Tawa’s Girls Club Dots: More Sunshine, Brotherly Love and Bluegrass

This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag’s weekly look at 10 things in club volleyball, past or present, that interest me and hopefully will interest you. Look for Dots every Tuesday through Junior Nationals this summer.

• The 11th of 16 national qualifiers for 18-year-old teams took place this past weekend at NEQ in Philly. Independence Hall, cheesesteaks (with whiz), the Rocky statue, Redding Terminal Market … it was all there, plus competitive volleyball. What more could anyone ask for?

• Metro 18 Travel won the 26-team 18 Open division, and three more teams, AZ Revolution 18 Premier, HJV 18 Elite and FC Elite 18 Elite, punched tickets to the Dance in Baltimore at the end of the next month.

Metro went 9-1 over the three days. The D.C. club, a previous qualifier, lost to AZ Revolution in straight sets on Day 2, but avenged the loss with a 25-23, 25-23 win in the championship match.

• AZ Revolution was 8-2 at NEQ after coming within one win of a bid at Salt Lake City. Carl DeFriez’ team went 2-1 on Day 1 in Philly, losing to Absolute 18 Black in three; then won six in a row to get to the finals, including the win over Metro on Day 2, which gave Revolution the No. 2 seed; and a revenge win later that day over Absolute in the first round of Gold Pool play..

“Leaving the gym that day we had a ton of confidence heading into the next morning,” said DeFriez.

AZ Revolution completed its 3-0 Gold Pool showing on Sunday with wins over previous-qualifier Houston Skyline 18 Royal and FC Elite to secure its Open bid.

“I’m really proud of all of our players,” DeFriez said. “We only have 10 on the roster and everyone stepped up at key moments and owned their role to make this happen. I can honestly say we would not have done this without every player on the team.”

Libero Piper Rama, setter Tristen Raymond and OH Evan Hendrix were particularly effective.

“Evan is a returning player from last year’s roster that won 3rd in 18 Open at Nationals,” DeFriez said. “She had an amazing weekend in helping to inspire and bring the best out of her teammates.”

• The qualifying effort of Houston Juniors 18 Elite was nothing short of remarkable. Jenny Adcock’s squad upgraded its USA bid to Open with a gritty performance, led by lights out play from setter Taryn Gilreath and RS Mariana Buchanan. HJV went 6-3 to tie for third overall and took out previousl qualifiers TAV Houston and Triangle along the way.

HJV won despite playing without regular libero Alice Volpe, who has been out injured the past eight weeks. Adcock’s squad also was without its second setter, Charli Crowson, played with both middles ill most of the weekend and with OH Dominique Phills losing a fingernail in the Triangle match. Gilreath also went down when she got tangled with an opponent under the net, but managed to stay in.

“Through all of that, they managed to overcome and achieve our Open bid goal,” Adcock said.

• Houston Skyline 17 Royal is quickly establishing itself as one of the nation’s elite 17s teams. This past weekend at NEQ, Alex Edwards’ team won its second national qualifier in as many tries. Add a 7-2 showing at Triple Crown and winning the Tour of Texas Houston stop and this team is having a whole lotta early-season success with setter Kassidy O’Brien running the show.

Surfside 17 Legends, AVA of Texas 17 Adidas and TAV 17 Black Haroun all finished among the top three in the 45-team event to earn Open bids.

Surfside, which “arrived” last year by winning the Elite 16s division at Triple Crown, had a slow start to 2024 due to injuries and finished 18th at Triple Crown, but it traveled to NEQ with a full squad and showed a glimpse of its potential. The team finished second despite seeing MB Kalyssa Blackshear suffer an ankle injury early in the tournament. She powered through and so did the team, which benefited by the strong scoring arm of OH Kaci Demaria, solid passing from Simone Roslon and extreme digs from libero Olivia Foye. Newcomers Addy Benefield and Ruby Cochrane added size and more scoring options at the net and middles Blackshear and Daniela Rusich stepped up at key moments to help Surfside finish matches.

“We are looking forward to continuing to grow over the next couple of months as we prepare for Nationals,” said coach Loriann Perkins.

Note to everyone in 17 Open: a healthy Surfside is a scary Surfside.

• TAV 17 Black Haroun is the second of two 17 Black teams at TAV this year and the first to qualify. TAV 17 Black Jon has been the better team in major events this year, but 17 Haroun, which tied for 37th at Triple Crown, is the first of the TAV teams to gain Open admittance.

