This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag’s weekly look at 10 things in club volleyball, past or present, that interest me and hopefully will interest you. Look for Dots every Tuesday through Junior Nationals this summer:
• In all the mania surrounding the Triple Crown NIT over President’s Day Weekend, it is easy to forget that several other well-represented tournaments took place over the same weekend.
When I first started covering club some 22 years ago, more than a decade before Triple Crown began its quest to dominate the space on President’s Day by marshaling the nation’s best club teams; the Las Vegas Classic, Sports Performance President’s Day Tournament, President’s Cup in Dayton and Asics President’s Day Classic in Omaha were the big events that signaled the unofficial start to the club volleyball season.
In the ensuing years, the Capitol Hill Classic in D.C. and St. Louis President’s Day Tournament came into the space, alongside other, more local, events such as one run by the Northern California Volleyball Association and Top Courts’ President’s Day Invitational in Orlando.
These days, the hierarchy of events seems to be Triple Crown, St. Louis, Capitol Hill, Las Vegas and Omaha, in that order. That’s a huge fall for Las Vegas, which used to be THE premier event for 17s and 18s before Triple Crown came along.
• In the run up to Triple Crown, I noted that all but two of the nation’s elite clubs were playing in Kansas City. Metro VB of Washington D.C. and Indy’s Circle City were the two clubs not at Triple Crown. Metro is the anchor club at Capitol Hill and playing there. Circle is host of the St. Louis event and competed there.
• How did those clubs fare at their events? Really, really well, in one instance, and not so great in the other.
Here’s what you need to know about how Metro did. The D.C. club won 18 Open, 17 Open, 16 Open and 15 Open (Those are the age groups we cover. Metro also won 14 Open and finished second in 13 Open) and compiled a cumulative record of 37-1 over those divisions.
Metro 18 Travel did not drop a set behind MVP Mimi Mambu and two other standouts, Alexis Ewing, who was named best attacker; and Malinh Godschall, the best digger.
Metro 17 Travel dropped just one set. Isabelle Bardin, a 6-3 setter, was outstanding. She averaged nearly eight assists per set and was the team block leader. Outsides Leni Stanton-Parker and Madison Smith combined for more than 100 kills.
Metro 15 Travel lost a match and just one other set on its way to the 15 Open title. Alexa Telly, a middle converting this year to the outside, was named MVP. Alli Robinson was named Best Blocker and Kaniyah Ball best digger.
• Circle City wasn’t quite as successful and certainly did not repeat its performance in 2023, when 18 Purple and 17 Purple finished 1-2 in 18 Open, 16 Purple won 16 Open and 15 Purple finished T-3 in 15 Open.
This year, 18 Purple finished T-9 in 18 Open, 17 Purple was T-3 in 17 Open, 16 Purple placed T-5 in 16 Open and 15 Purple checked in T-9 in 15 Open.
No, the sky is not falling down for Circle City. The oldest three Purple teams combined to go 19-4 overall. A combination of untimely losses, missing players, illness and other obligations contributed to the resume not looking as rosy as it otherwise might have.
VC United 181 Elite won 18 Open. Oklahoma Peak Performance 17-1 Elite took 17 Open. Iowa Select 16 Mizuno ruled 16 Open and Iowa Rockets 15R topped 15 Open. That’s a strong showing for Iowa teams at the younger age levels, making the Hawkeye State one to watch for volleyball dominance in the coming years.
Note: This past weekend, Circle City 15 Purple, 16 Purple and 17 Purple all captured National bids at Hoosier Bid regionals. 18 Purple finished second to Team Pineapple.
• College Preparatory Academy, from the Spokane area, was the standout club at the Las Vegas Classic.
CPA 18 Nicole won 18 Open led by the crafty play of uncommitted OH Ellie DeAndre, athletic setter Lilli Etter and strong RS attacker Ziya Munyer.
CPA 16 Benson took second in 16 Premier (the highest division in the tournament), led by great all-around play by powerful OH Mara Sandberg and consistent passing and defense from liberos Jade Livingston and Gabi Reich.
CPA 15 Benson took second in 15 Premier (the highest division in the tournament), paced by the energy of setter Emery McMurray, the consistent play of OH Leigha Hardesty and the strong middle duo of Bri Alexeyenko and Avery Berglund.
• Let’s talk about two 18s qualifiers, one of which took place this past weekend and another of which went forward the weekend before (when most top 18s teams were at Triple Crown).
