The last weekend in January Academy spread its wings across the country as it had teams competing on both coasts of the United States. While most of us were back here in New York dealing with the rain and chilly temperatures, the Boys 16 Red, 17 White, and 17 Red teams were off to Southern California to compete in the SCVA Invitational tournament. Meanwhile, the girls 15 – 18 Red teams headed south along the East coast to Hampton Virginia to compete in the Mid-Atlantic Power League. Two sides of the program, two sides of the country, one great weekend of volleyball – read on!
SCVA Invitational, Anaheim CA
16 Red
With the boys 16 Red team having already earned their bid to Junior Nationals at the 2017 CanAm tournament, the pressure was off – but the boys aren’t taking their foot off the gas, instead they just keep on rolling. The boys opened their tournament with a loss to WAVE in two straight, but shook off their jet lag and rebounded with victories over Pali 16 Nike and Ohana AC. On the second day of the tournament, they went 2-1 picking up victories over T.O. And MVVC, falling only to Team Rockstar. Later in the day, the boys had to play a challenge match against SB Coast in which they fell in two sets (25-20, 27-25). They boys qualified for the Silver playoff bracket where they dropped their match to MB Surf Nike.
17 White
The 17 White team didn’t have an ideal situation to open the tournament – by playing the defending National Champions, Balboa Bay – which was then followed by playing perennial national powerhouse SCVC. They remained competitive, but ultimately fell to both teams. The second day of the tournament the boys went 2-1 and picked up wins over Ohana AC in three (18-25, 26-24, 15-13) and Coast 17 Black in three (25-19, 25-27, 15-8). On the last day of the tournament, the boys faced A’o a Koa Volleyball in their flight bracket where they dropped the match in two sets (22-25, 16-25).
17 Red
Coming off of two straight strong performances in their last two tournaments, the 17 Red came out to test their game against the strong west coast competition. The first day started out well for them as they went 2-1 in pool play, defeating Pulse Athletics and SMBC in two straight sets before falling to Bones 17 Black. On the second day of the tournament, the boys also had a strong day, going 2-1 in pool play as they picked up wins over VCVC and MB Surf Nike. There one loss was to NCVC, however that loss tied Academy with NCVC for 1st place in the pool, which resulted in a 1-set playoff to determine the pool winner. The 17 Red took that set with a demonstrative 25-12 victory. But the boys’ day was not over yet… That victory meant they advanced to a challenge bracket match with another Southern California powerhouse – 949. The boys fell to 949 in two straight, but still qualified for the Silver playoff bracket. In the Silver bracket, the boys faced SCVC 17 Quicksilver, who they defeated in two straight sets (25-21, 25-30). The boys advanced to the Silver bracket finals, where they also had a straight set win over HVA 17 Performance (27-25, 25-18). The boys 17 Red had an excellent tournament – and came home with having earned a bid to the 2017 Junior National Championships! Congratulations to the 17 Red.
Mid-Atlantic Power League, Hampton, VA
15 Red
The girls 15 Red team, opened the first day of the tournament going 2-2 through two rounds of pool play. In the first round, the girls dropped sets to the EC Power and Vienna Elite. However, the girls kept their resolve and picked up wins over the MDJRS 15 Elite in two straight (25-19, 25-21) and Summit CJVA 16 Black in three (25-21, 18-25, 15-11). On the second day of the tournament the girls picked up the win over the Vienna Elite 15s in straight sets (25-18, 25-21) before falling to the Coastal 16 Blue team.
16 Red
The 16 Red also opened the first day of the tournament by going 2-2. The girls split the first pool by picking up a win over Triangle 15 Blue and dropping a match to the MDJRS 16 Elite. In the second round of pool play, the girls also split their matches by picking up a win over Beach Elite in two straight (25-23, 25-21) before falling to Triangle 16 Blue in three (16-25, 25-23, 7-15). The girls open the second day of the tournament by playing a Gold challenge bracket, where they fell to the TCVA 16 Royal in three sets (19-25, 25-12, 10-15). The girls qualified for the Silver playoff bracket, where they fell to the EC Power 15 True in two straight sets (21-25, 18-25).
17 Red
The girls 17 Red team opened the tournament by splitting their first round of pool play with a win over Beach Elite 18B Adidas in three sets (25-21, 25-27, 19-17), while dropping a match to Triangle 18 Blue. The girls also split their second round of pool play, picking up a win over Metro 17 Travel and dropping a match to VA Elite. In order to make the Gold Playoff bracket, the girls had to play Academy 17 Diamond (no relation to our club), which they did in two straight sets (25-18, 25-21). With that, the girls were in the Gold playoff bracket, where they eventually fell to the Triangle 17 Black team.
18 Red
Posting a very strong tournament were the girls 18 Red as they had an overall record of 5-2. The girls split their first match of the tournament by picking up a win over MVSA Storm, while dropping a match to TCVA 18 Royal. The girls swept their second round of pool play by defeating EC Power 18 Pearl and Team VB Rags 17N Carly. With their record standing at 3-1 after two rounds of pool play, the girls qualified to play in a challenge bracket for the Gold playoff. In that challenge bracket, the girls fell to EC Power 17 Titanium. The girls did qualify for the Bronze bracket, where they defeated the VA Juniors 16 Elite in straight sets (25-21, 25,23). They went on to pick up a win over the VA Elite 18s and winning the Bronze bracket.
Congratulations to all teams on another weekend of great volleyball!