USAV Junior Nationals 16 Open Recap: MAVS 16-1 shines in title run
Kimberly Whetstone Consistency hadn’t been a great asset for ASICS MAVS 16-1 during the club season. MAVS experienced some ups and downs throughout the year, knowing that the team had the makeup and potential to be the best in the…
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Continue ReadingConsistency hadn’t been a great asset for ASICS MAVS 16-1 during the club season.
MAVS experienced some ups and downs throughout the year, knowing that the team had the makeup and potential to be the best in the nation.
This past week as the USA Volleyball Junior National Championships in Detroit, things finally came together. MAVS completed a perfect run through the week by winning three matches on Wednesday to claim the 16 Open national championship.
“We noticed that we weren’t where we needed to be physically and the girls just decided that they wanted to win and they committed to the gym,” MAVS coach Kelly Bugler said. “They trained and conditioned to be ready for the four days here. A lot of times you are just competing against yourselves and competing against your mind, so these girls just made sure they were ready mentally and physically to know they could win this.”
After two-set wins over A5 Mizuno 16-1 Gabe and EXCEL 16 National Red in the opening rounds of Wednesday’s bracket play, MAVS met with Coast 16-1 in the final. Coast had gotten some wins over MAVS earlier in the year and took the first set 27-25 after leading most of the way.
“We have lost to (Coast 16-1) two times before and they are a great team. I think both sides came out timid and we were playing real careful volleyball, not trying to make errors,” Bugler said. “We weren’t bringing our energy and excitement to the court.”
After splitting the first 12 points of the second set, 6-6, MAVS finally turned it on. They would score 13 of the next 18 points to establish a 19-11 lead. That would eventually lead to a 25-13 victory when Lindsay Lahr spiked home the winning point.
“The second set we were able to get a jump with a couple of points early and I think that got us relaxed and feeling good to play our game,” Bugler said.
In the third and deciding set, MAVS established a 6-1 lead thanks to a pair of aces from Samantha Schnitta. She would add a third ace in the set and also pick up three kills as MAVS won the set 15-9. Kimberly Whetstone spiked home the championship point.
“We like to serve tough and our serve/receive was a big key for the week. Our offense can really attack and get runs on teams, so when we pass well we can be hard to stop,” Bugler said. “Our ball control was excellent all tournament.”
Setter Kendra Wait was a big part of that passing, as she ran the offense for MAVS all tournament and was named the MVP of the 16 Open division.