Minnesota Teams To Kickoff Wave 1 of AAU Nationals

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Athletes from Minnesota will be finishing their club careers, where others will be getting a head start to what will hopefully be a very successful high school and club career.  AAU Nationals will be kicking off next week in Orlando with the younger waves (ages 10-14) as well as 18s with the Apex and Pinnacle Divisions. Here is a quick look at some teams that will be starting off what will be two weeks of high caliber volleyball to cap off a season that started back with tryouts in November to finish at the “Happiest Place on Earth” - Disney, or in this case the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. </span></p> <p><strong>18 Apex</strong></p> <p><strong>Southwest MN Volleyball 18-1</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">SWMNVB will be coming back one last time with this group with plenty of the athletes on this team who brought home some big hardware from last seasons AAU tournament as well as athletes who had very successful high school careers this past fall.  <strong>Lydia Suessner</strong> was one of the top players in the entire state this past fall, winning a state title at Minneota. She will play in one final tournament before heading off to Southwest Minnesota State. This squad also has some really talented Class of 2020 prospects in <strong>Mia Schaible and Bria Morris</strong> of Marshall.  They will be heading into their Senior year at Marshall after finishing state runner up last fall. Another athlete to keep tabs on would be 6’4 right side, <strong>Alyssa Groves</strong> of Murray County Central. SWMNVB will be the number one overall seed. </span></p> <p><strong>Kokoro 18-1</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kokoro will be bringing a roster loaded with committed athletes from the Twin Cities metro as well as a few from Wisconsin.  Forest Lake brings an athletic bunch to the team with <strong>Kaitlyn Bakke (Waldorf University), Angela Denney (Illinois-Springfield), and Ava Schmoll (North Dakota State).</strong> <strong> Reece Koehler</strong> of Stillwater will be heading to Seton Hall. Kokoro has depth and athleticism and every position. They will be a team to keep an eye on with the possibility of meeting Southwest in potentially a key matchup come bracket play at the end of the tournament.  Kokoro has the number two overall seed. Kokoro will also have their 17/18s combined team play in the 18 Pinnacle Division. </span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://x.com/kandielite?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kandielite</a> 18-1 and <a href="https://x.com/Kokorovb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Kokorovb</a> 18-1 battle it out for the final championship of the 2019 <a href="https://x.com/hashtag/PentagonGrandPrix?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PentagonGrandPrix</a> <a href="https://t.co/5WRoN3WdhM">pic.x.com/5WRoN3WdhM</a></p> — Sanford Pentagon VBC (@PentagonVBC) <a href="https://x.com/PentagonVBC/status/1117560354375176197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2019</a></blockquote> <p><script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>18 Pinnacle</strong> </span></p> <p><strong>Kandi Elite 18-1</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">KEVC will be one of the most athletic teams in this division.  With a top seed in their pool, this team knows how to win with athletes heading to play at the collegiate level at some top programs in the Dakotas and Minnesota (and<strong> Isabelle Roefs</strong> heading to Central Connecticut State).  This squad has a really solid core where some will be future teammates and even opponents heading to the Northern Sun Conference, one of the top Division 2 conferences in the country. <strong>Avery Elferling (Sioux Falls), Riley Decker (Concordia-St. Paul), and Makenna Steffel (Northern State)</strong> will all be going to the NSIC.  Setter, <strong>Carly Wedel</strong> will be playing Division 1 at South Dakota State. </span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Starting to say farewell to the Class of 2019 and seeing some of the top 14s teams in the country this morning with <a href="https://x.com/MNSelect?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MNSelect</a> and <a href="https://x.com/nlightsvball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nlightsvball</a> <a href="https://t.co/GlO4TrdFpr">pic.x.com/GlO4TrdFpr</a></p> — Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) <a href="https://x.com/PrepDigChris/status/1114906729551159297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2019</a></blockquote> <p><script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>14 Open</strong> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>MN Select 14-1</strong> will be competing in two national tournaments having qualified for USAV 14 Open Nationals in Indianapolis later in June.  Select, which has notched big win after big win throughout the year and beating some top teams in older age groups will take a very balanced and fundamentally sound squad into Orlando as the fourth overall seed.  <strong>Northern Lights 14-1</strong> will be a team that can turn some heads. An athletic, well coached, and disciplined team, they will start out as a two seed in the pool with FaR Out (MI), Academy (IN), and Lianeras (Puerto Rico). </span></p>