VERA AI
SIGN UP

Premium Content

SLC 17O: Club V, Alamo, AZ Rev Earn Bids

March 22, 2022

Club V 17 Ren Reed, Alamo 17 Premier and AZ Rev 17 Premier secured bids during their first qualifying efforts of the season last weekend in Salt Lake City. Here’s a recap on their respective efforts. Club V 17 Ren Reed (First, 9-1) Day 1: d. NPJ Seattle (25-20, 25-16); d. LAVA West (25-11, 25-19); d. AZ Rev 17 Premier (20-25, 25-22, 15-9) Day 2: d. Aspire 17 Premier (28-26, 25-15); d. Madfrog 17 Green (25-21, 26-24); d. TVC 17 Black (25-13, 25-13); d. AZ Rev 17 Premier (22-25, 25-10, 19-17) Day 3: d. ID Crush 17 Bower (25-20, 25-21); l. Coast 17-1 (23-25, 25-15, 15-12); d. Alamo 17 Premier (26-24, 25-16) Fortunately for Club V 17 Ren Reed its only blemish at the Salt Lake City Showdown wasn’t as costly as it could’ve been. Club V lost its last gold pool outing to Coast 17-1 in three games but still managed to take first in the pool after Club V, Coast and AZ Rev 17 Premier finished tied at 2-1. Winning one set against Coast gave Club V the tiebreaker edge over the other two teams and a spot in the championship match where Club V came out on top after downing Alamo 17 Premier in straight sets.“It was a good finish,” Club V coach Reed Carlson said. “We are glad things worked out the way they worked out. It was nice to get it done.”Missing out on Open last year as a 16s group, Club V retooled the 17s squad coming into this season by adding outsides Levani Key-Powell and Jordyn Harvey and middle Taylor Harvey from Hive, which finished tied for 11th in 16 Open. Also joining was BYU commit and middle Mia Lee. All played key roles in the team’s success in Salt Lake and it stands to reason this new group is only going to keep improving throughout the season.“The key for this team is just more time together playing against high-level competition,” Carlson said. “Our only other high-level tournament before this was Triple Crown. We are going to be at Red Rock, Lone Star and Reno, so we have some good tournaments coming up. We need time playing against different teams and different looks.”Club V ended Day 1 beating eventual third-place finisher AZ Rev in three games. The sides met the next day to kick off gold pools, with Club V hanging on in three, 23-25, 25-15, 15-12, in one of the best matches of the weekend.“They made some really good adjustments from the first time and ran some offense we didn’t see as much and that caught us off guard,” Carlson said. “It came down to athletes being athletes and it was one of those matches where we would get a great swing then they would get a great swing. It was just who can make one or two plays was going to be the difference.”Beating ID Crush 17 Bower to start Day 3 put Club V in a position to win the pool outright and clinch its bid by beating Coast, which needed to sweep Club V to have any shot of advancing.“We knew there was a bid on the line if we could win one set,” Carlson said. “We were a little too focused on that stuff and not focused on playing our best volleyball. The final it was all about focusing on trying to play our best.” *** Alamo 17 Premier (Second, 9-1) Day 1: d. Elevate Athletics (25-21, 25-10); d. Top Flight 17 National (25-9, 25-7); d. AZ Storm 17 Thunder (25-21, 25-20) Day 2: d. AsicsWillowbrook 17 Gold (27-25, 25-13); d. Excel 17 National Red (25-17, 22-25, 15-3); d. ID Crush 17 Bower (25-15, 25-11); d. Co Jrs 17 Kevin (25-23, 23-25, 15-9) Day 3: d. Madfrog 17 Green (25-18, 25-20); d. Sunshine 17 LA (18-25, 25-23, 15-11); l. Club V 17 Ren Reed (26-24, 25-16) Undefeated through two rounds of pool play and headed to gold pools after sweeping ID Crush 17 Bower handily, Alamo 17 Premier coach Scott Mattera was wondering afterward with his assistant if their squad was really as good as what they had just witnessed against Crush.If Mattera wasn’t entirely convinced after that impressive victory, what transpired in gold pools certainly did the trick. In order to clinch or at least play for a bid in the third-place contest, Alamo had to navigate a gold pool featuring Co Jrs 17 Kevin, Madfrog 17 Green and Sunshine 17 LA. Three victories later Alamo had its bid and a spot in the final, where its tournament ended with a loss to Club V 17 Ren Reed, 26-24, 25-16.“We were pumped up,” Mattera said of qualifying. “We had been up and down as we knew we would be coming into this year. We were assigning girls to do new, different and advanced things and with it a riskier style of play. With it we knew it would be high risk, high reward and we were very much a high error team for a while this season. We managed to split with Drive Nation at the Tour and they started to see that this stuff works when executed.“We settled in at Salt Lake. We played this beautiful match to end the second pool against a very good Crush team. We were wondering if we were really this good because we weren’t sure. The first match of gold pool we were watching Sunshine and Madfrog dropping bombs all over the place then we ended up taking a tight match against Co Jrs. Sunday morning we beat both Sunshine and Madfrog. It had a lot to do with our serve game taking teams out of system along with our defensive system came together and the girls really started grasping our concept.”Outside Nayeli Gonzalez was a force to be reckoned with all weekend for Alamo but not that it was the only reason for the team’s success. Libero Alyssa Manitzas played like one of the best liberos in the

