Tawa’s Club Dots: SummerFest is the best and players whose numbers are up

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.

• The JVA SummerFest in Columbus was the highest profile event among many contested the weekend after Memorial Day.

NKYVC 17 Tsunami, No. 1 nationally in my rankings as of the end of April, rallied from a disastrous Day 1 to win the 17 Open division against a competitive 36-team field that included two other top 25 teams, No. 16 Tri-State Elite 17 Blue and No. 22 Metro 17 Travel. Academy 17E Tsunami and Boilers Juniors 171E Gold, teams just outside the top 25, also competed.

NKYVC, playing competitively for the first time in six weeks, went 0-3 in its Day 1 power pool, losing to the Boilers, AVC CLE 17 Red and Top Select 17 Elite.

“Physically not playing terrible, they just seemed to not have a lot of rhythm to their game,” said director Jill Hunt.

Hunt said that the team that showed up on Day 2 was the team she’d seen all year. NKYVC, guaranteed a spot in the Gold Bracket despite its 0-3 Saturday, swept Circle City 17 Purple, Mintonette m.71 and Team Pineapple 17 Black to make the finals, where it came from a set down to defeat Metro for the title. The final set was a dominating 15-4 win.

“I am so proud of this team and the grit they showed throughout the weekend,” Hunt said. “It was an entire team effort with all nine players making major contributions at key times. The serving on Day 2 was exceptional, with the team recording 21 aces and taking teams out of system on a consistent basis. The heavy arms of Julia Hunt, Alivia Skidmore and Sydney Barrett were on full display as they were delivered great sets from Abby Yoder and Macy Lentz. Blocking was strong from Hunt, Barrett and Lilly Hamburg, The defense was exceptional from Elizabeth Tabeling, Kaleigh Frietch and Lilly Gillespie. Overall, their Day 2 performance and determination to come out champions definitely earned them the Gold ball!”

FaR Out 17 Black went 4-1 in the division, losing 29-27, 28-26 to Elevation 17 Ulland in the first round of the Gold Bracket. This is the same team that won the inaugural 18U Emperor’s Cup in Las Vegas late in April playing as an 18s team. That team had only three seniors,…