ORLANDO, Florida – The AAU Boys Junior Nationwide Volleyball Championships wrap up Sunday with championships in 14s, 15s and 17s, and Bay to Bay, Balboa Bay and MB Surf proceed to indicate their dominance with a number of groups within the Open championship bracket.
Saturday’s highlights
— 14s Open championship bracket: Academy, SC Legends, Mountain View, Coast, GVA, Membership V MP, MB Surf, Balboa Bay, 630, and Workforce Rockstar.
— 15s Open championship bracket: Workforce Rockstar, C2 Assault, Pinnacle, Balboa Bay, Bay to Bay, Aspire, MB Surf, and Coast.
— 17s Open championship bracket: MB Surf, Vanguard, Academy, Balboa Bay, Bay to Bay, Houston Volleyball Academy, MKE Sting, and Winter Park.
— For many years membership athletes from all around the nation arrange store within the conference middle to commerce gear from their membership. Within the photograph, you possibly can see that Evan Alarcon (Miami United 17 Premier), Jerry Beres (supporting his brother Cole Beres Winter Park), Gavin Meador (Hobart College libero), and Cooper Meador (MVC 17 Sydney) had been proper in the course of the buying and selling insanity.
— Winter Park 17s was our group of the day after an enormous 20-25, 26-24, 15-3 win in opposition to Rockstar. Winter Park was led by Jacob Little-Phillips (dedicated to Stanford), who had 18 assists, and libero Nick Karr, who went on a seven-point serving run within the third set.
The group’s coach, Roger Peluso, is an assistant coach at George Mason. “
“This isn’t a shock to us, we belong right here,” Little-Phillips stated. “We’re excited to face Sting tomorrow.
— Houston Volleyball Academy 17s Open 6-foot-5 exterior hitter Myles Jordan, a Lengthy Seashore State commit, is our participant of the day. His group is 7-1 and performs Bay to Bay.
“Our group is fired as much as compete and present what we are able to do on the nationwide stage,” Jordan stated.
— Everybody appears to know Devin Busam of Workforce Rockstar 17s.
Busam, who attends Mira Costa Excessive Faculty and is the supervisor of one of many prime highschool boys applications within the nation, can also be the supervisor for Workforce Rockstar.
“Being with Rockstar means a lot to me, I like the coaches and their willingness to develop the game. I really consider it is without doubt one of the finest golf equipment on this planet,” Busam stated.
Via Rockstar Busam has labored with a few of the prime coaches within the nation, together with USA males’s nationwide group assistant coach Matt Fuerbringer and UCLA assistant coach Nick Vogel.
“Devin, or as everyone knows him, D Bus, is a consummate skilled and the toughest employee within the gymnasium,” Vogel stated. “His inexhaustible work ethic and everlasting optimistic angle maintain us heading in the right direction and his information of volleyball statistics and personnel is boundless.”
— The 15s Open Outrigger group from Hawai’i helped continued a practice to indicate their appreciation in direction of their 18s group from their Hawai’i membership. Just a few years in the past, Jen Lyons began making the Outrigger 18s group ti leaf lei po’o, a logo of safety and good luck in Hawaii. Lyons handed away instantly in June throughout the 2021 membership season however the Outrigger program and the group have saved the custom alive.
“Mother and father from our 16s and two 18s groups unfold out all around the lodge foyer to make the ti leaf lei po’o for a number of hours, sharing laughter, tears, and the aloha spirit. The 15s did the identical on the UH apply gymnasium earlier than they got here to Orlando. It was an exquisite bonding expertise for our households,” stated Heather Williams Smith, Outrigger 18s group mother or father.
The 18s group misplaced within the Open closing.
They stated it
“I’m extraordinarily happy with our 14s Open making the championship bracket. That is a formidable group of athletes. Every one in every of them have put in a ton of labor to arrange for the nationwide stage. We are able to’t wait to cheer them on.”
— Nick Maruyama, 630 Membership Director.
“We’re excited to compete for a shot at a 17s Open nationwide championship, however we’re staying composed as a result of the job will not be completed. Our preparation watching movie will likely be intensive for our upcoming match, and we’re wanting to get after it.”
— Nick Whitley, setter for Academy 17s.
“It’s an unbelievable expertise to be a part of this match. I’ve by no means made an Open AAU nationals division championship bracket. I can’t wait to see how far we go.”
— Daniel Hornyack, a 6-foot-8 center from Coast 15s.
VolleyballMag contributor Kevin Pratte is the boys varsity coach at The Bishop’s Faculty in La Jolla, California and Grant elementary bodily training instructor. 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 school 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.