Read More »

USAV Adds 2 New Divisions

March 22, 2022

The 2021-2022 season brought about two new divisions created by USA Volleyball – Liberty and Freedom divisions. The rest of the divisions remain unchanged. Here is the new pecking order: Open National USA Liberty American Freedom Patriot There are still 48 Open spots for 18s, 36 spots for 14-17 Open and 24 spaces for 13 Open. The National Division features 48 in all ages – 11-18s. Bids can be earned at qualifiers in ages 11 and 12. The spots for the rest of the ages are awarded regionally. USA bids are earned through qualifiers only with at-larges awarded if not all spots are filled through that process.In the newly formed Liberty Division, two bids are awarded at qualifiers for ages 13-18 if at least 16 teams or more are participating. There are 36 teams in 18s and 24 teams in ages 13-18. If not all spots are filled through qualification then the rest are filled through the at-large process.There is only one bid awarded in the American Division at qualifiers in ages 12-18. The rest of the spots are filled through regional qualifications. There is no national qualifying for the new Freedom division. It’s done regionally, with each region getting one bid to award. The eight largest region get two bids each to fill out the 48-team field.

Read More »

Tour of Texas Finals: Recap, Individual Standouts

March 22, 2022

The Tour of Texas finals were held the weekend of March 5-6, with age groups 12s-17s gathered in Houston and going after the top spot in their respective divisions. Before getting to some of the standout players below from the weekend here’s a quick recap of which teams came out ahead. Prevailing in the 17s was Drive Nation 17 Red, which finished 4-2 overall but finished on top by handing TAV 17 Black its only loss in the finals as Drive Nation swept, 25-19, 25-17. Drive Nation finished 1-2 during Saturday’s pool play, dropping clashes to HJV 17 Elite (25-14, 18-25, 15-12) and Alamo 17 Premier (22-25, 27-25, 15-12) before finishing Day 1 by sweeping AJV 17 Adidas (25-19, 26-24). Meanwhile, TAV didn’t drop a set during the first day of play in sweeping TCVA 17 Gold Adidas, TAV Houston 17 Adidas and HJV 17 Premier. TAV reached Sunday’s final after knocking off Texas Fury 17 Legacy (25-16, 25-7), AJV (25-21, 25-9) and HJV (27-25, 25-16), while Drive Nation found its groove and advanced with victories over TAV Houston (25-15, 25-19), Drive Nation 17 Black (25-17, 25-17) and Alamo (25-23, 25-20). The 16s division saw a bit of a surprise as TAV Houston 16 Adidas finished first overall after taking down Drive Nation 16 Red in three, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12, in the their final. It was Drive Nation’s only loss on the weekend. Like Drive Nation in the 17s, TAV Houston finished 1-2 on Day 1 with pool losses to TAV 16 Black (25-15, 25-12) and HJV 16 Elite (22-25, 25-22, 15-8) before sweeping AJV 16 Adidas (25-23, 25-19). Drive Nation 16s went 3-0 in pool play, sweeping HJV 16 Premier, STVA 16 Navy and SA Magic 16 Elite. TAV and Drive Nation were both undefeated when they met up in the semis, with Drive Nation remaining so after sweeping 25-21, 25-23. TAV Houston reached the final by avenging their Day 1 loss to HJV by sweeping 25-23, 25-19. TAV 15 Black held its position as the top seed by claiming the 15s division, finishing its run by outlasting HJV 15 Elite in three, 25-22, 18-25, 15-12, in Sunday’s final. It was a rematch