of the tournament from Magnum 15 Mizuno, day 2 landed them in a tough pool with Mintonette, MAVA and Triangle. After sweeping the field, this landed them in to one of two four team gold pools against Mizuno Long Beach (2 seed of tournament), Top Select 15 Nike Elite (4 seed of tournament) and Union 15 Asics. Down 10-4 in set three against Long Beach, Coach Brianna found a way to rally her team together to pull out a 15-13 win. Had Long Beach won the match they would have finished first. With the loss to AVA they finished fourth. This was the pool of death for 15 open. AVA again prevails and is undefeated! THIRD OPEN ticket punched for AVA! Next, the final championship game against Rockwood Thunder from St. Louis. The bid was not enough! Can you say SWEEP? 25-17, 26-24! Congratulations to the Big South 15 Open Champions AVA 15 Rox!
Ohhhhh Soooooo Close! AVA 15 Attack marched right through the 128 team 15 American Bracket right into the finals and fell short to Brazos Valley 15 Mizuno (6th place Division I Tour of Texas finalists). After a convincing first set win, AVA 15 Attack had two match points in set two and fell short at the end. The fight was not over! In set three after being down 2-10, Attack rallied back to tie the score at 13-13 then 14-14, and fell 14-16! What an impressive finish for Coach Stephanie Biediger and the 15 Attack Team! Congratulations to the silver medalists!
Also, a big shout out to AVA 15 Power who also marched right through the 128 team 15 American Bracket to land a spot in the Gold Bracket and finish 9th place overall! Power lost a close match to semi-finalist Ocala Power 25-27 and 20-25. Congratulations coach Kailey Killingsworth and 15 Power. What a great finish!
Coach Jennifer Foley and the 17 Attack team battled its way into the Gold Bracket of the 17 American division and ended up 9th place in the 160 team field. Only loss in the tournament was to eventual champion Elite VBTC.
Coach Karen Traub and the 14 Rox team fought its way into day 3 Gold in the 14 Open division! Finishing 7th overall in a 28 team field, the 14 Rox team lost to eventual champions OVA in a close 3 set match! It was amazing watching these girls compete with some of the best teams in the country!
Other Finishes:
16 Attack lost a close cross-over to the eventual champions of the tournament Elite VBTC to put them in the silver bracket and went on in day three to win the bracket finishing 17th out of 136 teams. Congratulations to coach Jessica Curtis and company!
After losing two close matches on day 1, 17 Rox finished day 2 and 3 UNDEFEATED! They finished 25th out of 40 open teams. Congratulations to Jerry Aldridge and the 17 Rox team on a great day 2 and 3 performance!
18 Attack under the direction of Phil Guerrero finished the tournament 18th out of 40 teams in the 18 USA division. After winning the first bracket game in silver the 18 Attack team lost a close semi-final match to BVA 18 Elite.
AVA 13 Rox competed in the highest 13 year old division (13 USA) and finished 20th out of 48 teams. Rich Hamm, coach of the 13 Rox had his team rolling the last day in the Bronze bracket defeating Houston Juniors 13 Elite, AEVA 13 Rox and eventually losing in the finals of the bracket to Absolute Volleyball Club 13 Black.
RECAP: 11 AVA teams competed
7 Teams finished in Gold!
Tournament Record of all Teams combined: 80-24
4 Teams Medaled
3 Open Bids Earned
Congratulations to all coaches, players and parents! All of your hard work and support have paid off!
Next stop: Lone Star National Qualifier – Dallas, Texas
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