USAV Junior Nationals Recap Six – A Major Upset

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last year the Metro 16 team finished 19th in the 16 Open. It was a little disappointing since they may have had the two best outside combination in the country with <strong>Macaria Spears</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman']</strong>. They started out that tournament strong, winning their first five, but stumbled after, losing three of their next four.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Spears departed for Texas. This is basically the same team, with the addition of class of 2025 <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181297' first='Lameen' last='Mambu']</strong> to take Spears spot on the left side. After she left Virginia Spears ranked number 1 on most prospect lists for the class of 2025. We have Mambu ranked 36 nationally, but others may not have her so high. After this tournament her name will be known.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Metro again started out strong this year winning their first three matches. They lost the fourth match to a winless team, but they had already captured first place in their pool. It was on to the second round pool where their first match was against <strong>Momentous</strong>. They got behind early in the first set, tried to battle back, but eventually lost 25-23. After winning the second set, they again got behind early in the third set 8-1, battled back, but eventually lost 15-12.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A second place finish saw them draw the third seed <strong>Wave Juliana</strong> for the challenge match. This can almost be like flipping a coin in the Open Division. The winner advances to the gold while the loser drops down to the silver. The first set Metro battled but fell short 25-22. The second set they were down 21-18 but an <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman']</strong> use off the block and a [player_tooltip player_id='180296' first='Madison' last='Bowser'] block brought it to 20-21. The game went into overtime after that, with no team extending their lead beyond two points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Finally, a <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181297' first='Lameen' last='Mambu']</strong> kill and a [player_tooltip player_id='180296' first='Madison' last='Bowser'] slam dunk to the floor on a quick set won it 28-26. By that time a huge crowd had gathered around the court. A who's who list of coaches were part of that crowd. Since most of the players on the court have already committed, they were there just to watch good volleyball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It appeared Metro was on the cusp of upsetting Wave leading 14-11 with serve in the third set. The serve went out. Wave was expecting Sellman to get set. She did, getting blocked the first time and hitting it out the second. Now the score was 14-14. Another Ouch. This would be a tough loss if Metro could not bounce back. As good players often do, they do not let a couple errors destroy them. A [player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman'] kill gave Metro a 15-14 lead and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180289' first='Lilah' last='Stevens']</strong>, a hitting star all day hit one over the net and Wave could not return it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This was one upset that was talked about the rest of the day.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Others Making the Gold Bracket </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I do not recall so many Chesapeake teams making the gold bracket. Last year only Paramount qualified for the gold bracket in the 16-17 age group National Division. This year the number is four. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Virginia Juniors</strong> 16 (Freedom) - They have some big hitters on this team. The biggest among this group is <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181300' first='Alexis' last='Ewing']</strong>, the daughter of Patrick. Her game has improved significantly since last time I saw her play. Her spikes are coming off more consistently high off the block, her passing stays on point and she could get an arm on the ball when playing defense. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Other big hitters on that team include right sides <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='183589' first='Angelique' last='Desamours']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181237' first='Zoe' last='Strachan']</strong> and left side <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='235283' first='Racquel' last='Frazier'].</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='235293' first='Destini' last='Pickett'] </strong>usually came in for Frazier in the back row for defense and a back row attack on offense. She also has the vertical to get up high over the net to be used in the front row as well. During warm-ups, her bounce factor was the greatest.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Middle <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='230817' first='Riley' last='Lynch']</strong> brought some big hits on quick shoots to the outside. Setters <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='206729' first='Megan' last='Phan']</strong> and [player_tooltip player_id='284195' first='Daisy' last='Pentorn'] did a good job connecting with Lynch. Both brought a tough serve to the table. Virginia Juniors won their last three sets by two points to reach gold, including a one set 15-13 win over PSBA Legacy to earn a spot in gold in the Freedom Division.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":186087,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/03/Isabel.jpg?w=683" alt="" class="wp-image-186087" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Metro</strong> 16 (National) - The younger sisters of Metro also made gold. Most of them were watching their older sisters battle it out for gold. This was not the time to go back to the hotel to rest. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Metro 16 the year has been a bout with inconsistency. They could never get on a stretch where winning came easy. This did not seem to change for them the first day when they lost their first two matches. The next day they bounced back and won the next three. This put them in third place in their pool, eligible to advance with the first bracket. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>They finished in second place in the round two pool, losing to Minnesota Select in three sets. That brought them to a challenge game against Team Pineapple. They swept them 25-20, 25-21. It was time to seek gold.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181763' first='Jada' last='Aksu'] </strong>was hot as fire in the set I watched. Almost in succession she put down four kills and completed two blocks. Middle [player_tooltip player_id='181315' first='Sierra' last='Evans'] was also having a good set with four kills and two blocks. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181303' first='Isabelle' last='Bardin']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181244' first='Ryan' last='Hicks']</strong> were running a 6/2. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Liberty Elite </strong>16 (Patriot) - This is the one division application based. The other divisions you have to do well in a qualifier to earn a spot in USAV. Despite having a 5-3 record somehow Liberty Elite found themselves in a challenge match against Mintonette. Vanquishing them would earn them a spot in the gold bracket. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to see any of their games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Losing in the Challenger matches and settling for Silver were Paramount 16 and 17, and Maryland Juniors. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->