Since the formation of the Junior Volleyball Association (JVA) a great number of the strongest juniors clubs in the country pulled out of the the USAV Junior Nationals (formerly JOs) and all national qualifiers. This move was made in protest to the direction of USA Volleyball's juniors division and the lack of representation of juniors within the national organization.

In 2009 the JVA entered into an agreement with AAU to ask its members to support the AAU National Championships and agreed to cancel the JVA Championship tournament after two years of successful operation in Loiusville, KY. Due in large part to the support by JVA clubs the AAU National Championships nearly doubled in size to become the largest volleyball tournament in the world this year with 1,146 teams. The tournament is run in large part by Disney and with its association with ESPN the future marketing and broadcast potential of this tournament is huge.

All three Academy teams competed in the Open Division in their respective age groups. The caliber of competition in all age divisions was outstanding. It is this author's belief that the total number of high-caliber teams in the open divisions is already greater than the USAV national championships, and is only going to get better as this tournament grows in size and popularity. The strength in the 18 open and 17 open divisions was certainly stronger overall than the field at this year's USAV nationals in Reno, NV.

WVBA Mizuno 18s came into the tournament seeded 42nd out of 42 teams and held their seed until the final day when a win over IVA 18 Barracudes from Indianapolis pushed them to a 41st place finish.

WVBA 16-Chris came into the tournament seeded 48th overall out of 56 teams. They were competitive with several teams including their opening match when they led #1 overall seed and 3rd place finisher VB Rags of Puerto Rico 20-18 in the first set. They battled through each pool and played some quality volleyball against very strong opponents to finish 43rd overall out of 56 very good teams in the Open Division.

WVBA Mizuno 17s came into the tournament with the 27th seed, about the middle of the 56-team field. The teams were seeded into 8 pools of 7 teams. Each team played 3 matches per day for the first two days. The top four teams in each pool were then placed into the upper division creating 8 pools of 4 teams for day 3. After day 3 the top 2 teams in each pool were placed into the 16-team Championship Bracket for day 4.

The Academy 17s played extremely well the first day with wins over Roanoke 17-National from Virginia and Oahu 17s of Hawaii. Their only loss came at the hands of a strong Mizuno M1 17-1 team from Minnesota. The loss to M1 was in 3 after WVBA won the first set and had a chance to close out the match in the 2nd set. The second day featured the OVA 17 Asics of Orlando, Florida as the opening match and after leading 16-9 in the first set the wheels came off. This was the only match in the tournament that the Academy 17s didn't play their best volleyball of the year. Mizuno 17 won their last two matches against two very good teams from Ohio: Dayton Juniors 17 Blue and Maverick Ace 17-Jenn. The 4-2 finish was good enough for a 3rd-place finish to keep them in the running and move into the top 32.

The day 3 pool opened against a very tall Milwaukee Sting 17 Gold team that gave the Academy 17s very little opportunity for point runs with their effecient serve-receive offense. WVBA played a nearly flawless match against Synergy 17-1 Orange from Philadelphia who played with even fewer flaws posting a mere 3 unforced errors in the first set. Mizuno 17 a led 21-18 before Synergy shifted into a gear we didn't have as they ran off seven straight points. The pool finished with an exciting 3-set win over Fusion 17 Gold from Puerto Rico. They were very scrappy and played with a volleyball IQ of a team much older than 17. We probably should have checked their IDs! The 3rd place finish was the end to our dream of winning the tournament and sent us to the Premier (Silver) bracket for the final day.

This bracket offered no rest for the weary as we battled past the Pinellas Heat 17 Elite from Clearwater (Tampa), Florida in 3 to set up a battle with the IVA Ptoxic Pterodactyls from Indianapolis, IN. The IVA match turned into a classic battle trading sideouts back and forth for the first 12 rotations before either team created any separation. The Academy 17s outlasted the Hoosiers to take the first set 28-26 playing their best volleyball of the season by far. We managed to win the second set as well with even better play, which didn't seem possible. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

Our final opponent was even a step above the last teams we played. The MAVA VB Rags 17-Elite team from Louisville, KY came out and executed impeccably-timed crossing patterns that had our blockers' heads on swivels. By the time the match was over we were just beginning to figure out what this team was trying to do and were beginning to compete. Perhaps if we played this MAVA team a couple of times during the season we may have been able to beat them, but it wasn't meant to be on this day. We finished 2nd in the Premier Division or 18th overall.

Besides our loss in the Premier final to MAVA, we dropped four matches to the teams that ultimately ended up 2nd (Synergy) with the other three tied for 5th overall. We were very happy with our finish and even happier with the quality of our play.

WVBA Mizuno 14 started play on the June 24th and finishes on June 27th. They started the tournament as the #21 seed overall and the #3 seed in Pool 5. They were joined in this pool by #1 Texas Image 14 Smack from North Texas, #2 Temecula 14 Rochelle from Southern California, #4 Triangle 14 Black from North Carolina, #5 Ka Ulukoa 14 Wekiu from Hawaii, and #6 North Tampa Stars 14-1 from Florida. They played North Tampa, Ka Ulukoa and Texas Image and went 1-2 with a win over North Tampa on day 1. Day two had them finishing their pool with losses to Temecula and Triangle to finish with a record of 1-5 and 5th place finish. They went 1-1 on day 3 to finish 2nd and they beat Uno Girls 14 Elite from the Great Lakes to move to Flight 4 for the final day. They went 1 and out on day four with a loss to ICT Elite 14-Mizuno from Kansas to finish 35th overall.

