Tawa’s Dots are back: We start with a look back at 2021 AAU volleyball champions

Editor’s note: He’s back! VolleyballMag.com is excited to re-introduce our readers to girls club and high school volleyball expert John Tawa. Not only will his “Dots,” a wrap-up of the happenings the previous week appear here each Tuesday, look for his “Dream Teams” on Wednesdays:

This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag.com’s weekly look at 10 things in club volleyball, past or present, that interest me and hopefully will interest you. Look for Dots every Tuesday through Junior Nationals this summer.

• Let’s start this 2022 club volleyball version of Dots with a look back at what happened to conclude the 2021 season. Today, we focus on the Open champions at AAU Nationals.

On June 21 in Orlando, Munciana Samurai and Sports Performance 18 Elite met for the fourth time during the season. Samurai was the favorite in the 18 Open final, as it had won two of the three previous encounters. Still, SPVB had a chance, as the only team to defeat Munciana (54-1) during the season. There were whispers that this might be Mike Lingenfelter’s best Samurai team ever. To validate that description, however, the team had to win this final match.

There had been other, highly-touted Munciana teams to reach the AAU championship match only to fall to Sports Performance on the court. This was not one of them. Behind the hitting of outsides Mabrey Shaffmaster and Eva Hudson, the passing and defense of Elle Stinson and the growth of MB Jada Allen, Samurai prevailed, 25-18, 25-21.

“This team was unbelievably consistent in a very inconsistent time,” Lingenfelter said. “This group was the best I’ve ever had about sticking to their goals. The difference between what they said they wanted and what they were willing to do was finite. The great teams have that characteristic.”

Lingenfelter said that the Bluegrass Tournament in Louisville in March set the team on the path to being a national champion. That’s where Samurai lost to SPVB in power pool play before gaining revenge in the final.

“It was the first time we’d been tested,” Lingenfelter explained. “Once they had weathered that gauntlet, they knew how much I trusted them.”

Hudson and setter Ella Bostic, who were All-State performers as high school seniors this past fall; return for Muncie this year, along with two middles, Lovie Wallace and Ava Vickers. Everyone else went off to college and either started or played significant roles on their teams as freshmen. Shaffmaster was ACC Freshman of the Year and Allen made the ACC All-Freshman Team!

“This team was truly a blessing to teach,” Lingenfelter said. “Their ability and open attitude towards learning was refreshing. Their inherent ability to hold themselves and ultimately each other accountable was incredible to be a part of.”

• One day after Samurai was capping its incredible season, OT 17 T Jason, from Tampa, was getting started in 17 Open as the No. 13 seed. Jason Partington’s team, with only eight healthy players all week, would go on to win 13 straight matches, the last four by sweep, to claim the title.

“What impressed me most about this team during the championship run was their heart, tenacity, competitiveness, trust in coaches, team chemistry, love for the game and true team love for each other,” Partington noted. “This was just a special group.”

Although OT dropped just two sets during its four-day run, the team had its share of adversity in Orlando. On Day 3, OT had already clinched advancement to the Challenge Match phase when setter Victoria Hensley went down with an ankle sprain in a match against VC Nebraska 17 Elite. OT dropped the first set of that match before regrouping to win in three. Hensley soldiered on in that match despite her discomfort and answered the bell in the loser-out Challenge Match versus Illini Elite 17 Cardinal later that day.

The team also had to overcome A5 17Jing in a tense, back-and-forth semifinal that broke OT’s way, 27-25, 25-23. OT held Michigan Elite 17 Mizuno to less than 20 points in each set in winning the championship match.

Hensley was named tournament MVP, with 6-5 MB Liv Mogridge and OH Gia Padilla joining her on the All-Tournament Team. Partington said that, with only nine actively playing (eight healthy), all needed to distinguish themselves over 13 matches for OT to emerge as champions. Those players included outsides Lily Frierson and Grace Garcia, defenders Sophia Kotsolovos and Jessie Golden, RS Bre McDonough and MB Reese Friar. 

The team is mostly intact for 2022 – Padilla was a senior last year and is playing at Akron – and has two top-five finishes so far at the Music City and Florida Fest tournaments.

“I’m just super proud and feel so privileged to have coached this team with my assistant, Nikki O’Rourke,” Partington concluded. “This was and is such a special group of girls. Their team chemistry, dedication, hard work and attention to detail that we asked of them was like no other.”

