News

Academy Sweeps MLK Weekend

Date Posted: 1/23/2020

MLK weekend is historically the first weekend of volleyball across the country. 33 Academy teams participated in this weekend, half at City of Oaks in Raleigh and half at Monument City Classic in Richmond, VA. Each event brought a different environment and competition, but Academy finishing at the top of each age group? That stayed consistent.

All Crystal and Diamond teams, along with 17 Jade and 16 Boys, headed downtown to compete in the City of Oaks tournament at the Raleigh Convention Center. With fields featuring the best of the Carolina region and surrounding states, there were a lot of fun matches featuring former teammates from school and past club teams. After day 1, Academy was 40-9 with 15 out of 16 teams still fighting for Gold. The only team to get knocked out was 12 Diamond, who played up in the 13’s division for their very first tournament! Day 2 proved to be even more of a challenge, but our teams held steady and 12 finished well enough to end up in the Gold bracket on the final day.

On the final days, the medals slowly came rolling in. Academy 16 Boys was the first, finishing 2^nd in the 16 Boy’s division. What a fantastic finish for our first competitive boys’ team at their first tournament! Congrats team and Coach Aidan. Monday was the test for our girl’s teams. First was 13 Diamond who took down a strong Triangle 13 Black team in 3 sets. Next was 18 Diamond who went undefeated to earn their gold, and had the most exciting finish of all teams – defeating their sister team, 17 Diamond for the 18’s title! Congrats to both teams for rolling through the competitive 18’s field. Lastly was 16 Diamond who only lost 1 set all weekend, and truly took the division in dominating fashion. 12 Crystal finished 2^nd overall in 12’s after being undefeated going into the Gold final, lost to a previously beaten ECJVC 12’s team in a 3 set nail-biter.

 

Other finishes of note:
15 Diamond – 3^rd                                  13 Crystal – 5^th                                   14 Diamond – 5^th                                  16 Crystal – 5^th
17 Crystal – 5^th                                     15 Crystal – 9^th                                    18 Crystal – 11^th                                   14 Crystal – 17^th, winning the Silver division
12 Diamond – 18^th in 13s                       17 Jade – 23^rd

Up in Richmond Virginia, the excitement continued. Our Regional+ teams and a few National teams fought at the Monument City Classic – a club favorite we love starting our season at. Monument typically features local Carolina Region, Virginia, and Maryland clubs – a nice change of pace from the clubs these teams normally feature in their regional events. 29-22 was the club’s record after day 1, and they were ready to compete on day 2.

Harder competition followed and there was 1 team that ended up in Gold on the final day – 14 Sapphire! 4 other teams finished in silver, and 3 of them won the bracket! The fun came on day 3 when 16 Jade and Pearl faced off on their final match of the weekend – 16 Jade took it in 3 tough sets. Overall our Regional+ teams saw some great competition, learned to play together, and enjoyed a full weekend of volleyball!

MCC Academy finishes:
17 Pearl – 9^th, won the Bronze division                                     16 Jade – 24^th                                  16 Pearl – 25^th                                      16 Ruby – 12^th
16 Sapphire – 5^th, won the Silver division                                  15 Jade – 13^th                                  15 Pearl – 17^th                                      15 Ruby – 13^th
15 Sapphire – 5^th, won the Silver division                                  15 Onyx – 9^th, won the Bronze division                                                           14 Jade – 9^th
14 Pearl – 11^th                                                                         14 Ruby – 4^th, won the Silver division                                                              14 Sapphire – 2^nd
13 Jade – 6^th                                                                           13 Pearl – 16^th                                   13 Ruby – 17^th

Fantastic finish by all teams, we are looking forward to fierce competition in weekends to come. 18-14 Diamond & Crystal will look to compete at MAPL Hampton this weekend with Queen City Classic the following weekend. Great job to all! #WeAreAcademy