from Day 1, as HJV kept TAV from making it out of the weekend unscathed. HJV took the Day 1 showdown in three, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13. TAV rebounded to knock off Alamo 15 Premier and AJV 15 Adidas, both in three. HJV downed AJV 15 Adidas but lost its final pool match in three to Alamo. TAV and HJV earned the rematch after sweeping their respective semifinals. TAV took care of Alamo while HJV clipped Drive Nation. It was another TAV triumph in the 14s division as TAV 14 Black fought off Drive Nation 15 Red in three, 17-25, 26-24, 15-9. The two sides opened their weekend against one another as well. TAV swept that one, 25-18, 25-22. But Alamo 14 Premier upended TAV in three, 25-15, 17-25, 15-11, to close out TAV’s first day. HJV 14 Elite went 3-0 on Saturday but suffered its only loss to TAV, 25-19, 25-16, in the semis. In the other semis, Drive Nation swept McAllen Fierce National, 25-22, 25-14. STANDOUT PLAYERSWe check in on 12 athletes who were impossible to overlook:Kyndal Stowers, OH, TAV 17 Black – Though TAV came up short in its quest to finish first, Stowers showcased her high-level skill throughout the weekend by turning in a phenomenal performance. There is no MVP awarded at the Tour finals but the Baylor commit may have been the favorite had there been. Bianna Muoneke, Outside, HJV 17 Elite – Muoneke was fundamental in HJV tying for third place. She’s verballed to Texas A&M and showed what the Aggies are getting. She proved to be a powerful force on the outside all weekend long. Megan Fitch, Outside, Alamo 15 Premier – Alamo also finished tied for third in its division in part thanks to the play of Fitch. She more than carried her share of the load on the outside. She hits consistently hits a heavy ball and proved to be a game-changer for Alamo. Jaela Auguste, Middle, TAV Houston 16 Black – While it was a surprise to see TAV Houston come through in the 16s, it wasn’t as surprising to see Auguste turn in the performance she did. There was no stopping her with her dominating play in the middle. Suli Davis, Outside and Zoe Gillen-Malveaux, Middle, Drive Nation 16 Red – The loss in the final can’t overshadow the standout play from this freshman pair for Drive Nation. They were powerhouses at their respective positions as opponents struggled to contain them. Leah Ford, Middle, Drive Nation 17 Red – Plenty are aware of what this USC commit is capable of doing and it shouldn’t be taken for granted. Owning the net throughout the weekend, Ford reiterated why she’s considered one of the top middles in the country. Stephanie Gutierrez, Middle, TAV 17 Black – With middle Kate Hansen out of action, Gutierrez made a huge statement in the middle and came up large with her play for TAV. She helped control the net when she was in with dominant stretches. Yaneli Rocha and Aleena Zuniga, Setters/Right Sides, McAllen Fierce 14-1 – These two athletes helped lead McAllen to a third-place finish, a huge accomplishment for the club. Both girls showed incredible scrappiness with their energetic play. Kayla Lopez, Outside, AJV 17 Adidas – Undersized on the outside, Lopez made those watching take note. She can absolutely fly and gets up and after it when attacking. A bonus on top of her play is the fact she committed to San Jose State after the weekend ended. Alice Volpe, Libero, HJV 16 Elite – Volpe was all over the back court for HJV. She’s a very smooth defender and an anchor defensively.

