June 23, 2022

Another day, two more age groups wrapped up. Gold medals were awarded in the 15s and 17s divisions Wednesday at AAU in Orlando. We’ll have more on Legacy 15-1 Adidas topping OT 15 Randy in the 15 Open championship match and Legacy 17-1 Adidas defending its title by beating Rev 17-1 in the 17 Open final in separate articles. Below, we bring you our Day 4 Show Stoppers. Lauren Yacobucci, S, AVC Cle Rox 17 Red – Yacobucci was showing off her smooth hands. She was consistently on target with her sets and did a solid job directing the offense. Sophia Anghilante, MB, AVC Cle Rox 17 Red – Anghilante was a presence on both sides of the ball. She delivered a few resounding blocks and was scoring well when her number was called. Kamaluhia Garcia, RS, Ku’Ikahi 17 Wahine RSB – We highlighted this lefty on Day 3 and she was back at it again. Once more she was producing big kills and changed the dynamic of the offense every time she checked in. She also puts up a wall of the block on the right. Melie Vaioleti, L, Ku’Ikahi 17 Wahine RSB – Another member of Ku’Ikahi that we featured from Day 3, Vaioleti is nails out of serve receive. She was also holding the defensive line effectively. Reese Diersbock, OH, Ku’Ikahi 17 Wahine RSB – When this three-rotation outside checks in she brings her powerful arm to the court. She was firing away time and time again. Sarah Brodner, RS, High Tide 17 Elite – A 6-5 right side from the Class of 2024, we are high on the potential of Brodner. She can control the net on both sides of the ball, as she showed in the quarterfinals with shutdown blocks and critical kills at key moments. Lindsay Walch, MB, High Tide 17 Elite – Walch was not holding back when she went on the attack. She was swinging fiercely and also was clamping down with her block. Janyah Henderson, MB, Rev 17-1 – Henderson is a firecracker in the middle with her speed and quickness. She’s a bit undersized buy owns everything she touches and puts constant pressure on the defense. Elie Patterson, OH, Rev 17-1 – A six-rotation stalwart, Patterson delivered clutch kill after clutch kill. Just one example was her semifinal match-clincher off the block that boosted Rev into the 17 Open final. Sarah Gooch, OH, Top Select 17 Elite – One of the main offensive weapons for Top Select, Gooch was swinging well with her long arm and high contact point. She also displayed her smarts with her heady shot selections. Ileyshmi Negron, L, Top Select 17 Elite – Negron seemed to play her best in the bigger moments. If Top Select needed a dig she seemed to always get one. Harper Murray, OH, Legacy 17 Adidas – Murray’s performance in the 17 Open final was next level magic. She was unstoppable, powering Legacy to the gold medal with her wide array of shots from the front and back row, including the match-clinching kill to set off the celebration. Laurece Abraham, MB, Legacy 17 Adidas – Abraham is a scoring threat every time she checks in. Legacy doesn’t hesistate to go to her and time after time she delivered, including a few resounding kills. Abigail Reck, MB, Legacy 17 Adidas – Reck was also giving Legacy a potent punch out of the middle with her attacking. It helped keep the defense honest and not allow blockers to stack up on Legacy’s outsides. Nina Horning, OH, Legacy 17 Adidas – Throughout gold bracket play Horning showed off her arm and scoring prowess. She consistently delivered timely kills and loud winners. Sydney Lewis, L, OT 17 John – Lewis was showing what she’s able to do in the back row in the quarters and semis. She’s smooth with her passing and defending and was a defensive force. Allison Cavanaugh, RS, OT 17 John – With her height, Cavanaugh is a presence on both sides of the ball. She was showcasing her blocking knack on the right side, stuffing more than a few when challenged. Stella Swenson, S, MN Select 17-1 – Few command the offense like Swenson, who is a sophomore playing up. She was running a 5-1 with poise and confidence and had MN Select on the brink of the semifinals. Charlotte Vinson, RS, Asics Munciana 15 Lorax – A six-rotation right side who provides offense all the way around, Vinson was showcasing her arm time and time again. She has a high contact point and just keeps coming at the defense. Lilly Howell, MB, Asics Munciana 15 Lorax – Howell was giving Muncie tons of production out of the middle. So much so Muncie trusted going to her with the season on the line twice in a row in the semifinals against Legacy and she scored both times. Taylor Cripe, OH, Boiler Jrs 15 Gold – Cripe come can up with big time kills with her strong arm. She also has a great wrist snap that keeps her hard shots in the court. Mallory Johnson, L, Far Out 15 Black – Johnson had a strong Day 4. She was holding it down in serve receive by regularly putting her passes on target. She was also making key digs to extend rallies. Navea Gauthier, OH, Far Out 15 Black – Far Out is not the same team without Gauthier on the outside. She’s a menacing presence to any opponent Far Out faces, as she can wail front or back row with the best of them. Victoria Hill, OH, GP 15 Rox – A bit undersized, it doesn’t matter to Hill. She soars high and swings hard. That combo makes her a scoring machine and someone defenses to need to guard against no matter where she’s at in the rotation. Elizabeth Bower, L, ID Crush 15 Bower – ID Crush is built on its defensive prowess, led by Bower. An eighth-grader, she owns

