O’Connell Captures the Volley Brawl in North Carolina
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Bishop O’Connell traveled to North Carolina to compete in the Volley Brawl, a tournament composed of Catholic schools who have won their Division last year. The Bishop McGuinness Villains were the host school and two other North Carolina schools, Christ…
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Continue ReadingBishop O’Connell traveled to North Carolina to compete in the Volley Brawl, a tournament composed of Catholic schools who have won their Division last year. The Bishop McGuinness Villains were the host school and two other North Carolina schools, Christ the King Crusaders (Huntersville) and John Paul II Saints (Greenville) also competed. The Roanoke Catholic Celtics from Virginia were the fifth team.
The five teams played each other in two game matches to 15 in a round robin pool play. The fourth and fifth place teams played a best two out of three match under traditional scoring to determine a final four. John Paul swept the Roanoke team to make the final four.
Bishop O’Connell went undefeated in pool play to get the number one seed and played John Paul. Two points into the first match the Knights setter Erin Debiec Erin Debiec 6'1" | S Bishop O'Connell | 2024 State #92 Nation VA suffered an ankle sprain. Lilly Spann, who was called up from junior varsity to play in the tournament was tasked with taking her spot in the 5/1. She did a fantastic job with setting the offense and O’Connell won 2-0.
In the other semi-final match the host school Villains swept the King Crusaders to get into the final. They had gone 5-3 in pool play, losing to Biship O’Connell twice.
The finals turned into a brawl with each team splitting the first two matches. O’Connell was led by eventual tournament MVP Grace Maria Grace Maria 6'2" | OH Bishop O'Connell | 2023 State #150 Nation VA to win game one 25-17 and were helped by the return of their setter Erin Debiec Erin Debiec 6'1" | S Bishop O'Connell | 2024 State #92 Nation VA . Grace would finish the match with 18 kills. McGuinness was led by outside Chrisbel Alcantara and the savvy dumps by setter Jeanna Hauk to win game two 25-20. Chrisbel was not available to the team during pool play but proved a difference maker in the playoffs.
It came down to a third game to 15 to determine a champion. The two teams traded off points and stood even at 11-11. O’Connell abandoned their 5/1 offense and brought in Lily Spann to set, allowing Debiec to hit front row. She put on her hitting shoes and buried three kills on beautiful back sets from Lily Span to put the team ahead 14-12.
O’Connell has five girls 6 feet or over who play the front row. McGuinness lacked that advantage. Knowing they could not hit through the block with their smaller girls they went to a strategy of tipping the balls over the block to empty spots on the court. With the score 14-12 an attempt was made to tip the ball, but right side Grace Faughnan, used all of her 6 foot length to reach up and block the tip to win the game 15-12.
Below is the All tournament team.
MVP – Grace Maria Grace Maria 6'2" | OH Bishop O'Connell | 2023 State #150 Nation VA (O’Connell/left side )
First Team Selections
Erin Debiec Erin Debiec 6'1" | S Bishop O'Connell | 2024 State #92 Nation VA (setter/O’Connell), Madison Bowser Madison Bowser 6'2" | MB Bishop O'Connell | 2024 State VA (middle/O’Connell), Allie Purgson (right side/McGuinness), Susanna Drake (outside/McGuinness), Lauren Munn (outside/Crusaders), Dana Galinis (Middle/John Paul)
Chesapeake Chirps: Roanoke finished fifth in the tournament, but their middle Alex Nance played well. She has some length, was a good communicator and played in the back row where she provided solid defense….Yorktown has a freshman setter in Casey Yuh. She is a smaller setter who was used in the back row, but battled well in the varsity match. She played for St. James 14 navy…Another frosh to watch is Julie Xu from Oakton. She has some length with long arms to drive balls to the floor. She played right side and only played front row when not serving.