Legacy Has Giant Weekend At Triple Crown, 15 Adidas Captures Elite Title
Legacy came to compete and compete they did, with their 15s and 18s taking home their age group elite crowns. This comes after their 18s squad won the title in 2019.
For the 15, it seemed like business as usual with a balanced attack, jumping out early over Alamo out or San Antonio as well as a healthy dose or Harper Murray, one of the top Class of 2023 outside hitter prospects in the country. Murray is a threat to score anywhere on the court. She is electric with her power, but also has the savvy to score points with a roll or tip.
After a 25-21 win in the first set Legacy would take control of set two until Alamo would
Slowly creep back into the set. Big blocks, balanced attacks, and a few uncharacteristic errors from Legacy made for a tight second set. However Legacy had match two match points to seal the deal before Alamo would storm back gritting out a set to win, building plenty of momentum for set three.
“We told them to believe in themselves, each other, and the system. We’ve had a lot of success this year and they know it works. They just had to settle down, trust each other and change their body language,” said coach and director at Legacy, Jennifer Cottrill.
Before today, Legacy had yet to drop a set in the tournament, coming back to reset themselves would be key in order to get the momentum back in set three.
Legacy was still slow to start to begin set three with timeouts at down 0-3 and again after the side change, but the body language changed and that’s when the momentum swing back in favor of the team out of the Detroit area.
Key points by Murray as well as solid middle and right side play by Laurence Abraham, Becca Apsey, and setter Erin Kline. Libero Kaitlyn Hoffman was rock solid out of serve receive all day.
The swagger was back, the mind caught up with the body language with Legacy making the final run to 15 to claim the 15 Elite championship.
Legacy would have their moment on the big stage holding their championship trophy and sign and we’re soon joined by the 18s to celebrate together.
“Our goal is to compete against the best of the best and a lot of things have to go right to be successful. We train hard and practice, but we want to be competitive. We may be down, we may be up, we need to compete to stay in it because anyone can anyone. We are extremely proud of all of our teams this weekend for being competitive and staying in matches,” said Cottrill.
The mission to train and compete remains the same heading back home. With qualifiers approaching, Legacy will have a target on their back. But with the balance, experience, and one of the top players in the country, this may only be the beginning
15 ELITE TRIPLE CROWN NIT CHAMPIONS 🥇🏆 #leaveyourlegacy pic.twitter.com/aZ2dsCc25Q
— Legacy Volleyball (@LegacyLvc) February 17, 2020