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 point out 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 Group Rockstar.
— 15s Open championship bracket: Group 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 everywhere in the nation arrange store within the conference heart to commerce gear from their membership. Within the photograph, you may 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) have been proper in the course of the buying and selling insanity.
— Winter Park 17s was our crew 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 crew’s coach, Roger Peluso, is an assistant coach at George Mason. “
“This isn’t a shock to us, we belong right here,” Little-Phillips mentioned. “We’re excited to face Sting tomorrow.
— Houston Volleyball Academy 17s Open 6-foot-5 outdoors hitter Myles Jordan, a Lengthy Seaside State commit, is our participant of the day. His crew is 7-1 and performs Bay to Bay.
“Our crew is fired as much as compete and present what we will do on the nationwide degree,” Jordan mentioned.
— Everybody appears to know Devin Busam of Group Rockstar 17s.
Busam, who attends Mira Costa Excessive Faculty and is the supervisor of one of many prime highschool boys packages within the nation, can be the supervisor for Group Rockstar.
“Being with Rockstar means a lot to me, I like the coaches and their willingness to develop the game. I really imagine it is without doubt one of the finest golf equipment on the planet,” Busam mentioned.
By way of Rockstar Busam has labored with a number of the prime coaches within the nation, together with USA males’s nationwide crew 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 mentioned. “His inexhaustible work ethic and everlasting optimistic perspective hold us heading in the right direction and his data of volleyball statistics and personnel is boundless.”
— The 15s Open Outrigger crew from Hawai’i helped continued a practice to point out their appreciation in direction of their 18s crew from their Hawai’i membership. A couple of years in the past, Jen Lyons began making the Outrigger 18s crew ti leaf lei po’o, a logo of safety and good luck in Hawaii. Lyons handed away abruptly in June throughout the 2021 membership season however the Outrigger program and the neighborhood have saved the custom alive.
“Dad and mom from our 16s and two 18s groups unfold out everywhere in the resort 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 a beautiful bonding expertise for our households,” mentioned Heather Williams Smith, Outrigger 18s crew dad or mum.
The 18s crew misplaced within the Open closing.
They mentioned it
“I’m extraordinarily pleased with our 14s Open making the championship bracket. That is a powerful group of athletes. Every considered one 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 just isn’t completed. Our preparation watching movie will likely be intensive for our upcoming match, and we’re desperate 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 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 degree. 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.
