MAVS KC 18-1 Holds Off HJV To Return To NIT Elite Eight
It's been a big week in Kansas City. Super Bowl win for the Chiefs on Sunday, parade celebrating the Chiefs on Wednesday, and Triple Crown this weekend where the Kansas City teams ill be looking to defend their home turf, keeping another title in the city.
For MAVS KC 18-1, this team is accustomed to the big matches, the day two and three moments where it's all about advancing. They've qualified at the Open level throughout their years together, and this season is no different. They won the KC MLK 18s Qualifier and following up with a final four finish at Florida Fest - this time around its eyes on the prize for one of the biggest titles in volleyball.
To finish the day would be an extremely athletic and physical Houston Juniors 18 Elite team, a perennial threat in every event and the team MAVS knocked out of championship contention at the 17s level in 2022. However, this year was a little different.
Arkansas commit Logan Jones got things going early for MAVS. The standout setter knows how to use all of her attackers that include dynamic pins Betsy Goodenow (Yale), Reagan Fox (Rutgers), Lily Dudley (Arkansas), and Reagan Barth (Georgia Southern). This core group can do it all for MAVS where they can serve receive, defend, and use multiple shots to score points.
MAVS ran away with set one by the score of 25-21, but Houston Juniors found another gear, their size and athleticism giving MAVS plenty of problems. Sharlotte McCliintock had some big swings on the right side, Mississippi State commit Arissa Smith was a force out of the middle, and libero Kennedy Gustafson was nails when it came to getting her side of the net in system.
At 18-16 in favor of HJV in set two, the tone completely changed with the team from Texas feeling all the momentum. They held off a late MAVS rally to take the set 27-25 and raced out to a 5-1 lead in set three.
At 7-5, a major delay occurred in this match. Even standing close to the R1 stand, I couldn't hear if it was a scorekeeping or rotation issue. With HJV up and MAVS rallying, it turned set three into another mini-game where MAVS would find their groove.
A series of blocks by Aisha Aiono (Kansas) and Sawyer Thomsen (Cal) really sparked MAVS and built plenty of momentum. Aiono let out a big celebration that was contagious energy for the whole team. Libero, Reagan Anderson (Wichita State) was so steady out of the backrow where she is not only a solid defender, but she puts up a beautiful second ball for her attackers.
The job is not done for MAVS who will look to continue their winning ways. They will enjoy their comfort of sleeping in their own homes with an early wakeup call to play their quarterfinal match at 7:30 AM Monday against OT 18 J John who scored a huge win over a red hot Mintonette team to advance.
One last chance for this squad to bring home another crown to the new “Titletown".
