Notes from Junior Nationals 18s in Baltimore

A busy weekend. Friday focused on the local DMV teams in the Junior Nationals in Baltimore (more on Tuesday). Saturday coached 13 year olds to an amazing win in the silver bracket in a local tournament (Woo Hoo). The team won the third set 15-13. You never get tired of watching players celebrate winning the last match of a tournament. Sunday back to Junior Nationals to focus on three teams who made it to the gold bracket in the Open Division. Along the way another team and player stood out.   The three teams were: 1) Coast because my two nieces played there and Ozhan Bahrambeygui coaches there. Great guy and great coach. 2) A5 because I once played against Marc Jones in San Diego and my co-coach actually coached him in high school. 3) TAV to see how much Macari Spears had improved. She ranked number 1 in the class of 2025 in our Virginia rankings. The team that stood out, 1st Alliance. The player [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow']. Most of their starters missed the tournament to enjoy festivities outside of volleyball while younger players took their place and surprised the field.   Coast   They came into the tournament as the 13th seed. It is said among the coaching ranks that you have done a good job in a tournament if you finish higher than your seed. Coast qualified for the gold bracket by finishing 5-1 the first two days. In the opening round of the gold bracket they went up against 1st Alliance, who lost many girls to the prom and had to call up a number of girls from their younger teams to play in the tournament.   You can't ask for a more entertaining match. When you advance to this level the games so often are won or lost by two points. It comes down to players making the play to earn those two points. In the first set a net call went against First Alliance and put Coast up 23-22. [player_tooltip player_id='135950' first='Grace' last='Nelson'] (Kansas) got a big kill down the line to tie the game at 23-23. A ball hit into the net gave Coast a 24-23 lead. Hayley Ogden (Gonzaga) put up a big block and then finished it off with a redirect kill to give Coast a 25-23 win in the opener.   In the second set 1st Alliance relied on class of 2026 middle [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow'] to dominate the game. At the end she buried a ball to give 1st Alliance a 24-22 lead. She got blocked on a tight set to pull Coast to within one 24-23. When you are 5'9" like Madison Triplett (UCSB) you need to play with a great volleyball IQ to get it around taller blockers. She dug a Tarnow spike then finished the rally off with a tip off the block to tie the game 24-24.   A [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow'] kill on what Coast felt was a phantom touch returned the lead to 1st Alliance 25-24. Middle MacKenzie Parsons (Cornell) denied a hit by Tarnow with a big block to force another tie. Unfortunately, a missed serve and then an ace by Tarnow gave 1st Alliance a 27-25 set two win.   In the third set a kill by Tiana Owens (Colgate) gave Coast a 13-11 lead. Kills by the top prospect in the Illinois class of 2025 [player_tooltip player_id='203428' first='Abby' last='Vander Wal'] (Texas) and the 2026 top Illinois prospect [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow'] gave Coast a 14-13 advantage. Vander Wal and Tarnow combined for a big wall to reject the final hit for a 15-13 victory.   As usual, the Coast girls are well coached. Impressed with the play of left side Jaidyn Jager (Indiana), libero Ximena Cordero Barr (UC Davis), setter Ruby Ennis (Cal State Monterey Bay), right side Tiana Owens (Colgate) and left side Madison Triplett (UCSB). Coast always seems to find gems from South of the Border and Ximena is one of those. Coast also lost setter Italia Bernal (Washington) to a hand injury at a practice the day before the Junior Nationals. Italia set for the U19 Mexico national team at the World Championships.   A5   A5 came into the tournament as the 16 seed. They won their first match in the gold bracket with a sweep of Minnesota Select. Their next opponent TAV would prove to be too much.   TAV took a commanding 24-14 lead in the first set. A5 rallied for five points on the play of Ellie Siskin (University of Pennsylvania) and Hannah Benjamin (Kentucky) to cut the lead to 24-19. Jadyn Livings (USC) finished the game off for TAV with the kill and a 25-19 game one win.   The second set was a bit tighter. Ellie Siskin pulled A5 to within two at 20-22 and Jaya Moore (UNC Charlotte) came back with a right side kill to make it a one point game 21-22. Aubrey Wilson (Morgan State) contributed two kills to get A5 to 23. Unfortunately, there was too much Macaria Spears (Texas) on the other side of the net. Macaria responded with two kills of her own to win the match for TAV 25-23 to send TAV to the finals.   Marc Jones was a little wild in his younger days. Good to see him mellow out and become a leader as a coach.   TAV   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/02/DSC05656.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-511652" style="width:278px;height:auto" /></figure>   TAV came into the Junior Nationals as the number one seed. After leaving Virginia and moving to Texas Macari Spears continues to be the top ranked player in her state according to the latest Prep Digs Texas rankings. Even in our national rankings she finds herself in the top five.   