Who claimed the win in the 2025 IAAM A championship match?

In my state title preview last month, I picked the IAAM Championship game to be AACS vs Maryvale. Yesterday at Stevenson University, I got that exact matchup. You had the young super team, who everyone knows about now (just like to remind everyone I was first on that train) vs the veteran team from Maryvale who has been in these big games before. The crowd was fired up, it looked like one of those High School sports movies, with both schools having large student sections, dressed up in school colors, with signs, coordinated cheers, and even a mascot sighting from Maryvale.   AACS took home the title in three sets, but each of those sets was well fought. In the first set, Maryvale actually held the advantage early, then things shifted a little more back and forth around 10-10. The game stayed that way up to about the 18 point mark when AACS pulled away a bit to finish it out, but Maryvale had been here before, and AACS was still new to the Championship scene. Maryvale should be holding their heads high today. They were scrappy. They never quit. They had some excellent defense, especially in the back row getting up some of the rockets fired at them by [player_tooltip player_id='748513' first='Scarlett' last='Netherton']. At the end of the day they just didn't have quite enough pieces to beat such a deep team, they could have used some more blocking to TRY to stem the tide from AACS, but if it's not Scarlett firing missles, it's Abby from Middle, or Sophia from RS, and that's not even bringing up the other 10 or so players that could step in and be just as much trouble. There's a reason I picked them to win the next 4 years in a row, and it was on display yesterday. They will be a fun team to watch. I wish I got my dream matchup this season and got to see AACS play Howard, but that kind of thinking and talking to a friend of mine got me thinking about a future post I'll have that could lead to matchups like that. I'll get back to that later.   Maryvale   To highlight some of the star players from yesterday, Maryvale was led by star Libero [player_tooltip player_id='547072' first='Victoria' last='Small'], who played a great game, got a lot of balls up that other DS wouldn't have been able to, and kept her team calm, organized and in the match start to finish. Helping shift people into position, being that leader on the court they know they can look to when things get tough, that's the kind of underrated qualities coaches in college are hunting for, and hers are quite good. This club season should be a fantastic one for her. [player_tooltip player_id='764659' first='Sophia' last='Harari'] was the other real standout for me. I saw her in preseason and she was very impressive. Flexible, playing good defense in both the front and back row, she makes for a great all-around 6, and was a good part of the offense for Maryvale.    Sophia is a standout all-around 6 at Maryvale. She's agile, she's flexible, she's smart. She's a great foil to Maryvale's other top player, [player_tooltip player_id='547072' first='Victoria' last='Small'] and the two make a great duo, leading Maryvale to the IAAM title game in two straight seasons so far. Sophia does a great job adjusting to balls in the air to get her shot where she wants it. She plays very good back row defense for an OH, and she does a good job of taking what's available instead of just trying to force everything to work. Reading the court and knowing when the defense is sitting with a deep Libero and the center is wide open for a tip is a better option than just hammering balls but sending them right at players, being able to recognize those things is a wonderful skill set.   This is a player that is going to move up significantly in the rankings in the next batch.    Annapolis Area Christian School   I could almost pick out of a hat here, but I'll highlight some of the ones that stood out yesterday in particular. [player_tooltip player_id='748513' first='Scarlett' last='Netherton'], obviously. She led the state in kills, and without having the stats myself felt like she had 25 yesterday. She had some big blocks. She got balls up out of the net and off of blocks. She dove for balls on the ground. She's fantastic, and one of the top players in the state, easily. [player_tooltip player_id='749757' first='Dakota' last='Pentorn'] played outstanding all day. Her sets were always right where they needed to be, no matter which hitter it was. She's got great hands and touch, and popped up quite a few balls off blocks and tips over the day as well. [player_tooltip player_id='749642' first='Sophia' last='Groshek'] is a lot like her counterpart at Maryvale game wise. All-around, good defense, not may mistakes or errors. She in particular put on a clinic for adjusting in air to put balls away vs just trying to swing hard and hope it goes through. Her reach and lean towards the pin landed quite a few kills yesterday. That's an advanced skillset that many hitters never learn, let alone before college. I think I'm going to give my individual call out this time to [player_tooltip player_id='753070' first='Avery' last='Lettinga'] though. She was all over the place on the court, diving for balls, playing hard hit shots, getting kills. She's going to be a fun one to watch this club season, I'm expecting her to turn into the next superstar.    Avery is already highly rated in the area, but I'm expecting big things for her this upcoming club season. I think she takes the next step into super stardom. She's got the full range of skill, back row defense, hitting at the net, a good serve. She's got some good height, and as a freshman may even have another inch or two in there. She's already and advanced all-around 6, and I'm expecting her to get more playing time this year and really claim her space higher up the rankings. She's next in line, and she's ready.    The IAAM A bracket finals did not disappoint. Congrats to a lot of teams that did well this season, even though there can only be one winner. Club season is around the corner, where we will hear plenty more about most of these players, and next year will be another chance at the title, with a new team with a target on their back. Will teams recruit to answer their super team? Will AACS be content to defend their title, or will they continue to be aggressive and add to an already stellar team? This year was almost as perfect as a season could be, but this team is just getting started.   Next up: Club Tryouts and then The Prep Dig Exposure Tour on December 20th in Richmond, VA. Here's a code for $10 off if you can make it! StrainPD25   Hope to see you all there!

In my state title preview last month, I picked the IAAM Championship game to be AACS vs Maryvale. Yesterday at Stevenson University, I got that exact matchup. You had the young super team, who everyone knows about now (just like to remind everyone I was first on that train) vs the veteran team from Maryvale who has been in these big games before. The crowd was fired up, it looked like one of those High School sports movies, with both schools having large student sections, dressed up in school colors, with signs, coordinated cheers, and even a mascot sighting from Maryvale.