Welcome back to an action-packed Day 2 at the AVP 16U Junior Nationals. The field was trimmed in half, from 64 to 32 teams vying for the gold. There weren’t too many surprises as most of the top-two seeds in each pool advanced. Here are the Show Stoppers who caught our attention the most on Day 2.
Sarah Woods/Gella Andrew – A USC commit, Andrews continues to impress with her dominance at the net. Standing at 6-3 her blocking forces many errors or easy roll shots for Woods to pick up and demolish.
Maddy Byrne/Mallory Labreche – This is a team which is truly comfortable with their ball control. They both have amazing serves capable of runs to give them separation. When they both drop and defend they have no problem covering sideline to sideline with ease.
Elise Lenahan/Keira Tanioka – You can tell this group has ball control when they run the option play with ease. The option play is when the defender digs the ball close to the net and the partner hits it over with the second contact. They did this multiple times with good results.
Hannah Taylor/Ally Fuchs – Taylor had a strong day both on the net and on the end line. She picked up multiple stuff blocks and overpass kills, then headed to the serving line and recorded a bunch of aces. They showed some grittiness rallying from a 5-1 deficit in the third to win and move on.
Molly Labreche/Avery Towne – This duo is very strong in serve receive. Watching them we felt they got a lot of clean looks because of their first contact. They also shined in defense as they scrambled well and had plenty of well-placed cut shots leading to easy points.
Aubrey McBride/Lily Davis – McBride plays the net well with good eye work she reads the hitter’s arm swing well. She was also getting touches and consistently slowing down balls for Davis to pick and convert to points.
Kathleen Morley/Erin Inskeep – This duo crushed it as no team scored more than 10 points against them! Watching Inskeep is fun as she has good court vision and has a high volleyball IQ. Sometimes you wonder why she runs the option but when it scores it amazes that she sees what’s open and where the defenders are.
Madeline Walker/Adeline Walker – This duo was involved in a nail biter in their first match. Down 13-10 in the third, they showed heart and toughness with exceptional defense. Hustling and scrapping for loose balls they ended up winning 16-14. It set the tone for the rest of the day as they breezed through their next two matches and taking first.
Stacy Reeves/Isabella Gamache – A well balanced team as both are splits with the ability to play the net and defend with no drop off. Gamache has a tough jump serve that doesn’t get returned much. Reeves’ energy defending and ability to convert makes this a team to watch.
Carly Hixson/Adelina Okazaki – They are a smaller team but play with big energy. Hixson has a powerful swing and doesn’t need much room to approach to score. Okazaki is a wizard defending, from her placement to her hustle getting to balls. She’s got an array of shots to help her convert and score.
Audrey Jackson/Kennedy Coakley – Coakley – a UCLA commit – continued to dominate net play. She got tons of blocks but her foot speed dropping back defending and then converting with a powerful swing was a huge reason for her team’s success.
Myriah Massey/Lennox Langham – The more we watch Langham, she has to be the fastest defender on the beach. Paired with Massey’s strong net play and big swing makes this team one of the favorites for this tourney.
