AAU 15 Open: Gold Medal Rundown
Watching Dynasty 14 Black compete its way to the 14 Open AAU national championship without dropping a match, the path to the 15 Open gold medal was a vastly different one. Only one club – Munciana 15 Blue – entered the 12-team gold bracket on the last day undefeated. The rest had tasted defeat at least once during the previous three days. And the only way to the top of the podium for any club outside Munciana was not to experience that fate again. It wasn’t that Legacy 15-1 Adidas was an unlikely candidate to do so. The club did enter the tournament ranked No. 13 nationally. It was just after Legacy lost its opening match on Day 2 to unranked MOD 15 Elite and then another to No. 5 OT 15 Randy on Day 3, it seemed a lot less plausible that Legacy would survive the final day of action unscathed. Yet, in the unpredictable world of club volleyball, Legacy managed to do just that. The Lakeshore Region club fended off Top Select 15 Elite, 25-15, 20-25, 15-7, in the championship match to capture gold in preparation for its season-ending event in a couple weeks at the USAV national championships in Las Vegas. Legacy swept Kairos 15 Alpha (25-20, 25-16) in the quarterfinals and Northern Lights 15-1 (25-20, 25-20) in the semis before going the distance with Top Select. Legacy fought its way through a loaded pool on Day 3 that featured OT Randy, No. 37 Adidas KiVA 15 Red and No. 41 Mintonette Sports m.51, finishing in first place and taking over the top seed for Day 4. The upper half of the gold bracket was day-and-night compared to the lower half. While the five matches leading into the final in the upper half all concluded in two sets, the lower half featured four consecutive three-setters before Top Select took care of Munciana in straight sets, 25-19, 25-20, in the semis. It began with A5 15-1 Kelly, ranked No. 12 nationally, downing No. 32 WPVC 15 Armour Black, 22-25, 25-15, 15-8, to reach the quarters. Tri-State Elite 15 Blue, ranked No. 11 in our Top 50, followed suite by fighting off KiVA in three, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9, to also move to the quarters. There, Top Select upset A5, 28-26, 14-25, 15-10, and Munciana eliminated Tri-State, 27-25, 21-25, 15-8. Meanwhile, the upper half kicked off with No. 46 Kairos sweeping Miami Hype 15 Nekane, 25-16, 26-24. Northern Lights then ran past MN Select 15-1, 25-18, 25-14. Northern Lights also swept RVA 15 Naples, 25-18, 25-19, before falling to Legacy and taking home the bronze medal along with Munciana. While Legacy wrapped up the four days with a 9-2 overall mark, Munciana was one of two teams with just one setback at 9-1. The other team, Pitt Elite 15 Elite, wasn’t fortunate enough to make the gold bracket. Pitt Elite concluded 11-1, coming in 13th. The only team to beat Pitt Elite was RVA. That came in the opening match on Day 3. Pitt Elite upset A5 to close out pool play, but was on the short end of the tiebreaker after ending up in a three-way tie with A5 and RVA.