“Going into the Northeast Qualifier we spoke mostly about consistency and composure over perfection,” said coach John Haroun. “Our focus was on first ball contact and maintaining aggressiveness through the weekend. Physically we matched up with all the other teams; it was just a matter of not overthinking the moment but staying aggressive.”

The most critical match came in the Gold Pool match versus OT Felix. OT was 1-0 at the time, having opened pool play with a win over Austin Juniors in three. TAV had to beat OT to prevent the Florida team from automatically qualifying for the four-team Gold Bracket. TAV won in two and then needed to avoid losing in three to AJV to come out first in the pool (and earn a bid by virtue of Houston Skyline having already made the Gold Bracket). AJV came out with aggression and won the first set, but TAV returned the favor in the second to clinch the bid even before the teams went to a deciding third set.

TAV secured its bid through a “very collaborative team effort,” Haroun said. 17 Black had strong 6-rotation play and consistent hitting from left sides Emma Sorensen and Karli Jordan. There was a huge block and key hitting from Florida commit DeAndrea (Dee) McMillian in the middle and Old Dominion commit Katie Rakoski on the right. Libero Sophie Bridges and setters Kianna Babaei and Ryleigh Davis also were instrumental in getting TAV to Baltimore.

On a side note: Haroun and his assistant’s flights out of Dallas were canceled due to weather an hour before takeoff. They almost didn’t make it to NEQ, but ended up on a Richmond, Virginia flight that landed at 3 AM, and took a four-hour Uber straight to the convention center just in time for the start of pool play!

• Remember when the Sunshine Classic in Orlando was a new national qualifier and for years got small fields comprised mostly of Florida teams? That’s well in the past now after another massive field this past weekend in 15 Open with an elite Final Four playing tension-filled matches.

Four teams that made the top eight at Triple Crown played in the semifinals for the three bids. AZ Storm 15 Thunder, which finished third at Triple Crown, rallied past Legacy 15-1 Adidas in the semifinals, then outlasted Triple Crown winner TAV 15 Black, 15-13 in the third, for the title. The teams have not met three times in the past three weeks, with Storm holding a 2-1 series advantage.

Legacy, T-7 at Triple Crown; and OT 15 T Randy, T-7 at Triple Crown; met for third place and the final bid. Legacy, lost the first set, 25-14, but won the next two, including 15-13 in the final set, to claim the final bid.

“I’m so incredibly proud of this group for the way they competed against some of the best in the country in Florida,” said Legacy coach Tyler Strom. “Going into Day 3 we knew we had to beat two incredibly difficult teams just to get to the semis. Beating two top tier teams in our gold pool (HPSTL & A5) and pushing AZ Storm to 3 would’ve been enough for me to call it an outstanding weekend. But to be able to come back from a beatdown like OT gave us in the first set proved everything I needed to know about the mental fortitude of this team. Had it not been for a shoulder dig for a kill at 12-12 in the third we wouldn’t have punched our ticket. I truly believe this will be a team that will compete for the podium in Florida (AAUs) and Vegas (Junior Nationals).”

OT was the odd team out of the scintillating bid chase at Sunshine.

“We did everything right and put ourselves in a great position but ultimately fell short by two points,” said OT coach Randy Thomas.

OT got to the Gold Bracket semis by knocking off Top Select behind outsides Sophia Puleo and Millie Snider and OT served well and got a tremendous hitting and blocking performance in the middle from Georgia Underwood to top Austin Skyline.

Fatigue was a factor for both teams in the third-place match for the bid. Candice Holloway went on a huge serving run to allow OT to win Game 1 going away. Legacy came out firing in Game 2 to send the match to three. OT led 12-9 in the third but couldn’t close.

“Everyone played well,” Thomas said. “Our setter, Sophia Dostic, moved the ball around and both outsides [Puleo and Snider] swung great. Just didn’t fall our way late in the third set. Hard loss but time to regroup and get ready for Big South.”

VCNebraska 15 Elite was one of four teams to tie for fifth.

The team, led by setter McKinley Moser, libero Kaelynn Lottman and outside hitter Alli Bornschlegl, dropped matches only to the teams that placed 1-2 in the tournament.

A smaller team that relies on serving tough, playing great defense and the setting of Moser, VCN exceeded expectations this weekend.

