Nebraska Juniors 171 Black Finishes 5th in 17 Open at AAU

ORLANDO, FL – The number of Nebraska teams to complete the AAU Junior National Championships with a top-10 finish grew today. Nebraska Juniors 171 Black finished in a tie for 5th place in the 17 Open division while in the 17 Club division, River City Juniors 171 also finished in a tie for 5th place.

Those two performances bring the total number of Nebraska teams to finish in the top 10 of their divisions to eight – including two coming in the prestigious Open division.

After an incredible run through the 17 Open field, Nebraska Juniors 171 fell early this morning 26-28, 25-15, 25-12 to City Beach 171 of Santa Clara, California, in the championship quarterfinals to finish in a tie for 5th. Nebraska Juniors 171 came into the tournament as the #16 overall seed, making its advancement to the final eight all the more impressive.

In the Club division, River City Juniors 171 began play today in the 12-team championship bracket with a 25-15, 25-21 win over High Impact to reach the quarterfinals, where it lost 25-18, 25-13 to Sky High Red 17.

Also today, competition began in the 16s age division in Orlando and Nebraska teams again started off strong in the most difficult division.

Nebraska Elite 161 Vici went 3-0 in its pool today with a 18-25, 25-18, 15-5 win over Illini Elite 16 Cardinal, 25-12, 25-9 win over Starlings Monrovia and 25-22, 25-17 win over Milwaukee Sting 16 Gold. Tomorrow, Nebraska Elite will need to finish in the top two of its three-team pool to continue its advancement toward a true national championship.

The other Nebraska 16s team competing in the Open division – Nebraska Juniors 161 Black – turned some heads with its performance today by going 2-1 and winning its pool despite starting as the bottom seed in the pool. By doing so, Nebraska Juniors moved from being the #53 overall seed to the #16 after the first day of competition. Nebraska Juniors took wins over Tsunami 16s (26-28, 25-23, 15-13) and MEVBA 16 Red (25-22, 23-25, 15-13) today while falling to SBVC 16 Blue (25-15, 10-25, 16-14).

In the 16 Premier division, Nebraska Juniors 162 went 0-3 today and was eliminated from title contention. Meanwhile, in the 16 Club division, VCNebraska 16 Elite (2-1), River City Juniors 161 (2-1), River City Juniors 162 (1-2) and Nebraska ONE 16 Heat (3-0) all stayed alive in the championship hunt. In the 16 Classic division, Nebraska Elite 162 Pursuit went 2-1 and advanced in title contention.

Today also marked the start of the USAV Girls Juniors National Championships in New Orleans with just two Nebraska teams playing today.

In the 14 National division, Premier 14 Gold went 2-1 in pool play today and will continue competition in the pool tomorrow. Meanwhile, in the 14 American division, Premier 14 Black went 1-2 in pool play, which also concludes tomorrow.