Bracket play in 17 Open at AAU in Orlando essentially started Day 3, with eight late afternoon/early evening challenge matches deciding the eight-team gold bracket for Day 4. There was an unexpected twist that we wrote about in yesterday’s recap when original top-seeded Legacy 17-1 Adidas squared off against No. 2 A5 Mizuno 17 Jing after Legacy was upset by Rev 17-1 in pool play. With Legacy and A5 not only being the two highest-seeds teams but the two highest-ranked teams from our National Rankings, no doubt one was going to be severely disappointed not to be playing for a gold medal on the final day of competition. After suffering the setback to Rev, Legacy hit its stride, beginning with A5 and ending with a rematch against Rev in the 17 Open gold medal match. Legacy swept the revenge outing, 25-20, 25-19, to hoist the championship trophy for the second consecutive season after finishing on top of the 16 Open field a summer ago. “Obviously, coming into a tournament as the defending champs and the No. 1 seed there is a lot of pressure on you immediately,” Legacy coach Jen Cottrill said. “They are phenomenal athletes but they are also 16 and 17-years-old. I felt like we played really heavy the first half of the tournament. When we lost to Rev we were able to work on our mental focus and getting rid some of the pressure and we never looked back.” Rev pulled out its upset over Legacy in three games on Day 3 but couldn’t maintain the same play in the final. Legacy took command early in each set and made Rev play from behind the rest of the way. It was only fitting that Harper Murray skied for the final point and delivered an emphatic kill to clinch it. “We focus on our serve and pass all the time and being disciplined defensively,” Cottrill said. “With a player like Harper who can terminate she draws a lot of attention. Earlier in the day we were able to use our middles and other players to score with her drawing all the attention. In the final she was just unbelievable so it was just feed her the ball.” Before getting an opportunity to get even with Rev, Legacy had another chance to extract revenge in the quarterfinals. Top Select 17 Elite upset Legacy on Day 1 of the JVA SummerFest in Columbus earlier this month before Legacy went on to capture that title. When Top Select grabbed the first set it looked like it could be a repeat performance from the Florida club. But Legacy grabbed control midway through the second set and took it from there. Murray put an end to it with a kill for the victory, 20-25, 25-16, 15-6. Up next in the semis was OT 17 John, which was coming off a nail-biter in the quarterfinals. OT snuck past MN Select 17-1 in three, 20-25, 25-15, 15-13. OT was up 10-6 in the final frame before Select tied it up at 12 all. That was all the drama on the day for OT though, as Legacy swept OT, 25-20, 25-21, to reach the final. Rev and Ku’Ikahi 17 Wahine RSB both swept their quarterfinal contests before producing a tight affair in the semis. A kill off the block from Elie Patterson finally put a cap on that one for Rev in three, 25-22, 16-25, 15-13. Legacy, Top Select, OT and MN Select, as well as A5, are in 17 Open at the USAV GJNC in Indy starting July 1. Rev is in 17 National and is a team to watch out for in that division. “It’s nice, we get almost a week,” Cottrill said. “Last year we had like two days (in between). We’ll go home and practice a little bit and try and take this confidence into Indy.” *** Finishing off with some final thoughts on 17 Open. Whereas the rides in 14 Open and 15 Open – where Legacy 15-1 Adidas brought home gold as well for the club – were more straight-forward, I didn’t feel like that was the case in 17 Open. And where our National Rankings held up well in 14 and 15 Open, they took more of a hit in 17 Open. Only eight of the 14 teams in the field appearing in our National Rankings made it to challenge play, which featured 16 teams. Three of the four top teams in our rankings did make the gold bracket in No. 10 Legacy, No. 13 MN Select and No. 17 OT John. It would have been the top four making it except for what happened with No. 3 A5 having to play Legacy. Legacy winning was something most thought possible when the tournament started. Most probably figured to see an A5-Legacy final. But it’s likely very few if anyone not associated with the club saw Rev making it all the way to the final. It can hardly be called a fluke either. Rev defeated A5 on Day 2 and Legacy on Day 3. That’s legit. Rev also handed Ku’Ikahi its only loss of the tournament. Ku’Ikahi didn’t have enough results to make our Top 50 put out in May. But the Hawaiian club showed it belongs in our final rankings coming out in July to be sure. Rev – sitting at No. 44 – could very well move up quite a few spots as well. Another surprise was High Tide 17 Elite. Rev swept High Tide in the quarterfinals. Academy 17 Diamond was the only other team to beat High Tide, which actually beat Rev in pool play on Day 1. AVC Cle Rox 17 Red – which finished tied for fifth – had a shaky loss to Miami Elite 17 in pool play on Day 3, when it also lost to Academy Diamond. But AVC defeated Kokoro Volleyball to make the challenge rounds and delivered a big upset in knocking out original No. 6 seed Adidas KiVA

