ORLANDO, Florida — Day three on the AAU Boys Junior Nationwide Volleyball Championships was crucial as all of the groups completed pool play. The highest three groups have been seeded in a three-team pool, with the highest workforce being positioned into Wednesday’s championship bracket of eight groups.
The 18s, 16s, 13s, and 12s match ends Wednesday, whereas the 17s, 15s, and 14s are arriving for his or her competitors that begins Thursday. Plese proceed to ship me story concepts, photos and clips that I can submit on my @kprecruiter account and @vbmagazine.
Recapping Tuesday in Orlando
— 18s open groups championship bracket; MB Surf, Outrigger, Pinnacle, WAVE, Cinci Assault, Crew Rockstar, Arizona Worry, and Balboa Bay.
— 16s open championship bracket; Sports activities Efficiency, MB Surf, Balboa Bay, Triangle, Crew Rockstar, Winter Park, C2 Assault, and Coast.
— 13s open championship bracket; Torrimar, Cinci Assault, Bay to Bay, SC Legends, 949, Mountain View, Coast, and Serve and Spike.
— 12s open championship bracket; Serve and Spike, Excessive Efficiency St. Louis, Borinquen, Mountain View, Bay to Bay, MB Surf, Evolution, SCVC.
— Bay to Bay membership administrators Matt and Arielle Houlihan don’t hesitate to take a stand.
A number of weeks in the past, certainly one of their coaches, Natalie Gallegos, introduced her new child son Gregg Jr. together with her to a match. Gallegos, alongside together with her husband, Gregg, was teaching their 16 Premier workforce and officers informed her child Gregg couldn’t be on the sidelines, a lot as being held by his mother throughout play, explaining they have been involved that the child may get hit by a volleyball and they didn’t need the match to be liable.
The Houlihans famous on ocial media {that a} child may simply as simply get hit on the opposite aspect of the court docket sitting with spectators. In order that they took issues in their very own palms:
Greg Gallegos is the youngest competitor on this match.
They registered Greg on the Premier 16s workforce and now he may be on the sideline right here. And no surprise: When she was rising up, Arielle was typically on the sidelines from the time she was a child when she was together with her late father Berry Goldberg, the legendary American College coach.
As Aielle recounted, her dad would typically get some grief that she was on the sidelines as an toddler. He would firmly let any directors or officers know, “We’ll take duty.” So this Child Gregg incident struck a chord with Airele.
“Rising up because the daughter of a volleyball coach formed all the pieces that Bay to Bay Volleyball Membership has change into. The dedication it took my dad and mom to contain us within the volleyball world, took a ton of sacrifice and work on their half. It is necessary that we make it accessible for folks to do the identical.”
By the best way, it’s properly price following the Houlihans on Instagram at @matthewjhoulihan and @ariellehoulihan.
— JP Candrian from Winter Park earned our 18s participant of the day. The 6-6 exterior hitter recorded 9 kills, one ace, one block and three kills within the win in opposition to Pinnacle. He attends Horizon Excessive Faculty in Winter Backyard, Florida, and is headed to Purdue Fort Wayne.
“The open division is a grind. You may take out the primary seed in pool, end 5-2 and nonetheless not advance within the championship bracket. The extent of play challenges you mentally, bodily and emotionally,” mentioned Candrian.
— Grant Lamoureaux, a 2025 exterior hitter who’s dedicated to Pepperdine performs for Triad United 18s. Just lately, Lamoureaux was the captain of the U19 USA squad that gained a gold medal in Puerto Rico. In September he can be representing workforce USA within the seaside world championships in China.He’s a 6-10 exterior hitter who attends West Forsyth Excessive Faculty in Clemmons, North Carolina.
— Talking of 949, exterior hitter Sam Bazargard earned our 13s participant of the day.
“I really like taking part in right here in Orlando,” Bazagard mentioned. “The surroundings is nice and it is vitally aggressive.”
— Outrigger’s Kainoa Wade is heading to his hometown workforce, Hawai’i. The 6-foot-8 reverse is forgoing his senior 12 months of highschool. Final season, Tread Rosenthal did the identical factor and was not solely the beginning setter for Hawaii, however was an AVCA honorable-mention All-American.
“I’ve been watching from the stands for about 15 years,” mentioned Wade, whose father, Charlie, can be his Hawai’i coach. “Now I’m able to get began on my subsequent journey.”
His workforce is 8-1 and performs its first championship-bracket match in opposition to MB Surf. Wade’s workforce, Kamehamehe, gained a highschool state title this 12 months.
— Cincinnati Assault earned our 18s workforce of the day by procuring a spot within the championship bracket, ending Tuesday at 8-1. The Assaults has spectacular wins over Coast, Serve and Spike and Pulse. The Assault was led by setter Aidan Berkemeier and libero Jordan Brockman, who’s dedicated to College of Maryland Japanese Shore
— AAU Nationals Championship week creates team-bonding alternatives. Mountain View 18s jumped on a hovercraft and explored the swamps of Orlando. Absolute 18s took some hacks at Prime Golf. The Bay to Bay teaching workers visited “the happiest place on Earth” earlier than the match, Walt Disney World.
VolleyballMag contributor Kevin Pratte is the boys varsity coach at The Bishop’s Faculty in La Jolla, California and Grant elementary bodily schooling trainer. Pratte, who lives in San Diego, performed on the College of Pacific. He was a graduate assistant at Nebraska, an assistant at Pacific, and has coached on the junior faculty stage. He is also a university recruiting coordinator, Rotary member, president of the www.kevinprattefoundation.com, host of the KP HERE Podcast and editor of the boys volleyball web site middlehitter.com.