WVBA Mizuno 15 started play on June 26th and will finish on June 29th. They may have drawn the toughest pool in this very talented field of 15 & Under teams. They are joined in Pool 1 by #1 overall seed WAVE 15KJ Spalding of Encinitas, CA, #2 OVA 15 Asics of Orlando, FL, #3 Orange County 15 Blue from Southern California, #5 Skyline 15 RoShamBo of Dallas, TX, #6 Vision 15 Gold of Northern California, #7 TX Tornados 15 Mizuno of Houston, TX, and #8 Iowa Rockets 15R of Iowa City, IA. They lost their first three matches to as they faced OVA first, who just returned from a 1st-place finish at AAU Nationals the week prior, then they played Skyline who avenged a loss at Far Westerns with a 3-set win over WVBA. They finished their day with a loss to Iowa Rockets that started their pool play with an upset win over the extremely talented Wave team.

Day 2 went better for the Academy 15s as they defeated Vision in 2 and followed this win with another 2-0 victory over Texas Tornados with set 2 going 29-27. They lost to #1 overall seed Encinitas Wave and then finished the pool with a solid win over a talented Orange County team.

Their initial pool was so strong that despite their win over Orange County, WVBA 15s ended up 6th. Their next opponent was the best team from Atlanta, A5, who defeated WVBA 15s in 3. This moved the Academy 15s into Flight 4 where they lost their first match to Excel 15 Elite from Texas to finish 27th overall. All three teams that moved up out from the first pool finished in the top 8 overall.

WVBA 16-Shannon started their tournament competition on Wednesday. They were seeded #21 overall and #6 in Pool #4 along with # 1 TAV 16 VB Rags Black from Dallas, TX, #2 Nebraska Juniors 16-1 from Lincoln, NE, #3 1st Alliance 16 Silver of Chicago, #4 Boomers 16 Elite Black from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, #5 Santa Barbara 16 Smack from Southern California, #7 Nike Six Pack 16 from Cedar Falls, IA, and #8 KC Power 16-1 from Kansas City, MO.

The top 3 teams from the initial pool will move up and contend for the championship while the #4-8 teams will be placed into crossover matches against teams from other pools before being seeded into bracket play for the final day.

Wednesday was a tough day for 16-Shannon as they lost to Nike Six Pack, TAV and Nebraska Juniors. Thursday turned out better as 16-Shannon rebounded from a morning loss to Boomers to win their next two. The win over #12 seed 1st Alliance from Chicago was followed by another win over KC Power. 16-Shannon will face Santa Barbara in the morning to move into group 2 (13-20) crossover matches.

Friday saw 16-Shannon drop their final pool match to Santa Barbara and dash their hopes for a 13th place finish. With this loss they were sent to a challenge bracket with #31 seed HP STL 16 Gold from St. Louis. Despite a rebound win in the 2nd set 25-18 the St. Louis team proved to play a little better defense and beat 16-Shannon 15-12 in the 3rd. 16-Shannon will finish their tournament in Flight 5 facing MAVA VB Rags 16-Elite from Louisville, KY Saturday morning at 9:00am. Ironically WVBA 17s finished their play at AAU/JVA Nationals with a loss against a very good MAVA 17s team.

You can follow along with the AES results system. Select the age group, 16 Open for Shannon.

Summer Soiree
WVBA Mizuno 13 is in Anaheim, CA to participate in the U14 division at the SCVA Summer Soiree tournament July 2-5. The youngest WVBA team finished 3rd in their opening all-southern California pool on Friday with a win over Triumph 14-TOV and losses to Seal Beach 14-Tony and Tstreet 14 Lasuen.

They followed that morning pool with a heartbreaking loss in the 3rd 13-15 in their challenge match to Hi Intensity 13/14 from Hawaii.

This set up an afternoon pool Saturday for the Academy 13s who start as the #2 seed in group 2 Pool 6 along with #1 SoCal 14 Swamis, #3 Synergy U14 CP, and #4 Triumph 14-TOV, who they defeated in their first round pool. They went a perfect 3-0 on Saturday winning their pool.

This finish placed them into an AM pool on the 4th of July as the #4 seed along with #1 Tstreet 14 Lasuen, #2 Surf City 14 Tyler, and #3 Seal Beach 14-Tasha, all from southern California. They lost their first two matches to Tstreet and Surf City but were able to beat Seal Beach in an extra innings 3rd set, 17-15. They will play in a 7-team bracket for Flight 3 Monday morning. Their first match is against Point West Mizuno 14J at 9:00am. You can follow along with the AES results system.

Summer Youth Camp
WVBA is still accepting registration for its only summer camp in conjunction with the Woodinville Park & Rec Dept. The camp will be led by WVBA coaches and college players and is for incoming 8th and 9th graders (fall of '10). The camp runs four days from July 6-9. For more information, visit our summer camp page.

If you have any questions about WVBA, please contact our Operations Manager, Jill Gunsolus.