July 4th highlights from AAU Boys Junior National Volleyball Championships
Club/HS
Kevin Pratte
July 5, 2024
ORLANDO, Florida – The 14s, 15s and 17s got underway Thursday at the AAU Boys Junior National Volleyball Championships.
There is another free recruiting seminar at 2 p.m. Friday in the Orange County Convention Center. Coaches from NYU, Orange Coast College, UC San Diego, Barry, and George Mason will be field questions for an hour.
Please continue to direct message me on Instagram @kprecruiter if you have an athlete or club that you believe should be recognized. @VBmagazine would love to get pictures and reels from you, as well.
Thursday’s highlights
—14s open undefeated teams; OCVC, HPSTL, Borinquen, Balboa Bay, Coast, MB Surf, GVA, Cincinnati Attack, Team Rockstar, and Vaqueros.
— 15s open undefeated teams; Team Rockstar, HPSTL, Borinquen, MDJRS, Bay to Bay, MB Surf, Pulse, Balboa Bay, C2 Attack, Pinnacle, Coast, and Aspire.
—17s open undefeated teams: MB Surf, Winter Park, Team Rockstar, Serve and Spike, Bay to Bay, HPSTL, 630, Balboa Bay, Arizona Fear, Smash, Academy, MKE Sting, Coast, and Mountain View.
MVC 17 Sydney
— Milwaukee 17s in the Premier division, coached by Sydney Coselman, is off to a 3-0 start. Outside hitters Oakley Griggs and Henry Newman led as Griggs hit .353 on 34 attempts, had 18 digs, and passed a 2.3 for the day and Newman hit .385% on 26 attempts and had 10 blocks.
Cooper Keane
— Team Rockstar outside hitter Cooper Keene has his team off to a 3-0 start and he was our player of the day. In a victory against C2 Attack, Keene eight kills on 12 attacks. The 6-foot-7 Keene attends Mira Costa High School, is committed to play at USC, and was a member of the U19 USA team that recently won a gold medal.
— Pulse club director and coach Daniel Hart saw his 14s Open down 14-9 in the third set against MOD. Then outside hitter Brayden Dinh went on an impressive service run and Pulse won 25-21, 23-25, 16-14.
Pulse 14s
— According to the AAU, 1,263 boys teams registered, ranging from Hawai’i to New York to Puerto Rico.
— On America’s birthday many athletes and families showed their Fourth of July spirit:
Supporters of the Academy Boys Volleyball Club of Indianapolis
Kevin Pratte has enthusiastically been involved in volleyball for over 23 years. Pratte started playing in middle school and was fortunate enough to play NCAA Division 1 volleyball at The University of the Pacific. After his playing career Pratte got involved in coaching volleyball. In 2009 Pratte was the graduate assistant coach for the University of Nebraska women’s volleyball program. Later in his career Pratte made coaching stops at University of the Pacific, multiple community colleges and coached at WAVE Volleyball Club for seven years. Currently Pratte is a physical education teacher in the San Diego Unified School District, San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary member, a college volleyball recruiting coordinator, hosts a volleyball podcast show, the owner of the Middle Hitter website and runs a non-profit organization to help raise funds to give boys’ high school volleyball students scholarships to play club volleyball. He is excited to continue writing for Volleyball Magazine and is eager to cover the game.
