We are half way through the 15s and 17s divisions at AAU in Orlando. There was no doubt the tension and excitement began ramping up on Day 2 as we turned the corner and start heading down the home stretch. Before we get to the headlines of the day down below, we first want to bring attention to the day’s standout players. They are who we call our Show Stoppers and there were plenty to highlight from Monday’s action.
Sarah Shaw, MB, Oaks 15 Gold – With her height, Shaw is a weapon for Oaks. She has a big arm and can over blocks, making her a difficult cover. She also has the ability to play all the way around and is part of serve receive.
Anna Cathcart, OH, OVA 15 Black – This 6-2 outside has a bright future. She has a lively arm that helps her hit with plenty of pace. She’ll carry the offensive load whether she’s front or back row.
Francesca Popescu, L, A5 Mizuno 15 Bob – A three-star recruit, Popescu can pass half the court in serve receive along with DS Alexa Flowers. She also has the confidence to step in and take balls overhead.
Addison Applegate, L, Asics Munciana 15 Lorax – Another three-star recruit, Applegate has solid command of the back row. She too can pass half the court in serve receive and has a great ball control.
Charlotte Vinson, RS, Asics Munciana 15 Lorax – A 6-1, three-star recruit, Vinson is a terrific option on the right side. She can go over blocks with her length.
Jaya Rimm, OH, Tx Tornados 15 Adidas – A bit undersized at 5-9, Rimm gets off the ground well. She has a nice extension and snap and is the go-to outside for Tornados.
Jaeda Rawls-Fletcher, MB, Tx Tornados 15 Adidas – Rawls-Fletcher is springy. She’s 5-10 and with her jump plays longer than that. She’s tough for blockers to time up and Tornados will definitely set her the ball when the option is there.
Campbell Flynn, S, Legacy 15-1 Adidas – A 6-1, four-star recruit, Flynn owns the position. She has a great touch and consistently sets a clean ball. With her height, she can also go over on two, giving defenses another thing to worry about.
Addison Newblatt, L, Legacy 15-1 Adidas – Newblatt was not getting challenge very much in serve receive as teams focused on keeping the ball away from her.
Eva Swenson, S/RS, MN Select 15-1 – Swenson has a high ceiling. She’s already 6-3 and able to set and hit. She’s a valuable piece of the puzzle for Select because of that.
Lily Hayes, L, OT 15 Randy – Teams do not come at Hayes in serve receive very often. When they do, she’s usually on target with sound passing. She’s also a hard worker on defense and isn’t afraid to hit the floor.
Jordyn Gray, OH, CJV 15 Anna – Gray is definitely someone to keep tabs on as she moves through the ranks as she has great potential. She jumps and swings well and is the main scoring threat for CJV be it front or back row.
Lauren Coyne, RS, SPVB 15 Elite – A 6-2, four-star recruit, Coyne is an offensive force. The lefty is lanky with a strong arm who can overpower blockers and defenders.
Lilliana Montes, MB, Temecula Viper 15-1 – The saying goes you can’t teach height and Montes, at 6-4, certainly has plenty of it. It makes her a prospect to be aware of in the coming years. Right now, she’s trouble at the net, winning 50-50 balls and easily get her shots and swings over smaller blockers.
Makenna Grimes, RS, Elite VBTC 15 Black – Grimes is a gamer. She’s a bit undersized at 5-9 but she’s fun to watch go on the attack. She has a lively arm and let’s loose with it time and time again.
Fatimah Hall, S, Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar – A three-star recruit committed to San Diego State, Hall is a physically-strong setter with a nice release and consistent location. She can run tempo when needed to and can get all her hitters involved.
Mele Corral-Blagojevich, OH, Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar – A four-star recruit who recently committed to Oklahoma, Corral-Blagojevich was part of the 18s roster this season and has since moved down to play with her age group. She’s a physical attacker who can impact the match from the service line as well.
Harper Murray, OH, Legacy 17-1 Adidas – Murray – a five-star recruit headed to Nebraska – can be written about at length. What stood out the most was her ability to generate kills on out of system plays and off balls by using her smarts to tool or tip the ball of blocks. She was key in helping Legacy close out Mich Elite 17 Mizuno down the stretch in Game 3.
Sydney Robinson, OH, Asics Munciana 17 Pandas – An undersized outside at 5-8, attacks with passion. She jumps very well, takes aggressive swings and doesn’t back down if she gets blocked.
Kamden Schrand, L, Tri-State 17 Elite Blue – A Louisville commit, Schrand’s passing out of serve receive was sharp and on point. She was also picking up touches and tips well too.
Ivey Stocks, MB, Tri-State 17 Elite Blue – Stocks is a little undersized in the middle but she’s athletic and springy and that helps make up for it. She gets up in the air fast and defenses need to stay close because she’s a definite threat when she’s front row.
Lauren Purnell, MB, Tribe 17 Elite – Another middle who is a bit undersized at 5-10, Purnell has similar attributes as Stocks. She’s also a quick jumper who takes aggressive cuts and gives Tribe an option in the middle.
Ariana Brown, OH, Asics Willowbrook 17 Gold – A three-star recruit committed to Louisiana Monroe, Brown is a six-rotation glue piece. She’s a terrific passer out of serve receive who also hits a heavy ball on the attack.
Remi Madison, OH, Mich Elite 17 Mizuno – Madison plays taller than her 5-10 frame with the way she jumps. She also plays with lots of fire and heart and is relentless on the attack as she just keeps coming at defenses.
Emily Navarro, S, Wildfire 17 Brian – Navarro, a 5-10 setter, is quick and gets to the ball well. She also was showing the ability to run tempo and get her hitters looks before the block fully formed.