After TAV finished off A5 in the semi-finals they earned their way into the championship match to play against 1st Alliance. The 6'2" middle Favor Anyanwu (USC) contributed three consecutive blocks in TAVs sweep of A5. She is a presence in the middle. Her future USC teammate Jadyn Livings and Suli Davis (BYU) were also impactful.   And then you have Macaria Spears. In the first set of the championship match against 1st Alliance two kills by Macaria Spears put TAV on top 23-20. 1st Alliance seemed to rely on right side [player_tooltip player_id='203428' first='Abby' last='Vander Wal'] and middle [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow'] for their offense. Both only played three rotations so there was at least one rotation where both of them were on the sideline. During that time the offense seemed to struggle. Abby contributed one kill and Carolyn two to tie the game 23-23.   Jadyn Livings put TAV ahead by one with a kill but [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow'] responded with one of her own to tie the game. 1st Alliance actually took their first lead of the set 25-24 after [player_tooltip player_id='135950' first='Grace' last='Nelson'] (Kansas) buried a set to the floor. It would be their last point for the set. TAV scored the last three points for a 27-25 win.   Set two 1st Alliance played most of the game behind after tying the score 5-5 on a Tarnow kill. Favor Anyanwu strung together three blocks in a five point run to put TAV ahead for good 10-5. 1st Alliance pulled to within two at 20-22 after a [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow'] block and tip kill. Jadyn and Suli finished it off for TAV with kills, bringing TAV a long awaited championship.   Macari Spears continues to impress with her offensive game. Many of her hits are landing deeper in the court resulting in more kills and fewer instances of being blocked. When she goes down the line setters beware. Her six rotation game still needs some work. Her passing could use more consistency. TAV did have to hide her a couple times. Since she still belongs to the class of 2025 she still has room to grow. Sad to no longer watch her play for Metro.   1st Alliance   Prior to the Junior Nationals [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow'] played for the 1st Alliance 16 Gold team. Because of prom commitments 1st Alliance needed players for the Junior Nationals. They called up players from their younger teams to play. One of them was [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow']. Prep Dig ranks her as number one for the state of Illinois. After her play at Junior Nationals, she certainly showed the skills to rank number one in the country.   Metro played 1st Alliance for their opening match and lost 25-23, 19-25 and 11-15. [player_tooltip player_id='311962' first='Layla' last='Collins'] (Virginia Polytechnic) was another middle who impressed. [player_tooltip player_id='311933' first='Calli' last='Kenny'] (Marquette) contributed with her right side offense and setting. 1st Alliance had the top four players in the latest 2024 rankings for Illinois, but only the third and fourth ranked could make it to the tournament. Three other players ranked in the top 20 also could not make the tournament.   Despite all the absences 1st Alliance came into the tournament as the number six seed, but that may have come as a result of their performance with the absent players. That did not matter. With [player_tooltip player_id='323932' first='Carolyn' last='Tarnow'] leading the way in the class of 2026 they still beat their seed. The future shines bright for First Alliance.   Metro   Metro had to play without [player_tooltip player_id='180296' first='Madison' last='Bowser'], (Vanderbilt) who was out with an ankle injury. This left them short at the middle, forcing them to use [player_tooltip player_id='309024' first='Caroline' last='Lang'] (Virginia) there. This year Caroline spent most of the year hitting right side. They have also been playing all year with two class of 2025s hitting outside in [player_tooltip player_id='181297' first='Lameen' last='Mambu'] (Georgia Tech) and [player_tooltip player_id='181300' first='Alexis' last='Ewing'] (Penn State).   A young team just got younger after Metro brought up another class of 2025 in setter [player_tooltip player_id='181303' first='Isabelle' last='Bardin']. She was brought up to play right side. While there she also proved handy because she could also be used as an alternate setter. Isabelle normally sets a 5/1 for Metro 17. [player_tooltip player_id='180289' first='Lilah' last='Stevens'] (Navy) may be the most impressive 5'9" right side in the country. She just soars above the net and with a whip like arm swing shatters balls through blocks. Whether it is back row or front row she shreds defenses.   Metro came into the tournament seeded 27 but won the Silver Bracket A to finish tied for 9th. It is always good to win the last match of the club season.

A busy weekend. Friday focused on the local DMV teams in the Junior Nationals in Baltimore (more on Tuesday). Saturday coached 13 year olds to an amazing win in the silver bracket in a local tournament (Woo Hoo). The team won the third set 15-13. You never get tired of watching players celebrate winning the last match of a tournament. Sunday back to Junior Nationals to focus on three teams who made it to the gold bracket in the Open Division. Along the way another team and player stood out.