AAU Nationals Recap: The Story of ROYAL 15-1s
As AAU and USA Nationals for Volleyball have come to a close for women and is in the midst of grueling battles on the boys side in Phoenix at the time of this post, there are multiple stories to come out of the Badger Region for a plethora of clubs across the state of Wisconsin. The be able to see this Class of 2021 develop and grow throughout the year from the perspective of an avid fan of the game but also a coach for the age group is second to none. I believe it goes without saying that there were so many teams at Badger Champs in the 15s division that you almost didn’t want to see any of their seasons end prematurely.
Well, in 15 Open, of those teams at Badger Champs – of which there were 16 – 13 of those 16 teams went on to either AAU Nationals or USAV Nationals competing admirably at their respective Nationals.
One team that has been an absolute blast to follow and watch their development has been ROYAL 15-1s, coached and directed by Dan Rogutich. My club team had the opportunity to participate in a scrimmage with them prior to leaving for Nationals so watching them gather the success that they did down in Orlando was honestly magical.
We’ve all had those season where the injury bug never truly goes away. You work so hard throughout your season to better everyone and each other yet, when moments come along where you need everyone at full-strength, unfortunately, the bug bites down harder. ROYAL experienced their fair share of the bug and yet were able to cap off their season with this finish.
I had the opportunity to message Dan a few questions about his team’s experience at AAU Nationals and not only what it means to the club, ROYAL, but to the girls; to be able to travel all the way to AAU Nationals after a long, grueling season filled with ups and downs and to be able to mentally muster the ability to go down and leave everything they had on the court against some of the top talents from around the entire nation.
ROYAL 15-1s: 10-1 overall record at AAU Nationals
Finished placed 9th/152 teams in the 15 Club division
Notable tournament moments: Going 6-0 on the first two days, they headed into the power pool on Day 3 to determine if they would make it to Gold bracket or not. They came in ranked 2nd in their power pool of 4 teams with two clubs from the power state of Texas as well as one club from the neighbor state, Illinois. The scoreline explains it all as to how the day went.
7 | R3G1P4 | Attack Volleyball Club 15 Select (IL) | OCCC 90 at 6/23 9:00 AM | ROYAL 15 (WI) Won | 19-25, 25-19, 19-17 |
8 | R3G1P4 | AP 15 Black (TX) | OCCC 90 at 6/23 11:00 AM | ROYAL 15 (WI) Won | 25-15, 16-25, 15-7 |
9 | R3G1P4 | El Paso Diggers 15Lutich (TX) | OCCC 90 at 6/23 1:00 PM | ROYAL 15 (WI) Won | 25-23, 15-25, 15-13 |
10 | R4Challenge4 | Arkansas Juniors Storm 15 National (AR) | OCCC 130 at 6/23 4:00 PM | ROYAL 15 (WI) Won | 25-23, 25-22 |
ROYAL managed to edge out every victory within their pool by minuscule differences and two complete exchanges of set scores between matches. I believe their most impressive performance was their final match against El Paso where they edged out a first set victory, got handled in the second set which was a huge momentum swinger. Then, they rallied and were able to come into the third set, reset their mental and win! They carried that momentum into their Gold Challenge match and won an exciting two straight sets against a formidable team from Arkansas.
Let’s dive into the questions I had asked Dan Rogutich about his team and AAU Nationals this past June:
Q: How do you feel your team battled national competition?
A: “Our team really stepped up their focus and execution to pull off several upsets and great play for the duration of all four days. We have been injured a lot this season and went into that tournament short a DS/L. Everyone stepped up, it was a great team effort at a great time.”
Q: What made your team so successful down at Nationals?
A: “Two things I told the girls we needed to control to be successful was nerves & serves. It’s a large environment with a lot of pressure and giving away easy points due to either of those things has cost many good teams great opportunities so I wanted to be sure that was something we focused on. The girls listened and executed extremely well.”
(editor’s note- I’m totally stealing the phrase nerves & servers, so I hope you don’t mind Dan)
Q: How did the National tournament compare to other tournaments your team has participated in this season?
A: “We really enjoy the competition level at AAU it’s always close matches and the teams love playing against teams from all over the country. It’s a great way to learn about other parts of the country and certain cultures when you play teams from Hawaii and Puerto Rico.”
Q: Any final words to send off your team with?
A: “I’m proud of the way this team battled, an adversity-filled year capped off with a great Nationals run and the first Gold Bracket appearance for ROYAL VBC.”
Thanks again to Dan Rogutich for allowing us an inside look into the ins and outs of what the Nationals experience is like from the perspective of a coach.
Ultimately, one player that has stood out to me from ROYAL 15s is Clare Wellenstein, MB from DSHA.
I recall vividly when we were scrimmaging against ROYAL prior to leaving for Nationals, whenever Clare was in the front row our Middle Attack was severely slowed due to Clare’s innate ability to read the quick set and direction of the opposing middle and shut down their best shot coming across the net. Clare forced my middles into choosing off-speed shots or getting completely rejected on the attack which frustrated my offense to the point of avoiding direct one balls entirely; which is like not being able to have bread and butter. Clare forces offense on the opposing side to completely respect her front-row defensive presence as a blocker who can read tempo and flow without fault as well as have the quickness and speed to close the gap on top of forcing opposing pins to be cautious anytime the attempt to swing crosscourt on Wellenstein due to her strong form with her block. If you think Clare is only a blocker, you’re wrong. Clare’s innate ability to sense a ball coming over the net for a quick 1-2 approach and a fierce 1-ball swing to open court or finding ways to create open-court via crafty shots and great awareness to opposing team’s rotations is second-to-none for her age level.
The entirety of ROYAL 15s plays with the heart and soul of a team far above their age level. They compete with discipline and poise and are always competing with and against one another. Their ability to hunt down loose balls/digs and turn them into great out-of-system swings is just a show of how much they care about every point and care about placing their team in the greatest position to win.
Great season ROYAL 15s! Can never go wrong with a 10-1 finish at AAU Nationals to cap off a phenomenal season.