Ten of the original top 13 seeds were still in the hunt for the 15 Open gold medal in the modified 12-team gold bracket Wednesday. It featured the top three seeds in OT 15 Randy, Asics Munciana 15 Lorax and Legacy 15-1 Adidas. The three just happened to be the highest-ranked teams in the field from our National Rankings too, with OT at No. 7, Legacy at No. 8 and Munciana at No. 25. Along with Mich Elite 15 Mizuno – which opened as the No. 11 seed and was the fifth-highest ranked team in the field from our National Rankings at No. 27 – all walked away with medals. Tops among everyone was Legacy, which edged out OT in three games, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12, for the gold medal. Mich Elite and Munciana, which met on Day 3 in pool play, tied for the bronze. “I’ll tell you what, we’ve won a couple of national championships in the past but you never really know if you’ll ever get back and play for another one,” Legacy coach Ricky Cottrill said. “The way the last couple of matches started off I didn’t know what it was going to be like. We had a rough set against Munciana then another rough set to start in the championship game. Our girls were resilient and battled. They played their hearts out and when you do that good things seem to happen.” Overall, the gold bracket produced entertaining volleyball as seven of the 11 contests went the distance, including both semifinals. Legacy barely made it past Munciana, 17-25, 26-24, 17-15. The same went for OT, which clipped Mich Elite, 25-21, 26-28, 15-13. Legacy – which finished 11-0 for the week – hadn’t faced either Munciana or OT Randy yet this season. Before getting to either of those teams, Legacy extracted a measure of revenge in the quarterfinals by sweeping past Far Out 15 Black. Far Out defeated Legacy earlier this month at the JVA SummerFest but Legacy had the answer in Orlando. Munciana was a different beast. Cottrill said Muncie was the best passing team Legacy has dueled with all season. Munciana’s only prior setback came to Mich Elite to end pool play on Day 3. But Muncie still earned first place in the pool and retained the No. 2 overall seed. Legacy was ahead 11-9 in the final set but Muncie pulled even at 12 all. The teams played side out volleyball until setter Campbell Flynn delivered a match-clinching block to end the drama. OT was pushed all day long, starting with the quarterfinal clash against Kairos 15 Adidas. OT moved on in three, 25-17, 20-25, 15-11. Then in the semis, OT had to deal with a key injury. Libero Lily Hayes went down midway through the second set and OT had to play the rest of the frame without her and was unable to replace her until the third set with Aaliyah Harlow. Hayes was wearing a sling on her right arm as she watched from the sidelines in the final. Her status for next week’s USAV GJNC is unknown. OT almost rallied back in the second set against Mich Elite despite trailing 19-13. OT actually held match point at 24-23 after Maggie Dostic’s ace. Mich Elite held on before OT finally finished it in Game 3 on Kaylee Peper’s quick attack. “I’m super happy and excited,” OT coach Randy Thomas said. “We overcame a couple of big third games. We battled and powered through. We are doing something right. We just came up a little short. We mis-executed when we needed it those last couple of points to seal the deal. I’m stoked for the team. It’s exciting. It’s not easy to make a final of Open. We were right there.” The championship match was there for the taking for both sides. Tied at 10 all in Game 3, Legacy used a 4-1 run to lead 14-11. Two points later Gabriella Divita ripped down her second big kill in three points to close it out as Legacy hit the floor in celebration. Both Legacy and OT are headed to Indy for 15 Open, which begins Monday. “You know what was working well, we passed pretty darn well,” Cottrill said. “We passed better than we have the last couple of tournaments and that’s the key for us. When we pass well we can run our offense. We have good attackers we can take advantage of and an aggressive setter who we can give opportunities in the front row. That was our biggest key this week our ability to pass and our ability to scrap on defense.” *** Getting to some more thoughts on 15 Open, I’m going to shamelessly plug the 15s National Rankings produced last month. In 14 Open, four of our top five ranked teams in the field found their way to the podium. It was the same scenario in 15 Open. We had OT Randy at No. 7 (silver medal); Legacy at No. 8 (gold); Munciana at No. 25 (bronze) and Mich Elite at No. 27 (bronze). Adidas KiVA 15 Red – at No. 26 – didn’t make the gold bracket. National Rankings can be a bit of crap shoot so it’s nice when they hold up at national championships. One thing is for sure, Munciana is going to finish higher than No. 25 in our final rankings released in July. Munciana can be a hard team to rank because it plays a limited schedule but the Indiana club showed it’s among the best in the nation. I confidently feel this team would place Top 10 in 15 Open in Indy next week if it were competing there. Far Out is like Munciana in that the club doesn’t do qualifiers. Far Out is listed in the On The Cusp section in our National Rankings. Far Out beat three ranked teams in Indy – A5 Mizuno 15 Bob, GP (in gold bracket action) and Top Select 15 Elite and is likely