OT 18 O Roberto, a previous Open qualifier at Lone Star, won the 18 Open Southeast Qualifier in Atlanta this past weekend, avenging an earlier loss this season to A5 18-Marc, another already-qualified team, in the championship match. The now double qualified team, from Orlando, was led by MVP setter Juleigh Urbina. The win gives OT a boost after it went 1-6 the weekend before in Kansas City to tie for 53rd place.
575 VB 18-1 Kortney WS, Academy 18 Diamond and MAVS KC 18-1 finished 3-4-5 in the 18-team field.
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HJV 18 Elite won 18 USA. East Carolina Juniors 18 National qualified in fifth place. After going 5-1 over the first two days, the North Carolina club overcame a Gold Bracket loss to Ocala Power to sweep PVA for the final bid spot.
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Infinity 15 REN, from Mississippi, won the 14/15 Power division contested at the same event. Though a complete team effort, OH Madelyn Rodrique was hailed as the MVP after contributing 49 kills, 49 digs and 11 aces to the cause. Olivia McDonald also had a terrific weekend, compiling 44 kills, 25 digs and seven aces.
“Together, as a cohesive unit, our team defied the odds, embraced the challenges, and emerged triumphant,” said coach Krishna Chigurupati. “As champions of the division, our team’s triumph stands as a testament to our resilience, teamwork, and unwavering pursuit of excellence.”
• On President’s Day Weekend, Seal Beach 18 Black overcame two losses and five USA-qualified teams to win the 16-team 18 Open division at AVC Dallas to qualify for 18s Junior Nationals. Tony Rodriguez’ squad dropped a match on each of the first two days only to go 3-0 on the crucial third day, including sweeps in the semifinals and finals.
The secrets to Seal Beach’s success were aggressive serving and very good passing.
“We competed well and played good and consistent volleyball all three days,” Rodriguez said.
Libero Tessa Hurley and DS Kylie Grundman keyed the ball control, while outsides Ashley Repetti and Addison Collum passed and attacked consistently. This was especially impressive for Collum, an Arkansas State signee, as she played with the flu all weekend.
• Big blocking from Marae Reilly, Grace Langer and Grace Woodring helped propel Colorado Juniors 18Sherri to third place at the Rocky Mountain Region Top Flight Invitational for the best 16 teams in the region regardless of age group.
“The team of 11 has six new players, four of whom are from a different club altogether,” said coach Sherri Hawkins. “We are improving every week. The kids are still hungry and eager to learn and improve, which is almost unheard of at this point in the season with 18-year-olds!”
• This weekend, what most of us refer to a “qualifier season” gets underway with the 16 and 17s competing at the Sunshine Volleyball Classic in Orlando, one of three qualifiers, along with Show Me and Salt Lake City Showdown, operated by USA Volleyball.
Triple Crown champion Legacy 16-1 Adidas, TC runner up Mintonette m. 61 and 2023 15 Open Junior National Champion Dallas Skyline 16 Royal highlight a robust, 48-team 16 Open field.
Those three behemoths will certainly be in the mix on Monday in the first 16s qualifier of the year, but if you need a sleeper, look no further than Vision 16 Gold. If OH Makenna Crosson has recovered from an ankle sprain suffered in Kansas City, this is a team that could surprise.
The 17 Open field is just as large and is headed by defending age group national champion AZ Storm Elite 17 Thunder. There are no teams that qualified at Northern Lights in January in the field, making this wide open. Two lower-seeded teams to watch are No. 4 Houston Juniors 17 Elite and No. 12 Tribe 17 Elite Cardinal.
And if you’re in Orlando and want to check out an amazing freshman, go watch Lydia Chinchar, number 10 on No Name 17 Sarah.
• Finally, there is a reel circulating on social media of a coach/player/parent being incredulous that Triple Crown did not award her team medals for finishing in 13th place. The reaction of the Triple Crown representative on the receiving end is priceless.
One year, when running the PrepVolleyball.com Classic in the Wisconsin Dells, we decided that individual medals would only go to the top three finishers in each division. We named the brackets other than the Championship Bracket “Milky Way, Kit Kat, Snickers, etc.” and handed out large fun-sized bags of that chocolate to the bracket winner. I thought it would be a fun, sweet reward for having a good final day, rather than another medal to gather dust somewhere.
Parents were incensed! They would rather have received nothing at all than a bag of chocolate.
Lesson learned.
Tawa’s Girls Club Dots: Life is (but not in volleyball) a bag of chocolates Volleyballmag.com.
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