Read More »

SLC 17O: Club V, Alamo, AZ Rev Earn Bids

March 22, 2022

Club V 17 Ren Reed, Alamo 17 Premier and AZ Rev 17 Premier secured bids during their first qualifying efforts of the season last weekend in Salt Lake City. Here’s a recap on their respective efforts. Club V 17 Ren Reed (First, 9-1) Day 1: d. NPJ Seattle (25-20, 25-16); d. LAVA West (25-11, 25-19); d. AZ Rev 17 Premier (20-25, 25-22, 15-9) Day 2: d. Aspire 17 Premier (28-26, 25-15); d. Madfrog 17 Green (25-21, 26-24); d. TVC 17 Black (25-13, 25-13); d. AZ Rev 17 Premier (22-25, 25-10, 19-17) Day 3: d. ID Crush 17 Bower (25-20, 25-21); l. Coast 17-1 (23-25, 25-15, 15-12); d. Alamo 17 Premier (26-24, 25-16) Fortunately for Club V 17 Ren Reed its only blemish at the Salt Lake City Showdown wasn’t as costly as it could’ve been. Club V lost its last gold pool outing to Coast 17-1 in three games but still managed to take first in the pool after Club V, Coast and AZ Rev 17 Premier finished tied at 2-1. Winning one set against Coast gave Club V the tiebreaker edge over the other two teams and a spot in the championship match where Club V came out on top after downing Alamo 17 Premier in straight sets.“It was a good finish,” Club V coach Reed Carlson said. “We are glad things worked out the way they worked out. It was nice to get it done.”Missing out on Open last year as a 16s group, Club V retooled the 17s squad coming into this season by adding outsides Levani Key-Powell and Jordyn Harvey and middle Taylor Harvey from Hive, which finished tied for 11th in 16 Open. Also joining was BYU commit and middle Mia Lee. All played key roles in the team’s success in Salt Lake and it stands to reason this new group is only going to keep improving throughout the season.“The key for this team is just more time together playing against high-level competition,” Carlson said. “Our only other high-level tournament before this was Triple Crown. We are going to be at Red Rock, Lone Star and Reno, so we have some good tournaments coming up. We need time playing against different teams and different looks.”Club V ended Day 1 beating eventual third-place finisher AZ Rev in three games. The sides met the next day to kick off gold pools, with Club V hanging on in three, 23-25, 25-15, 15-12, in one of the best matches of the weekend.“They made some really good adjustments from the first time and ran some offense we didn’t see as much and that caught us off guard,” Carlson said. “It came down to athletes being athletes and it was one of those matches where we would get a great swing then they would get a great swing. It was just who can make one or two plays was going to be the difference.”Beating ID Crush 17 Bower to start Day 3 put Club V in a position to win the pool outright and clinch its bid by beating Coast, which needed to sweep Club V to have any shot of advancing.“We knew there was a bid on the line if we could win one set,” Carlson said. “We were a little too focused on that stuff and not focused on playing our best volleyball. The final it was all about focusing on trying to play our best.” *** Alamo 17 Premier (Second, 9-1) Day 1: d. Elevate Athletics (25-21, 25-10); d. Top Flight 17 National (25-9, 25-7); d. AZ Storm 17 Thunder (25-21, 25-20) Day 2: d. AsicsWillowbrook 17 Gold (27-25, 25-13); d. Excel 17 National Red (25-17, 22-25, 15-3); d. ID Crush 17 Bower (25-15, 25-11); d. Co Jrs 17 Kevin (25-23, 23-25, 15-9) Day 3: d. Madfrog 17 Green (25-18, 25-20); d. Sunshine 17 LA (18-25, 25-23, 15-11); l. Club V 17 Ren Reed (26-24, 25-16) Undefeated through two rounds of pool play and headed to gold pools after sweeping ID Crush 17 Bower handily, Alamo 17 Premier coach Scott Mattera was wondering afterward with his assistant if their squad was really as good as what they had just witnessed against Crush.If Mattera wasn’t entirely convinced after that impressive victory, what transpired in gold pools certainly did the trick. In order to clinch or at least play for a bid in the third-place contest, Alamo had to navigate a gold pool featuring Co Jrs 17 Kevin, Madfrog 17 Green and Sunshine 17 LA. Three victories later Alamo had its bid and a spot in the final, where its tournament ended with a loss to Club V 17 Ren Reed, 26-24, 25-16.“We were pumped up,” Mattera said of qualifying. “We had been up and down as we knew we would be coming into this year. We were assigning girls to do new, different and advanced things and with it a riskier style of play. With it we knew it would be high risk, high reward and we were very much a high error team for a while this season. We managed to split with Drive Nation at the Tour and they started to see that this stuff works when executed.“We settled in at Salt Lake. We played this beautiful match to end the second pool against a very good Crush team. We were wondering if we were really this good because we weren’t sure. The first match of gold pool we were watching Sunshine and Madfrog dropping bombs all over the place then we ended up taking a tight match against Co Jrs. Sunday morning we beat both Sunshine and Madfrog. It had a lot to do with our serve game taking teams out of system along with our defensive system came together and the girls really started grasping our concept.”Outside Nayeli Gonzalez was a force to be reckoned with all weekend for Alamo but not that it was the only reason for the team’s success. Libero Alyssa Manitzas played like one of the best liberos in the

