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 through Junior Nationals this summer.
• Gifts have been opened, toasts to the new year made and holiday lights stowed. It’s time to get to work on a new and always-exciting season of club volleyball.
For the 24th year, I will be covering the sport in some capacity. I invite you along as I give you the news, my perspective, share some past history and provide a fans-eye glimpse into the sport that has us on the edge of our seats week in and week out.
• Let’s start our look forward with a brief look back at the “teams of summer,” those squads that claimed national championships in 2022.
At AAU Nationals, champions at the highest levels included Munciana Samurai in 18 Open, Legacy 17-1 Adidas in 17 Open, A5 16 Gabe in 16 Open, Legacy 15-1 Adidas in 15 Open and Boiler Juniors 14 Gold in 14 Open.
• Munciana Samurai, coached by the legendary Mike Lingenfelter, usually has a smattering of prominent underclassmen on it, helping to smooth the transition from one year to the next. Last year’s team, which also won the Triple Crown NIT over the USAV 18 Open champions, Sunshine 18 LA, was more of a veteran team, however. Samurai returns only two players, senior MB Ava Vickers and senior defender Ramsey Gary. Look for sophomore OH Charlotte Vinson to assume the role of terminator 1, which Eva Hudson championed last year before going on to be Big Ten Freshman of the Year for Purdue this past fall.
One interesting note about this year’s Samurai squad: while Lingenfelter usually has a player or two from out of state, this year’s roster shows one, 6-2 senior OH Cate Shanahan, from Massachusetts; and another, 5-10 junior OH London Wijay, from California.
Shanahan is an Ontario native. Wijay will play club most of the time for Supernova in the Golden State but will play with Samurai at the major events on its schedule.
• Legacy 18-1 Adidas will look a little different than the Legacy squad that won AAUs at 17 Open last summer. Three players, OH Harper Murray, 6-4 MB Nina Horning and libero Sarah Velluci, are off early to college. All will be missed, especially Murray, who arguably is the best player in the Class of 2023 and the most talented player…
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