•  Legacy 16 Adidas was ranked second nationally in VolleyballMag.com’s 16s rankings for March, so it was no surprise to see the Michigan squad in the AAU 16 Open finals opposite A5 16Gabe, which was No. 5 in the same rankings. Ricky Cottril’s team had dropped just one set, to Oregon Juniors 16 Gold in the championship quarterfinals, and had been challenged in Game 1 of the semifinals versus Dallas Skyline 16 Royal before sweeping. But this was vaunted A5, which also reached the championship match undefeated and with one dropped set.

25-16, 25-16. It was utter domination by Legacy.

“We were so mentally prepared and focused that we executed the scouting report flawlessly and won the serve and pass battle,” noted club director Jen Cottrill. “It was a dominating performance over a very competitive and dangerous A5 team.”

OH Harper Murray was named MVP. Setter Erin Kline and MB Abby Reck made the All-Tournament team. Libero Sarah Vellucci also was outstanding, especially anchoring the team’s serve-receive.

There have been changes to the roster for 2022, but the impact players remain and success is continuing. Legacy 17 Adidas (13-1 overall) won the JVA Rock ‘N Rumble and recently finished second to Circle City 17 Purple at the Central Zone Invitational.

• Seeded 22nd in a 15 Open field of 45, VCNebraska 15 Elite managed to overcome six, three-set matches to go 11-0 over four days to take the title. It was a remarkable achievement by a team that lost to Kairos Elite in the finals of the Sioux Falls – Prepare for Battle Tournament just before AAUs and which gave up several inches per player to most of its opponents.

The idea that 15 Elite could compete for a title started to germinate after VCNebraska 18 Elite returned home from USAV Junior Nationals in the spring with an 18 National national title.

“The girls had so much belief,” coach Makayla Westphal said. “I even recall setter Malayah Long saying, ‘Guys, we’re next.’ With so much hope and belief. That just sparked everything and really set the stage.”

The team dedicated itself to eating better as AAUs approached, which may have helped it outlast so many teams, including on Day 3, when its three wins, over Top Select, Munciana Lorax and Northern Lights, went 15-13, 15-10 and 19-17, respectively.

The final turning point came in the AAU semifinals against physically impressive A5 Mizuno 15-Bob, a team that was national No. 1 in March, taller than tall and filled with future Division I athletes.

“These girls went into the match completely undersized and yet they had no fear,” Westphal said. “When we dropped the first set, the girls did not waver in their desire to win and ended up coming out incredibly strong in the second set. When we took that match in three sets, they had all the confidence they needed. This was probably the most impressive feat I’ve seen with a group of 14 and 15-year-olds.”

Long was named the tournament MVP. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by libero Mallorie Meyer and OH Tia Traudt. Westphal stressed that the entire roster contributed to the team’s remarkable success. Macy Roth made a late move from the outside to the right willingly and helped the team with her touches and swings in pressure moments.  Middles Maddie Rink and Abbie Appleget got great touches on swings the final two matches to help the defense work around them to help with transition offense. Haedyn Hoos, Megan Waters, Emerson Lionberger, Lucy Cogan…all stepped up as VCNebraska overcame one challenge after another.

“It was such a team effort and so much fun to be a part of this experience,” Westphal concluded.

• Asics Munciana Chipmunks went 11-0 and overcame its only dropped set, to GP 14 Rox in the final, to win the 14 Open title. Winning came easily to this team, which did not lose a match the final three months of the club season.

Indeed, the team’s last loss, to KiVA 14 Red at the Mideast Power League in March, was the shock the team needed.

“The sting from that match and our first practice after that were defining moments that renewed our focus,” noted coach Wes Lyon.

Munciana reached the finals at AAUs by beating that same KiVA team in two-tough sets in the quarterfinals. It then knocked off a Puerto Rican team in the semis to face GP, a Florida team that had only dropped one set prior to the finals.

Muncie won the first set, 25-22, but dropped the second, 28-26.

“The AAU Nationals championship match was special,” Lyon said. “Both teams were dialed in.”

Lyon said that playing Munciana Lorax, the club’s top 15s team, in “crazy competitive” end-game scenarios really prepared the Chipmunks for Game 3, which his team won, 15-9.

RS Charlotte Vinson was named the tournament MVP after attacking with great success on the right side and right back. OH Spencer Etzler and libero Addi Applegate made the All-Tournament team for their prowess in ball control.  Setter Ava Hunter, who utilized the back row attack  as well as Lyon has seen at this level, also distinguished herself, as did middles Lilly Howell and Morgan Blasingame and OH Kaylyn Christy.

All starters have returned for Muncie in 2022 and they are now the Lorax. They won the Rock ‘N Rumble in mid-January.

