Virginia Area Teams Earning a 18 Bid (Volume Two)
Last week I previewed Metro and East Coast. The three covered in this article may not have the press clippings of Metro, but there is plenty of talent on their rosters. Virginia Juniors How They Earned Their Bid – Won…
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Continue ReadingLast week I previewed Metro and East Coast. The three covered in this article may not have the press clippings of Metro, but there is plenty of talent on their rosters.
Virginia Juniors
How They Earned Their Bid – Won the Chesapeake Regional Volleyball Tournament to earn a National Bid.
Other Tournament Results – Second in Ohio Valley Qualifier, Third in Capital Hill Classic and Eighth in Northeast Qualifier
Players to Highlight – Virginia Juniors actually won a USA bid by finishing second in the Ohio Valley qualifier. They won a National bid by winning the Chesapeake Region qualifying tournament.
The fuel that drives this offense is 6’2″ setter and Brown commit Ella Park, who made the Washington Post first team All Met and was voted second team All State. She set McLean High School to their first ever appearance in a regional final. It seems like yesterday when she was 13, just 5’4″ with some long legs that gave a hint of the height she could achieve. She made her club team as a setter because she was the only player at the tryouts who could reach the pins. She was asked to set a 5/1 in a tournament and after the first match requested the team go back to a 6/2. She has no problem running a 5/1 now.
Virginia Juniors relies on a trio of Stafford area seniors from Mountainview High school. Nella Bayard made the first team All Region 5D and Lauren Nelson was named to the second team as outside hitters. Their team went undefeated until the playoffs when they lost to Albemarle High School in the 5D State championships.
Nalani McBride Nalani McBride DS/L Mountview | 2022 State VA is their libero and the third Mountainview player. She also made the All Region 5D first team and this year was voted the best digger in the Capital Hill Classic.
When you run a 5/1 it is important to have a solid right side to trigger the offense. Hilarie Adams is that opposite. At Battlefield high school she was voted player of the year in the All Cedar District and made the Class 6 All State team. She was also voted the MVP of the 2018 Capital Hill Classic.
The middles are controlled by 6’0″ first team All Region Zoe Thomas and 6’2″ Bella Sierra, who was voted to the All State team in the Class 4 Division. Bella was key to Loudon County High School winning their tenth straight state championship and has committed to Carnegie Melon University.
Paramount
How They Earned Their Bid – They took fourth in the Chesapeake Region championships to earn a Freedom bid.
Other Tournament Results – 21st in Southeast Qualifier, ninth in Northeast Qualifier, ninth in Capital Hill Classic
Players to Highlight – They rely on a couple players that led Musselman High School to the West Virginia State championship. Madigan Faircloth, an honorable mention for the All State team, is their libero and gets the offense started with her precision passing. She is also pretty adept at hitting the floor and making spectacular one handed digs to snuff out kill attempts by opposing attackers. She is committed to Liberty University.
Sadie Wright is the other Musselman senior. She is an All State selection, stands 6’1″ and does a good job of moving from pin to pin. If she does not stuff a spike she does a good job of limiting an area of the floor that does not need defending. Sadie is committed to Kent State University.
6’1″ Simone Barry is the other middle. She also provides a solid pin to pin presence in limiting an attack. The top outside is Amelia Kim. She consistently finds the court or uses the hands of the blockers to get her kills. Simone is committed to Juniata College while Amelia is committed to Dickinson College.
Madeline Schamaun is the setter responsible for orchestrating the attack. When your setter is 6’1″ and has a reach equal to your middle blockers you leave her in the front row.
Vienna Elite 17
How They Earned Their Bid – Finished second in the Southeast Qualifier to earn a Liberty bid.
Other Tournament Results – First in the National Harbor tournament, 22nd in Capital Hill Classic, fifth in Salt Lake City Qualifier, seventh in Mid-Atlantic Power League (MAPL) Hampton
Players to Highlight – You can read about them Vienna Elite 17 Secures 18 Nationals Bid – Prep Dig. They always have at least four players on the court who can play libero. Since we did not mention her in the linked article the actual libero is Caitlin O’Brien, who made second team All Region 5D and teamed with setter Trisha Guevara to give Stonebridge High School their first state championship since 2015.
Vienna reached the gold bracket of the Liberty Division in the Salt Lake Qualifier but failed to get a bid in the 17s, losing in the first round on Sunday. If they had gotten a 17 bid they would have played in Indianapolis. Now it appears Pheonix is in their future for April. They will be one of the few 17 teams competing in 18 Nationals.
Two Old Dominion clubs located in the Virginia Beach area, Beach Elite Red (American) and Beach Elite 18 Black (National), recently qualified for the 18 nationals. We’ll preview them in a Volume 3. Two other Chesapeake clubs, Maryland Jrs (American) and Liberty Elite (USA) also qualified, but they are located in Maryland.