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 focus of the volleyball world this past weekend was Indianapolis, where the Mideast Qualifier took place for 18s, 17s and 16s.
This brought back memories of my first MEQ back in 2003, when PrepVolleyball.com was just a few months old. The tournament was run then by Danny Burns, the Circle City director known for his big personality and gravelly voice.
My co-owner, Kevin Laseau, and I roamed the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indy for three days, hunting the best stories and the best prospects, while periodically running back to put results online after updates were posted on large white poster boards taped to the convention center wall.
The story of the weekend, I recall, was Cleveland Volleyball Company, with coach Troy Dixon, qualifying in 18 Open for the Junior Olympic National Championships later that year in Atlanta. It marked the first time that CVC had ever qualified in Open.
“We came out second the first two days of pool play,” Dixon recalled. “It was survive and advance.”
On Sunday, CVC was in a three-team pool and won, which put it into the semifinals versus vaunted Texas Tornados a bid. Cleveland Volleyball Company won, behind a 5-4 OH, Kris Brown, who was committed to Penn State for defense. She was fast, jumped high and knew how to score.
After the match, Penn State coach Russ Rose walked by Dixon, and said, in his way, “great game but there’s not one kid on your team I’d take over the players on that team.”
CVC, which also featured the likes of middle Jillian Quayle and defender Jess Pompei; wound up losing to pretty badly to Nebraska Juniors, starring future Olympian Jordan Larson (a sophomore at the time, I think); for the title, but history had been made.
“They seemed to find a way to win and kept doing so throughout their careers,” Dixon said about his team.
By the way, Kris Brown is now Krissy “Brown” Schmidt. After playing defense for the Nittany Lions, she got married, settled in Florida, and was a highly successful high school coach for five years. Schmidt now owns High Tide Volleyball Club in Stuart, Florida, and has two children.
• Exhibit A in learning perseverance? How about Elevation 18 Spinney from the Cincinnati area? After…
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