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• Last weekend was a busy one in the world of juniors volleyball.
That statement needs no qualifier, because “qualifier” was the name of the game. From New Orleans to Minneapolis, St. Louis to Spokane, teams lined up with dreams of getting to Vegas or Baltimore to compete against the best of the best at Junior Nationals.
• Let’s start in Minneapolis, where the 16s division piggybacked on the youngsters in the Twin Cities at the Mizuno Northern Lights Qualifier. TAV 16 Blue, Milwaukee Sting 16 White and South Texas 16 Navy were colorful winners of the three Club-level divisions, but the big prize was in 16 Open, where 24 teams, none with bids, vied to be the entitled trio to make their way to Vegas.
TAV 16 Black went 9-0 to claim the title and earn the Open bid. The Dallas-area squad, which tied for third at Triple Crown; defended its No. 1 seed but was pushed, as four of its matches went to three sets. That was never more true than in the championship versus Minnesota Select 16-1, a match TAV won, 17-15 in the third.
“We were really tested by a few talented Midwest teams and the finals was no different,” said coach Paul Baxter. “We were staring at a 11-14 deficit receiving serve in that final deciding set against Select, so we had to cook up some magic for the comeback win.”
Baxter credit improved blocking for TAV’s success. The team got a few massive blocks by Kinsley Young and Danielle Whitmire during its big comeback.
S/RS Anna Flores probably had her best overall event of the year, Baxter said. She contributed in all aspects of the game. Young hit .500 in the championship match despite being pitted against a top middle on Select. Pins Layla Austin and Kylie Kleckner had to take about 70 swings in the final and carried a huge load.
“Select is a very tough team that plays with really good intensity, so nothing came easy that’s for sure,” Baxter said.
“The girls have been doing a great job of learning and implementing all the new concepts and ideas we’ve been throwing at them from the start of the…
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