• In Louisville, the Bluegrass Tournament saw Team Pineapple (18 Open), Tribe (17 Open), Boiler Juniors (16 Open) and Munciana Blue (15 Open) emerge as the big winners.

All four teams competed well at Triple Crown (13th or better) and kept it going at Bluegrass.

Munciana Blue relied on middles Carsyn Comer and Milana Mays to get quality touches and protect the net and they were integral to the win, as was pin Shania Rhamy, who put pressure on the other team at the net or behind the service line.

“We are starting to run a more balanced offense, so it is opening more opportunities for all hitters,” said Muncie coach Sarah Roush. “I also believe our back court is learning and starting to take more pride in defense. We are excited for the win but also excited to get back to work in practice this week.”

“We had our times that we were not playing well, and I believe that has helped our growth and helped us mature as a group,” Roush added. “We are developing the ability to hold on and keep fighting. This was a huge part of our success in the semi-final match. We held on until we got in a groove then we were able to fight back.”

• Speaking of Munciana, did you see that Mike Lingenfelter’s 18 Samurai squad, which tied for third in 18 Open at Bluegrass, is in the 18 Open field at the Mideast Qualifier in Indianapolis? They are the third overall seed in the 40-team field. Munciana was one of the main clubs to leave USA Volleyball way back when for the Junior Volleyball Director’s Association (now JVA) and stopped playing national qualifiers in 2007. This is reportedly the club’s first return to a USAV qualifying event in 17 years.

• Let’s use the last Dot to follow up on items reported last week. First, the future of uber-talented A5 freshman setter Marissa Jones. Here’s what A5 director Gabe Aramian had to say about her:

“Once in a while – like once in a Halley’s Comet – you’ll have a player of Marissa’s worth come into your world. An outside observer could easily confuse her with a current college player at the highest level, and she’s 14. Having started at an early age, Marissa has been a true study of the game, spending much of her waking moments in the gym training and perfecting her skill. Her IQ, physicality, and understanding of the setter position are unmatched. Marissa truly is a special player.”

From current coach Kelly Audia: “No one finds more joy than Marissa in playing the game. It is a rare thing to find someone who enjoys both playing and the work that comes before the matches. She’s always had a great work ethic. The sky is the limit for Marissa as she continues to develop and mature.”

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From coach Scott McQueen, about Circle City 18 Purple, which qualified in 18 Open in Boston after struggling in St. Louis over President’s Day:

“The roller coaster finished on a high note?

Lots of different kids contributed. Lilly Merk had some dominant moments in the middle. Proud of the girls but definitely still have some work to do.”

***

From assistant coach Noel Caballero about Dallas Skyline 17 Royal (aka “Ping’s team”) qualifying last week in 17 Open at Sunshine:

“Standouts from this weekend were:

Lefty right side hitter Naya Salfiti, who led the entire team in kills over the weekend with 61, along with 10 blocks.

Outside hitter Isabella Ocampo, led the team from the service line with 13 service aces, and was second on the team in kills with 55.

Middle blocker Kaelynn Sims led the team in blocks over the weekend with 15.

Overall, the team showed grit this weekend, making their presence known at the net defensively, registering over 50 blocks on the weekend. Pressure from the service line also contributed to the team’s success as the team registered 56 aces over the qualifier weekend.”

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A few more currents:

Forza1 15 ONE handed Tstreet 15-Asics its first SCVA loss in the semifinals of the SCVA power league event. Class of 2028 OH Janiah Burrage led the way in the match with a .455 hitting clip. Forza1 freshman setter Kiersten Moore was also a difference maker and showed why she’s a top player in the 2027 class.

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Carolina Rogue 17 Black took fifth at Bluegrass. The squad knocked off Elevation 17 Cabo in the first Gold Challenge match but KiVA 17 Red proved too tough in the quarterfinals.

Among those Rogue-ettes with stellar weekends? Liberos Mia Wave-Nelson and Masyn McClanahan, MB Jordan Hunt, setter Sydney Fischer and RS Blakely Johnson.

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Keep an eye on Southwest MN 16-1. A club that traditionally starts late because it caters to multi-sport HS athletes, Mike Dalager’s team played its first tournament of the season at the North Country Region Regional National Qualifier. The team twice defeated Northern Lights 16-1 and beat MN Select 16-1 in the final to earn a bid to Junior Nationals.

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