MVSA Puts A Charge into East Coast Championships

The MVSA teams achieved a lot of success at the East Coast championships. The 15 Charge team won their Division while their 14 Force team reached the finals in the Beast of the East Division. The Sparks (16) finished ninth and the Starz captured third place. Below is a summary of some of the teams that impressed in the East Coast championship.   Since I also spent my time coaching two teams in this tournament, one competing in the morning wave while the other competed in an evening wave, it was difficult to watch a lot of games.    MVSA Charge 15   On Sunday the Charge played 540 VB Elite in a crossover match. Both teams had already qualified for the gold bracket, so the game lacked importance other than seeding. Club 540 dominated the match, sweeping MVSA 25-20, 25-13. It was not a pretty game for the Charge, but then they appeared to leave their starters out giving other players an opportunity to play. They sacrificed a win to give some of their starters a rest.   The two faced each other again in the championship match and this time the Charge came out on top 25-19 and 25-21. The 40 points 540 Elite scored were the most by any other team against the Charge after a sweep.   As usual, [player_tooltip player_id='325599' first='Raegan' last='Lentz'] was a force in the middle. She puts a little bounce in her step after she completes a kill. In addition, she finished off a match with a kill to eliminate Columbia 25-23 in the first round of the gold medal bracket. The left side received some strong offense from [player_tooltip player_id='369729' first='Fallon' last='Gyapong'] and [player_tooltip player_id='322107' first='Eden' last='Tardy']. Eden did not play much in the first match against 540 Elite.   Looking at the right side you have [player_tooltip player_id='325601' first='Sydnee' last='Peters'], who flies high in the air with her left handed swing. With her vertical jump and long arm extension she gets a lot of height to finish off her kills. Other players who shined included [player_tooltip player_id='325600' first='Taryn' last='Su'], who did good job distributing her sets. [player_tooltip player_id='377326' first='Elly' last='Vanlandingham'] played libero while [player_tooltip player_id='346817' first='Celiana' last='Caraballo'] filled the defensive specialist role. In the past that has been reversed. Elly stands tall at libero, reaching close to 5'10". She has set and also played outside for her high school team.    540 VB Elite   I was impressed with the talent level with the 540 Elite 15 team. Clearly an impressive unit. They were the only team to beat MVSA Charge and they did it quite easily 25-20 and 25-13. It was an undefeated run all the way into the final game with MVSA in the championship match. Along the way, they won a couple of tight three game sets with third place Club Integrity.   One of the more impressive players was left side/middle [player_tooltip player_id='435745' first='Alyssa' last='Kumah']. She is a 2027 playing up. At 5'10 she brings excellent height to both positions. Her quick wrist snap and arm extension allows her to hit over the block when hitting outside. When playing middle she hits quicks and higher sets with authority. She is also used in serve receive when playing the middle.   Aubrey Parker set a 5/1. She brings some length to the setting position, putting up a good block from the right side. She completed a quick back set to middle Jasmine Williams that resulted in a kill that swung the momentum in a game. A solid setter who distributes the ball well. Speaking of Jasmine, she also brings a good block to the middle position as well as producing kills from any area of the net. A quick back set, a slide and a shoot to the outside are all in her repertoire.   [player_tooltip player_id='436122' first='Arianna' last='Mancari'] is a smaller left side who brings a lot of enthusiasm to the court. She never stops cheering whether she stands on the sidelines or plays in the court. A good vertical allows her to find her way past the block. Carolina Eastlake brings a good hit and block to the right side. She also shows the ability to complete a kill from the left side as well. Finally, [player_tooltip player_id='397192' first='Kadie' last='Cardozo'] plays the libero position well. She passes nails and scrambles well on defense. Her serves are also bullets, finishing off a match with an ace.   MOCO Mayhem 16   They usually take a back seat to MVSA Sparks. A fifth place finish in the BOE Division was quite the accomplishment for them. They qualified for the gold division with a stunning upset over MVSA Sparks 25-18, 25-23 in a crossover match. That earned them a spot in the gold bracket, where they ultimately lost to Downstate Black in the first round 25-13, 29-27.   