Competition season underway as A5 sweeps local tournament
Contributed by: Walter Patterson
January 22, 2020 -
Our competition season is officially underway, with over half our club playing this past weekend in tournaments locally or out of town. Win or lose, it's always a good feeling to get that first tournament under your belt - for coaches and players, it's the best indicator of what work needs to be done this season. Bob Westbrook remarked on the strength of our teams so early in the season, saying "these teams play noticeably stronger and smarter volleyball than our teams did just a few years ago".
At the Southern Dream tournament here in the Atlanta area, A5 swept the championships in every age group. A5 11-Walter won the 12's divison on a 6-0 record over just two days of play. The 13-Club division was won by A5 13-Betty, who amassed an impressive 8-0 record over 3 days without dropping a set. The 14-Club divison was won by A5 14-Tina - this team did not look or play like a "5" team, and had to beat several other A5 teams on the road to their championship.
A5 13-Allison won the 14-Open division, beating A5 14-Bri in the finals to avenge their sole pool play loss. In 15-Open, A5 South 15-1 took the gold by beating A5 14-Earl in the finals, with a 9-1 record overall. Our A5 14-Helen team cruised to a 9-0 record, winning the 16-Open championship without dropping a set, a performance matched by 17-Jing in their 9-0 run to win the 17/18 Girls championship.
Our A5 boys were busy this past weekend too as A5 18-Carlos played in the Boys Winter Volleyball Championship tournament in Chicago. Despite a strong 3-0 start, the team ran into tough competition on day 2 and 3, and finished 29th out of 75 teams.
In Nashville, our 18's played in the Music City Volleyball Championships - a National Qualifier, already in January, as the 18's have a shortened season. 18-Scott and 18-Boba both played in the Open division of 32 teams and finished 5th and 9th, respectively. 18-Jordan finished 22nd in the 18 USA division.