AAU Junior Nationals 17 Open Recap: Michigan Elite reaches Ruby bracket final
With the eyes of the club volleyball world squarely on Orlando this weekend, it was WD Nation 17-Adidas that came away with the championship in the 17 Open of the 45th AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships on Sunday. Over the…
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Continue ReadingWith the eyes of the club volleyball world squarely on Orlando this weekend, it was WD Nation 17-Adidas that came away with the championship in the 17 Open of the 45th AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships on Sunday.
Over the four days of action, WD Nation (out of Louisiana) put up a total of 12 wins with just one loss, ultimately running through the 8-team gold tournament on Sunday. The finals saw a nail-biter, with WD Nation defeating A5 Mizuno 171 out of Georgia, 25-23, 22-25, 15-11.
Two Michigan teams competed in the 17 Open this week, Michigan Elite 17 Mizuno and Legacy 17-Elite.
Michigan Elite put up a strong showing in the first two days, going 2-1 in each of their first two pools before suffering three losses on Saturday. Still, their performances over Thursday and Friday landed them a spot in the Ruby bracket.
Sunday’s bracket play opened with a 25-14, 25-19 win over NPJ 17 National out of Oregon. That advanced them to the bracket semifinal, where it defeated RCVH 17’s out of Hawaii in three sets, 25-21, 20-25, 15-6. In the bracket final, Michigan Elite squared off with Mizuno Northern Lights 17-1, out of Minnesota. Northern Lights got the best of Michigan Elite in two sets, 25-13 and 25-22.
Legacy 17-Elite had some highs and lows during their time in the 17 Open. On Thursday, Legacy went 2-1 to get off to a good start but then went 1-2 on Friday to drop them to a lower pool on Saturday. Legacy responded on Saturday with a 3-0 record, not dropping a set, which landed them in the Diamond bracket of the 17 Open. However, their Sunday would be short-lived, as they suffered a tough 28-26, 23-25, 15-13 loss to Surfside 17 MB Legends out of California in the opening match of the bracket.
FaR Out, MVA top 10 in 17 Premier
In the 17 Premier Division of the Junior Nationals, both FaR Out 17 Gold and MVA 17 National Black had top-10 showings.
FaR Out went 10-0 through the first three days before it suffered an 18-25, 25-21, 15-7 loss to Upward Stars 17 Brent out of South Carolina in the Gold bracket quarterfinals.
MVA put up a 9-1 record through pool play which also landed it in the Gold bracket of 17 Premier. However, MVA would suffer a 23-25, 25-20, 15-8 loss to Palm Beach Juniors 16 Elite out of Florida in the opening round of tournament play this morning.
Team D wins 17 Club
In the 17 Club Division of the Junior Nationals, it was Team D 17-Red that walked away with the Gold bracket championship. Team D went a perfect 14-0 over the four days, dropping just three sets throughout the 14 matches. In the final, Team D defeated Tsunami 16-Dun out of Georgia, 25-20, 25-15.