The Mayhem carry solid middles. One has the height, the other brings the intensity to the court. The 6'3" Katelyn Strike brings the height. Her wing span covers a large area of the court. Tight sets go to die when Katelyn goes up to block. She still needs to work on her quickness moving from pin to pin, but hitting it over her is not an option once a block is in place. She also needs to work on her offense to become a force in the middle. A lot of promise in her game. EvaJolie Cavalier brings the intensity to the game. She does not have the height of Katelyn but she brings a lot of heart to the game. Her athleticism moving from pin to pin and hitting balls from the middle is quite apparent.   Another player who impressed is left side Mariya Carson. She puts good velocity on the ball, blocks well and shows good hustle on the court. Her quickness on defense makes her a strength in the back row. Sonia Breslawec plays the other left side. She hits high and hard and covers all six rotations.   The setter responsible for dishing out the sets in a 5/1 offense is Elizabeth Higday. She stands 5'9", finds the hot hitters and shows her leadership by taking on the responsibility of floor captain. Finally, the libero play of Scarlett Potter gives the Mayhem an opportunity to run their offense with her consistent passing. She plays with composure. Even a shanked pass will not shake her nerves.    Virginia Volleyball Academy (VAVA) Blue 16   VAVA earned a spot in the gold bracket with a convincing crossover win against Five 1 Black. For their 0800 gold bracket game against Fusion Blue they failed to wake up. Their eyes may have been open but their minds were still in sleep mode. They got behind 13-0 in the first game and were down 24-3 before scoring six points at the end to make the score look somewhat respectable at 25-9. The second game they played more competitive but fell short 25-16. Despite that loss it was a very good tournament for them.   I liked the play of the middles [player_tooltip player_id='181314' first='Aubrey' last='Loughlin'] and Chloe Bonney-James. They both run the quicks well and stand tall in the middle, each at 6'0". Aubrey has excellent reach and likes the quick shoots when in the front row. [player_tooltip player_id='238857' first='Julie' last='Xu'] and [player_tooltip player_id='242039' first='Michelle' last='Kim'] shared setting duties running a 6/2. Julie brings a good serve and at 5'11" could play right side. She seems to bring a calm but confident presence to the court. [player_tooltip player_id='235327' first='Jenna' last='Hathaway'] played right side but can also set. She swings lefthanded and at 5'10 can put up a good block.   The two left sides [player_tooltip player_id='235296' first='Makenzie' last='Dvorznak'] and [player_tooltip player_id='346738' first='Alena' last='Smith'] can pepper the defense with strong kills.    Vienna Elite 16 Blue   They have struggled this season playing in open divisions. The wins have been few and the disappointments many. Despite these struggles coach Michael Markovic called them the best at bonding as a team that he has coached in all his many years at Vienna Elite (and he has coached some good teams). Their best finish was sixth place out of 20 teams in the Revolutionary Rumble. They dialed it down a bit, playing in the Select Division at the East Coast Championships.   Success. They got into the gold, though it was a battle. Two of their wins went three sets, with 26-24 and 16-14 wins in their opening match of the second round of pool play a key victory in advancing them to gold bracket. In the first round in the gold bracket they battled Hollywood Elites to three sets, losing the finale 15-7. A ninth place finish out of 64 teams was a good way to end their season.   The two left sides, Emily Fischer and [player_tooltip player_id='297645' first='Mieke' last='Gruizenga'] bring some velocity to their hits despite their small frames. They both also play six rotations. Mieke appears on our watch list, one of the reasons I watched them play.   Another player who impressed with her potential for power was middle [player_tooltip player_id='245601' first='Gabrielle' last='Nelson']. She needs to improve on her consistency, but the athleticism is there to hammer the ball. She ranked at 101 in our class of 2026 based on what I saw of her at Chantilly High School.

The MVSA teams achieved a lot of success at the East Coast championships. The 15 Charge team won their Division while their 14 Force team reached the finals in the Beast of the East Division. The Sparks (16) finished ninth and the Starz captured third place. Below is a summary of some of the teams that impressed in the East Coast championship.