Read More »

USAV Adds 2 New Divisions

March 22, 2022

The 2021-2022 season brought about two new divisions created by USA Volleyball – Liberty and Freedom divisions. The rest of the divisions remain unchanged. Here is the new pecking order: Open National USA Liberty American Freedom Patriot There are still 48 Open spots for 18s, 36 spots for 14-17 Open and 24 spaces for 13 Open. The National Division features 48 in all ages – 11-18s. Bids can be earned at qualifiers in ages 11 and 12. The spots for the rest of the ages are awarded regionally. USA bids are earned through qualifiers only with at-larges awarded if not all spots are filled through that process.In the newly formed Liberty Division, two bids are awarded at qualifiers for ages 13-18 if at least 16 teams or more are participating. There are 36 teams in 18s and 24 teams in ages 13-18. If not all spots are filled through qualification then the rest are filled through the at-large process.There is only one bid awarded in the American Division at qualifiers in ages 12-18. The rest of the spots are filled through regional qualifications. There is no national qualifying for the new Freedom division. It’s done regionally, with each region getting one bid to award. The eight largest region get two bids each to fill out the 48-team field.

Read More »

Tour of Texas Finals: Recap, Individual Standouts

March 22, 2022

The Tour of Texas finals were held the weekend of March 5-6, with age groups 12s-17s gathered in Houston and going after the top spot in their respective divisions. Before getting to some of the standout players below from the weekend here’s a quick recap of which teams came out ahead. Prevailing in the 17s was Drive Nation 17 Red, which finished 4-2 overall but finished on top by handing TAV 17 Black its only loss in the finals as Drive Nation swept, 25-19, 25-17. Drive Nation finished 1-2 during Saturday’s pool play, dropping clashes to HJV 17 Elite (25-14, 18-25, 15-12) and Alamo 17 Premier (22-25, 27-25, 15-12) before finishing Day 1 by sweeping AJV 17 Adidas (25-19, 26-24). Meanwhile, TAV didn’t drop a set during the first day of play in sweeping TCVA 17 Gold Adidas, TAV Houston 17 Adidas and HJV 17 Premier. TAV reached Sunday’s final after knocking off Texas Fury 17 Legacy (25-16, 25-7), AJV (25-21, 25-9) and HJV (27-25, 25-16), while Drive Nation found its groove and advanced with victories over TAV Houston (25-15, 25-19), Drive Nation 17 Black (25-17, 25-17) and Alamo (25-23, 25-20). The 16s division saw a bit of a surprise as TAV Houston 16 Adidas finished first overall after taking down Drive Nation 16 Red in three, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12, in the their final. It was Drive Nation’s only loss on the weekend. Like Drive Nation in the 17s, TAV Houston finished 1-2 on Day 1 with pool losses to TAV 16 Black (25-15, 25-12) and HJV 16 Elite (22-25, 25-22, 15-8) before sweeping AJV 16 Adidas (25-23, 25-19). Drive Nation 16s went 3-0 in pool play, sweeping HJV 16 Premier, STVA 16 Navy and SA Magic 16 Elite. TAV and Drive Nation were both undefeated when they met up in the semis, with Drive Nation remaining so after sweeping 25-21, 25-23. TAV Houston reached the final by avenging their Day 1 loss to HJV by sweeping 25-23, 25-19. TAV 15 Black held its position as the top seed by claiming the 15s division, finishing its run by outlasting HJV 15 Elite in three, 25-22, 18-25, 15-12, in Sunday’s final. It was a rematch from