 January 18, 2023, FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Triple Crown Sports and Athletes Unlimited have forged a strategic partnership for 2023 that will look to combine the strengths of both organizations through cross-promotion and overall marketing support throughout the upcoming year.
Beginning with diamond-sport tournament offerings dating back to the 1980s, Triple Crown Sports currently produces more than 150 events in the youth and college arenas, today with particular emphasis in baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball. With its roster of proven athletes in basketball, lacrosse, softball and volleyball, Athletes Unlimited stands as a natural fit to be in association with TCS as AU expands its competitive game schedule. The partnership is rooted in the important work of highlighting the skills of female athletes and elevating the presence of women’s sports. Athletes Unlimited rosters include some of the nation’s most proven and dedicated talents in their sports; meanwhile, Triple Crown has a long history of supporting women’s athletics, starting with youth fastpitch and evolving into the national college space with the Cancun Challenge and Preseason/Postseason WNIT in basketball, the NIVC in volleyball and the NISC and Puerto Vallarta Challenge in softball. “This strategic partnership with Athletes Unlimited is great news for all of the teams, coaches and players who play with Triple Crown Sports.” said Andy Hansen, Chief Marketing Officer. “AU continues to transform women’s professional sports and now the TCS community will get first-hand insight into what’s in store for AU in 2023. Keep an eye out for updates from AU throughout the season and special appearances at some of Triple Crown’s top events.” “Everyone at Athletes Unlimited couldn’t be more excited for this new opportunity to partner with Triple Crown Sports,” said Athletes Unlimited Sr. Director of Marketing Matt Biggers. “This partnership will allow us to combine the reach of both organizations to raise the level of awareness of all of the great things both organizations are doing in the world of girls’ and women’s sports.” About Athletes Unlimited Athletes Unlimited is a new model of pro sports where athletes are decision-makers and individual players are champions of team sports. Athletes Unlimited literally changes the game with faster play and new team rosters every week, delivering next-level competition and engagement in which every moment counts. The first season of women's softball took place in 2020, with the inaugural seasons of women's indoor volleyball and women’s lacrosse being completed in 2021, along with season two of softball. We completed our inaugural Basketball league, season two of lacrosse and volleyball, season three of softball and our inaugural AUX softball competitions in 2022. For more information, visit AUProSports.com. About Triple Crown Sports Based in Fort Collins, CO., Triple Crown Sports has been producing youth, high school and college events for 40 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men’s and women’s DI Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. Triple Crown is also powering “WNIT” concept events in D-I softball (NISC) and volleyball (NIVC), with those two events debuting in 2017. Triple Crown’s PV College Challenge features two sessions of the top DI college softball teams in the country each year in Puerto Vallarta, MX. TC fastpitch tournaments (including the 1,100-team Sparkler/Fireworks event) draw the nation’s finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend TCS events for recruiting purposes. TCS produces one of the largest youth baseball events in the world with the 700-team Omaha SlumpBuster during the College World Series. The Triple Crown Volleyball NIT has become the top-recruited club volleyball event in the country each February when 600 teams compete in Kansas City, MO. Media Contact: TCS: Craig Buchanan, craig@triplecrownsports.com, (970) 672-0566 AU: Scott Miranda, scott@mirandaco.net, (914) 806-6771  New York, NY — Today Gipper Media, Inc. (Gipper) the leading social media content creation and management platform for sub-professional sports, announced a partnership with Triple Crown Sports (TCS), an organization created to transform the youth sports market with the creation of premium destination championships. This partnership will provide clubs with tools and resources to streamline their social media & showcase their athletes.