Brooklyn Tealer, OH, Gainesville Jrs 17 Black – A three-star recruit from the Class of 2024, Tealer is playing up for AAU after spening the season helping the 16s team qualify for 16 Open for USAV. She’s got a great arm and can absolutely crush it at times.
Lauren Janosy, OH, AVC Cle Rox 17 Red – When we caught Janosy, she was scoring consistently. She was taking smart swings, either tooling the block or exploiting the seam for
Kenna Wollard, OH, Illini Elite 17 Cardinal – A four-star recruit who plans on signing with Purdue, Wollard is the go-to and main scoring option for Illini Elite. She jumps well and with her big arm delivers plenty of hard kills.
Lauren Hurst, OH, K2 17 Adidas – A member of the Class of 2025 who is playing up two age groups, we love what the future holds for Hurst. As for the present, she can be tough to slow at times with her loose arm that gives her the ability to hit with pace.
Raegan Lantz, OH, MVA 17 National Black – Miami of Ohio is getting a good one with this three-star recruit. The lanky outside jumps well and has a whippy swing to torture defenses with.
Tori Davis, MB, Legacy Girls 17 Pyramid – A four-star recruit committed to Baylor, Davis has the potential to shine on the next level. She’s long and has nice extension that allows her to eliminate blockers at times.
Madison Maxwell, S/RS, Legacy Girls 17 Pyramid – A 6-1, three-star recruit from the Class of 2024, Maxwell is a terrific piece for Legacy with her setting and hitting skills. It’s hard to decipher which one she’s better at, as she has a nice touch and consistent location as well as a strong arm to score with.
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There were a few developments of note from 17 Open. ID Crush 17 Bower, at No. 28, and No. 32 Mich Elite 17 Mizuno became the first two teams from our National Rankings to be shown the exit. Mich Elite fell into a tough Day 2 pool, a three-team pool that also featured top-seeded Legacy 17-1 Adidas and unranked Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar.
Mich Elite lost a heartbreaker to Legacy in the first contest, falling 15-13 in Game 3. That seemed to empty Mich Elite’s tank, as Long Beach swept Mich Elite in the next outing and finished second behind Legacy.
ID Crush finished 1-2 in Pool 11 after losing to a pair of unranked teams in Gainesville 17 Black – the No. 1 team in the Pool – and VCNebraska 17 Elite – the No. 4 team. Gainesville finished 3-0 and VCNebraska 2-1.
The other major headline from Day 2 was national No. 3 and No. 2 overall seed A5 Mizuno 17 Jing playing to stay in the tournament. A5 was stunned by No. 44 Rev 17-1 in its opening match. Playing in a three-team pool, it meant A5 was in a must-win position against Encore 17 Kalekonas. A5, Encore and Rev all finished 1-1, with A5 still maintaining a grip on the No. 2 seed with the best set percentage. Rev grabbed second while Encore was eliminated despite a great win over Rev.
K2 17 Adidas – after its upset of MN Select 17-1 on Day 1 – took over the No. 3 overall seed. But that’s as far as the good news went for K2, which went 0-2 in its three-team pool and finished third after losses to Illini Elite 17 Cardinal (2-0) and Northern Lights 17-1 (1-1).
Speaking of MN Select, its Day 1 loss dropped our 13th-ranked team to the No. 3 team in Pool 6 that featured Adidas KiVA 17 Red as the No. 1 team. MN Select was able to top KiVA in straight sets in the 1 v 3 match and went on to finish 3-0 and take over the No. 6 seed.
A few other notes, unranked A4 Volley 17 Joaco finished 3-0 after picking up a win over No. 38 NE Elite 17 Vici. And despite playing short-handed, No. 37 Aspire 17 Premier moved to 6-0 on the tournament after another 3-0 showing.
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There are 11 teams from our National Rankings which started off chasing the gold medal in 15 Open. All survived Day 1, but not all made it through Day 2. The first ranked team to fall from contention was No. 36 A5 Mizuno 15 Bob.
The No. 2 team in Pool 6, A5 finished in a three-way tie at 2-1 with GP 15 Rox – the No. 1 team in the pool and ranked No. 42 nationally – and Vaqueras Julio, the No. 3 team. A5 had the lowest set percentage however and that regulated A5 to third place and out of the running. A5 beat GP in three straights, but even had A5 swept the math was never in A5’s favor.
Only one other No. 1 team in any pool went down. That was Tri-State Elite 15 Blue in Pool 10. Tri-State finished in a two-way tie with the No. 2 team Tribe 15 Elite and took second, while Tribe grabbed first. Tribe was upset by Oaks 15 Gold but avoided a three-way tie at 1-2 by topping Tri-State.
Illini Elite 15 Cardinal, the No. 4 team in Pool 7, was the lowest-seeded club to advance. Illini Elite went 2-1 to take second behind 3-0 OT 15 Meg.
A pair of No. 3 teams advanced, both coming from three-team pools. Roots 15 Green ended 1-1 in Pool 1 behind 2-0 OT 15 Randy. In Pool 3, VCNebraska 15 Elite was 1-1 and in second behind 2-0 Legacy 15-1 Adidas.
Joining GP and A5 as other nationally-ranked teams to go down on Day 2 were No. 34 ID Crush 15 Bower and No. 49 Top Select 15 Elite. ID Crush fell to unranked SPVB 15 Elite but still managed to take second behind SPVB. Top Select lost to higher-ranked Mich Elite 15 Mizuno – sitting at No. 27 – in the 1 v 2 match as both moved on.
