Standout Teams and Players- OK Regional

<p>OKRVA hosted regionals this past weekend in Oklahoma City. Over 300 teams participated in the tournament. Those 300+ teams could either play in a non-bid division or battle for a national championship tournament bid. We will focus on the 14-17s bid division teams and players that stood out and made a splash. </p> <p>In the 14s age division,<em><b> UPVBC 14 Open</b></em> was everything they were advertised to be as the overall one seed coming in and deservedly. They only dropped 2 sets the entire tournament, 24-26 in a pool play match and in the championship match against a solid peak 14-2 team. They have future stars all over the roster. #9 <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Alia DeBerry</span> will be a player to watch as she grows and looks to make in impact soon for Sand Springs high school.  As predicted in our preview article, <strong><em>Club Ace 14-1</em></strong> finished ahead of their rankings and finished as the overall 5th best team. <strong><em>Virago 14-1</em></strong> finished tied for 9th after being the 14th seed. Both teams ran into buzz saws early in gold bracket, with <em><strong>Rise 14-1</strong></em> and <strong><em>Charge 14 National</em></strong>. </p> <p>The 15s age division didn’t have too much craziness happen. The top 5 overall seeds ended as the top 5. <em><strong>OK Charge 15UA</strong></em> was an absolute monster the whole tournament. They did not drop a set, as well as outscored their opponents by over double the points on average. During the first two matches in gold bracket, the opposing teams were only able to score a combined 31 points in four sets! Reread that last sentence if your jaw didn’t drop the first time.  <em><strong>UPVBC 15 Mint</strong></em> and <strong><em>Virago 15-1</em></strong> both had key upsets that led top them finishing higher than they were seeded. Mint handed <strong><em>Rise 15-1</em></strong> a loss in pool play and Virago beat out <strong><em>Rise 15-2</em></strong> in the first round of gold bracket. Virago 15-1 vs <em><strong>UPVBC 15 Open</strong></em> was a match to see. When the huge underdog took the 2nd set 25-22 and forced a 3rd set, people started to gather around to watch the action packed last set. Mint also went on to beat Virago later in bracket play and finished 6th overall. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Jasmine Liongco</span> did not disappoint and was a huge reason her Charge team ran the table the way they did. </p> <p>The 16s had a similar outcome as 15s age. <strong><em>Peak 16-1</em></strong> and <strong><em>UPVBC 16 Open</em></strong> were heavy favorites going into the weekend. As predicted, they met in the championship and had one heck of a battle, with each team not dropping a set until the championship match, 27-25 25-20 15-12. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="156860" first="Curry" last="Kendall"]</span> was the MVP of the regional tournament. You have only begun to hear and read about this athlete. Her recruiting will likely explode in the coming months. Both teams are littered with varsity players that have or will begin to impact their varsity school teams. Players like <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Katherine Rowe</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="156853" first="Megan" last="Branson"]</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Kiya Colvin</span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="156866" first="Maren" last="Johnson"]</span> are just flat out fun to watch play the game of volleyball. </p> <p>The 17s division saw <strong><em>UPVBC 17 Open</em></strong> finish the tournament a perfect 12-0 in sets. This is a special team that had already secured their national bid but wanted to continue to get touches and fine tune their game. Despite <strong><em>OK Charge 17UA</em></strong> being a really solid team, even they couldn’t crack the 20 point mark in a set against them. Pool play points opponents scored against Open looked like 6/1/9/13/4/7. They scored nearly 4x the points their opponents did per set. Players like <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="145990" first="Grace" last="Smallwood"],</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="145969" first="Haylee" last="Harris"]</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="145993" first="Sara" last="Freeman"]</span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="145986" first="Julia" last="McLendon"]</span> have been big for Charge 17UA all year long. 17 Open has some show-stopping type athletes in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="145983" first="Ella" last="Drake"]</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="145964" first="Olivia" last="Vance"]</span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">[player_tooltip player_id="145960" first="Kady" last="Hansen"]</span>. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It was awesome to see some of the best athletes and teams the state has to offer go to battle and earn national bids this weekend. We look forward to covering their journey at the most prestigious tournament in the nation. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>