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Five teams bring home hardware from Las Vegas

05/29/2019, 1:15pm PDT
By Tony Miranda

Great travel weekend leads to club success

Nine NW Juniors teams traveled to Las Vegas over Memorial Day Weekend for the AAU West Coast Championships and five came back with some hardware! 

The club attended the West Coast Championships for the first time and it was great to see most of our teams have success and over half of them come home with trophies. It was also great to see parents and players have the chance to finish their season on the road and come away with a great mix of great play and team activities. Many teams took advantage of the free time during their "off wave" to explore Las Vegas and take on some great team activities. 

16 UA Black - U16 Champions

The U16 Champions went 9-0 on the weekend only dropping two sets all tournament. They picked the right time of the year to peak, following up a third place finish at the PSR Regional Championships with a Tournament Championship in Las Vegas. It was a weekend of solving puzzles and adjusting to many different styles of play. Day 1 had its challenges as a few players played multiple positions. The only real stressor was a 3-set match against LVVA 16-2; after a close first set loss the team "woke up" and finished 25-8, 15-9 to win the match. Day 2 matched them against some very defensive minded teams and they again responded well by converting in transition, emphasizing the middle, playing great defense. Day 3 is always a tough turn around from PM wave as the team reffed at 8 and played at 9. It didn't seem to phase them as they came out strong and won first round 25-8, 25-22 in a match that featured a 13-point serving run by Middle Krista Norton. Another 2-0 win in the semis led to a finals showdown against a scrappy Shonto Starlings 16's team. A comfortable 1st set win led to a frustrating second set as Shonto dug everything. Composure brought about a 15-9 third set win and a championship!

15 UA Blue - 2nd place Gold

Just one win short of the Championship! 15 UA Blue had a great weekend with a 6-2 record. Their only two losses were to the same team, Flying Tigers who beat them on Day 1 in pool play, and then in the Finals. Both matches were a treat to watch and 15 UA Blue had some wonderful plays. 

17 UA Blue - Third place, U17's

Putting things into perspective, the 17's had an amazing weekend. They traveled to Las Vegas with an 8-person roster - having a setter and outside hitter injured on the sidelines. With a DS moved to the outside and an outside moved to setter, they really responded well and took on the challenge. Day 1 they dropped a set in pool play figuring each other out, Day 2 they dropped another moving up from the #4 seed in pool to take 2nd and put themselves into the Gold. A come from behind victory in the first round of Gold playoffs assured them some hardware and they finished Third overall. 

16 UA Blue - Silver Champs

16 UA Blue also had a great weekend with a 6-3 overall record. Just a couple 3-set losses were the difference between the Gold and the Silver bracket as they lost a close one to 2nd place Shonto Starlings on Saturday and another one to Amazons 16's on Sunday. They made the best of the opportunity, going 3-0 on Monday and taking home the Silver Championship with a great 3-set win over 16 Apex.

15 UA Grey - Silver Champs

With a 4-4 record, 15 UA Grey took care of business on Monday when they had to. They overcame a rough Day 1 when they went 1-2, but they played very competitively and had strong enough results to be one of the few 3rd place teams seeded into Division 1 for Day 2. Day 2's pool - the NW Juniors Pool - with 3 NW teams and one other. Taking third again placed them into the Silver Division and they won both matches in 3-set thrillers. 

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