•  Before we leave the Munciana portion of today’s Dots, I want to tell you that you won’t find longtime 16 Ninjas coach Randy Gardner in Muncie any longer. His wife, Melissa Paul Gardner, is from Alabama, so the couple moved south to be closer to her family and to start a Munciana affiliate, Bama Elite, about 30 minutes from Huntsville and 90 minutes from Birmingham. The club has a six-court facility on Lake Guntersville, where the Gardners and their staff are hoping to develop next level Alabamans.

“We have so much learning and teaching going on in our gym!” Gardner said  “I am excited for the new challenges of building from the ground up.”

Bama Elite has seven teams in its inaugural season and will be hosting the AAU March Madness Classic in March.

• The first non-18s national qualifier concluded yesterday in Omaha, with 1^st Alliance 17 Gold winning Northern Lights in 17 Open to punch its ticket along with second-place finisher Premier Nebraska 17 Gold and third-place finisher MAVS KC 17 17-1, which outlasted fellow Kansas squad Dynasty 17 Black for the final bid.

1st Alliance was truly dominant. The Chicago-area squad went 10-0 over three days and did not drop a set. The team twice swept Premier Nebraska and did likewise to MAVS.

“This was a great team effort, with our offense executing at a very high efficiency throughout the weekend,” coach Danielle Mikos noted. “Both of our defenders [Gigi Navarette and Vanessa Del Real] led the backcourt to put us in advantageous positions to extend plays and score.  Even though we have three newcomers to the group, 17 Gold played as a collective unit, displaying disciplined, team focused volleyball.”

• The buzz out of Central Zones in Indianapolis, where KiVA 15 Red, NKYVC 16-1 Tsunami, Circle City 17 Purple and Team Indiana Elite 18.1 won Open titles in the high school age groups, was just how easily Circle City prevailed over a high-quality field. Chris Due’s team swept the Legacy squad that won AAUs as 16s last summer (see above) in the championship match. The scores were 25-16, 25-15.

“The team played outstanding this weekend,” Due said. “Our goal coming in to the tournament was to keep getting better and better with every match and to be playing our best volleyball at the end, and the team just did that.”

Due missed his team’s first event of the season while battling Covid, and his wife, Kelly, led the team to a 3-1 finish in her first experience as a head coach and with a few players out as well.

The entire team was present for the Central Zone Invitational, including Gatorade Indiana POY Chloe Chicoine, playing this year with her age group. Chicoine was a highlight reel per usual, both offensively and defensively, but everyone stepped up around her in what due termed a “tremendous team effort.” Circle City swept through the tournament and didn’t yield more than 20 points in any set but twice.

In addition to Chicoine, setter Macy Hinshaw was outstanding running the offense and putting teams on the defensive with great service pressure, newcomer Ava Smith, a high flyer, was smashing balls at the net, middles Emily Waddell and 6-4 newcomer Ella Chapman controlled the net and Quinci Thomas did a great job in her first stint on the right side, establishing a great blocking presence and scoring the ball. Southpaw Faith Burch also excelled on the right when opportunities arose and the team’s back row of libero Molly Urban (Louisville recruit) and DS’s Ella Hemmings and Macy Bruton were solid in serve receive and very scrappy defensively while keeping great service pressure on teams.

“The great thing about this group is that they have so much room for improvement so we shall see how the rest of the season goes,” Due said.

• We won’t be doing club rankings at VolleyballMag.com this year, but I’ve been asking around about the best teams. Here are teams that are considered elite at the 18s level:

Sunshine 18 LA
A5 18Marc
Houston Skyline 18 Royal
Coast 18-1
Madfrog 18’s National Green

Sunshine, which recently won a national qualifier, is probably the favorite. Everyone is back, except for one middle, from the team that won Junior Nationals in 17 Open. That includes two Stanford signees, Elia Rubin and Kelly Belardi, athletic middle Kennedy Hill, superb lefty RS Kerry Keefe, versatile OH Dani Thomas-Nathan and a tremendous back row.
 
• Here are the teams coaches tell me will be formidable at the 17s level:

Circle City 17 Purple
Legacy 17 Adidas
Drive Nation 17-Red
TAV 17 Black
A5 17-1 Jing

Today let’s spotlight A5, which just came off of a 6-1 T3 effort at Central Zones. The core group won the Triple Crown NIT as 16s last winter and came in second at AAUs over the summer. Jing Hou’s team has added four newcomers 6-0 or taller and is quickly developing chemistry. Among the players to watch are 6-0 OH Jurnee Robinson, an LSU recruit who flies and is a six-rotation asset; 6-0 RS Jaidyn Garcia, a Georgia All-State pick; and talented back courters Arya Jue and Elizabeth Cheney.

Until next time …

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John Tawa