Three weekends in a row of tournaments and juggling midterms, AVVC 16 Red managed to close January and start February with great consistency.  From Lancaster, PA to Hampton Roads, VA to New York City, the girls have gotten in 5^th place, 5^th place, and won the tournament, respectively. 

            Hampton Roads MAPL tournament was a tournament where we knew that the girls would be playing teams that they will not see in their region.  That being said, the girls started off on a 2-0 am wave versus NV Premier 16-1, as well as Yorktowne 15 Blue.  Moving on to the mid afternoon wave, the girls beat MVSA 16 and MVSA 15 to receive a “bye” match for the next day play-in match.  With a “bye match”, the girls who were the #1 seed and beat a Brandywine team that got them into the championship bracket.  Moving into a playoff match, the team ended up losing to NVVA 15 Ice, which was a nailbiting 23-25, 24-26.  The team knew that they would have to rebound with a solid performance, and that they did.  The team was looking forward to the NYC 16 Invite. 

            The NYC Invite ended up having a field of 4 rather than 6, but that didn’t stop them from playing at a championship level.  With dominating performances over APEX Matrix and Sportime Black, the girls won 25-14, 25-15, 25-14, 25-11.  The last match of pool play was versus a familiar foe NYC Juniors 16 National.  The girls lost 21-25, 25-22, 11-15.  AVVC may have lost the battle, but they didn’t lose the war.  With a playoff win versus APEX Matrix 25-16, 25-23, the team made it to the finals versus NYC.  The tournament host however struggled against AVVC’s offensive power, and the defense managed to make great communication plays to ultimately win another tournament.

            So after three weeks of tournament weekends, the girls have had the experience of juggling schoolwork with volleyball, a round trip of 16 hours on a bus from Hampton Roads and pretending their an acapella group, as well as eating dumplings in NYC.  The girls are looking forward to their next tournament in Washington DC at the Capitol Hill Classic. A special thank you to our parents as well as family and fans who have continued to support and help our team with their daily needs.