Day 1, as HJV kept TAV from making it out of the weekend unscathed. HJV took the Day 1 showdown in three, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13. TAV rebounded to knock off Alamo 15 Premier and AJV 15 Adidas, both in three. HJV downed AJV 15 Adidas but lost its final pool match in three to Alamo. TAV and HJV earned the rematch after sweeping their respective semifinals. TAV took care of Alamo while HJV clipped Drive Nation. It was another TAV triumph in the 14s division as TAV 14 Black fought off Drive Nation 15 Red in three, 17-25, 26-24, 15-9. The two sides opened their weekend against one another as well. TAV swept that one, 25-18, 25-22. But Alamo 14 Premier upended TAV in three, 25-15, 17-25, 15-11, to close out TAV’s first day. HJV 14 Elite went 3-0 on Saturday but suffered its only loss to TAV, 25-19, 25-16, in the semis. In the other semis, Drive Nation swept McAllen Fierce National, 25-22, 25-14. STANDOUT PLAYERSWe check in on 12 athletes who were impossible to overlook:Kyndal Stowers, OH, TAV 17 Black – Though TAV came up short in its quest to finish first, Stowers showcased her high-level skill throughout the weekend by turning in a phenomenal performance. There is no MVP awarded at the Tour finals but the Baylor commit may have been the favorite had there been. Bianna Muoneke, Outside, HJV 17 Elite – Muoneke was fundamental in HJV tying for third place. She’s verballed to Texas A&M and showed what the Aggies are getting. She proved to be a powerful force on the outside all weekend long. Megan Fitch, Outside, Alamo 15 Premier – Alamo also finished tied for third in its division in part thanks to the play of Fitch. She more than carried her share of the load on the outside. She hits consistently hits a heavy ball and proved to be a game-changer for Alamo. Jaela Auguste, Middle, TAV Houston 16 Black – While it was a surprise to see TAV Houston come through in the 16s, it wasn’t as surprising to see Auguste turn in the performance she did. There was no stopping her with her dominating play in the middle. Suli Davis, Outside and Zoe Gillen-Malveaux, Middle, Drive Nation 16 Red – The loss in the final can’t overshadow the standout play from this freshman pair for Drive Nation. They were powerhouses at their respective positions as opponents struggled to contain them. Leah Ford, Middle, Drive Nation 17 Red – Plenty are aware of what this USC commit is capable of doing and it shouldn’t be taken for granted. Owning the net throughout the weekend, Ford reiterated why she’s considered one of the top middles in the country. Stephanie Gutierrez, Middle, TAV 17 Black – With middle Kate Hansen out of action, Gutierrez made a huge statement in the middle and came up large with her play for TAV. She helped control the net when she was in with dominant stretches. Yaneli Rocha and Aleena Zuniga, Setters/Right Sides, McAllen Fierce 14-1 – These two athletes helped lead McAllen to a third-place finish, a huge accomplishment for the club. Both girls showed incredible scrappiness with their energetic play. Kayla Lopez, Outside, AJV 17 Adidas – Undersized on the outside, Lopez made those watching take note. She can absolutely fly and gets up and after it when attacking. A bonus on top of her play is the fact she committed to San Jose State after the weekend ended. Alice Volpe, Libero, HJV 16 Elite – Volpe was all over the back court for HJV. She’s a very smooth defender and an anchor defensively.

Read More »