<p>Metro Volleyball Club team shined during the MLK weekend. As one of the most competitive club teams in the nation, they are always looking for better competition to showcase their athletes’ talents. During MLK weekend, Metro’s 18s team competed at Music City Volleyball as the first qualifier for their age category. The team fell short after they lost to A5 in the gold bracket. </p>
[caption id="attachment_175636" align="alignright" width="300"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-175636" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/01/metro-1-2-300x261.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="261" /> Photo: Metro volleyball Club Facebook page[/caption]
<p>The 18s team has a history of playing tough and scrappy. The same team finished 5th in the 17s open at the 2021 Nationals and qualified for the open 3 times during the season. They are very solid in every rotation and are a very hard team to beat. Coach Silvia Johnson (18s Head Coach/Club Director) describes her team strength as “having multiple attacking options in every rotation.” This shows us how deep her roster is and that every player on the team can get the job done. Metro’s 18s went undefeated on the first and second day at the Music City Qualifier and they lost to one of the top teams in the country, A5 from Atlanta, 27-29. During this tournament, a lot of players were shining and helped the team to finish in 5th place. </p>
<p>Metro’s 18s top performing players are: </p>
<p>Middle Hitters: <b>Hannah Sherman</b> ended her weekend with impressive numbers. She hit 0.580% and <b>Zaria Ragler</b>, the other middle, hit over 0.300 %. Both dominated the middle either with hitting or blocking.</p>
<p>Pin Hitters: <b>Natalie Luscomb</b> led the team in kills and she hit 0.433%, in absence of their best hitter<b> Laila Ivey</b>. She was out due to an injury. This did not stop Metro’s 18s from competing for the bid. It gave a chance to other hitters, <b>Breyna Ried</b> and <b>Samiha Foster</b><b><i>,</i></b> to make up for her absence on the court<b>.</b></p>
<p>Setters<b>: Tatiana Johnson & [player_tooltip player_id="111462" first="Sarah" last="Jordan"]</b> were consistent in how they distributed the ball across the net. I am not surprised, since they are trained by former Long Beach State setter<b> Silvia Johnson. </b>This allows them to lead their offense to success. </p>
<p>Numbers don’t lie, and what we witnessed in the first tournament of the season tells us a lot about the commitment and the eagerness of this team to reach as high they can. Their head coach Silvia shared that the team goal is to be on the podium. I urge you to come to watch this team when they are competing, as you will not regret it. Their next tournament is Northern Lights in Omaha, Nebraska.</p>