With access to a wide range of ready-made templates that can be customized in seconds, on any device, and without needing any design experience, program administrators and coaches will be able to create and share more social media content than ever. As part of the partnership, TCS members will receive professional development from the Gipper team in an effort to educate them about social media best practices and will be provided affordable access to all Gipper plans. Clubs will be able to leverage Gipper to help drive participation, engage their community and fans, amplify their athletes, and drive revenue through sponsors. “The use of professionally-designed graphics marketed through social media channels have become an essential marketing tool for generating awareness and engagement at Triple Crown Sports,” said Chief Marketing Officer Andy Hansen. “Gipper makes this easier than ever for event companies, club programs, coaches and athletes to produce professional graphics that meet brand standards and grab the attention of your followers. We are excited to partner with Gipper and showcase the platform to the thousands of coaches and club teams who play with us.” Gipper provides access to a wide range of ready-made templates that can be customized in seconds, on any device, and without needing any design experience. TCS affiliated club programs can now create and share more content than ever to promote their athletes and continue growing their programs. "We are absolutely thrilled to sign this partnership with Triple Crown Sports," said Matthew Glick, Founder & CEO of Gipper. “Social media offers a massive opportunity for youth sports clubs nationwide. However, clubs are often limited on time, resources, and expertise - which makes maximizing social media difficult. Gipper allows them to save time, while creating professional sports graphics to better grow their program's brand, promote their athletes, showcase highlights, engage stakeholders, and drive revenue. We are excited to work with TCS to expand our reach as the leading social media graphics solution platform in the industry.” About Gipper: Gipper supercharges digital storytelling for sports organizations of all sizes. Our platform helps athletic administrators and coaches create professional-looking sports graphics in seconds for use on social media, websites, and signage. Gipper empowers sports professionals to connect with their communities in a way that increases engagement, fosters brand affinity, fuels talent acquisition, and drives sponsorship opportunities. About Triple Crown Sports: Based in Fort Collins, CO., Triple Crown Sports has been producing youth, high school and college events for 40 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men’s and women’s DI Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. Triple Crown is also powering “WNIT” concept events in D-I softball (NISC) and volleyball (NIVC), with those two events debuting in 2017. Triple Crown’s PV College Challenge features more than 16 of the top DI college softball teams in the country each year in Puerto Vallarta, MX. Anchored by the 1,000-team Colorado 4th of July event, TCS fastpitch tournaments draw the nation’s finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend TCS events for recruiting purposes. TCS produces one of the largest youth baseball events in the world with the Omaha SlumpBuster during the College World Series. The Triple Crown Volleyball NIT has become the top-recruited club volleyball event in the country each February when 550 teams compete in Kansas City, MO. Learn More: Gipper x TCS: gipper.com/partner/tcs Youth/Club Sports Solutions: gipper.com/youth-club-sports Try Gipper for free at: platform.gogipper.com  Hotly contested points, no overwhelming swings of momentum, each team looking more than capable of holding up under the stress – not much separated the Believe 17’s from the San Luis Valley 17’s on Sunday.
That meant the Gold Division championship at the Bighorn Bash (part of Triple Crown’s Colorado Tournament Series) would test the depth of each roster, and the Believe 17’s had multiple athletes in proper position for the big points, sending the team to a 25-23, 24-26, 15-8 victory at the NORCO courts in Loveland. The teams went three sets as well on Saturday to kick off the tourney (Believe won that one, 19-25, 25-20, 15-8), with Sunday’s final turning on kills from Nicole Sparks, Renee Sobania, Bella Tedrow and Avery Smith in the third set to build an 8-6 lead up to 14-8. The finishing blow was a scorched serve by Sobania that deflected hard to the right for an ace. One other thing the full Believe roster did well was stick together during its one genuine moment of struggle, when a cluster of errors sent San Luis up, 21-16, in the second set. A couple of timeouts helped Believe (from Greenwood Village, CO) actually tie it back up at 22-all and 24-all, before San Luis secured the set on an ace from Sydney Jackson. “We were talking about putting the pressure back on them and executing our game plan,” said Believe coach Makenzi Langer. “Back in that game, (San Luis) was playing it more safe, setting it over the net instead of attacking, and I kept telling our kids, if you go for it, I’m not going to be upset. You will see those errors, but we rallied back – nothing changes, stick to the game plan.” “We try to focus on one point at a time, not to think we are out of this,” said Smith, a junior at Chaparral High School. “We chip away slowly. We really wanted to win; we were focused on our jobs and doing what we’ve known to do this entire season. It’s what we trained for.” San Luis (Alamosa, CO) had a 22-20 lead in the first set, but it slipped away on a couple late slip-ups despite several great swings throughout the set by Jackson. A nice block from Charley Higham gave San Luis a 20-16 lead in Set 2, and an ace from setter Morgan Ortega pushed the lead to five points. Sobania, a junior at Regis Jesuit, is one of several undersized hitters for Believe, but her persistence was rewarded with important points throughout, with a big kill to make it 11-6 in the third set. “We stay positive and encourage each other,” she said. “Everyone is very supportive. Forget about it, move on, next ball. I can get frustrated sometimes, so it’s awesome to have such a supportive team. “One thing Believe teaches, is how to hit with shot selection. I can hit a lot of different types of shots, and that’s why this is one of my favorite places I’ve played at. It’s helped me be successful.” “Timing helps; we work with the setters a lot in practice to get that timing down, and I’ve been working on my vertical,” Smith added. “But we do focus on being a defensive and rallying team, since we know we aren’t super tall, and that’s how we come out on top a lot of times.” Langer saluted her team’s depth and willingness to stay aggressive even as they tackle different positions and arguably don’t get to settle into specific roles, like most teams. “We don’t have a true middle, we have one kid, a 15-year-old there, and a setter who jumps in there sometimes,” Langer said. “We have attackers who can hit on the outside, in the middle, on the right, and run all these different routes. It puts pressure on teams; as well as being great defensively and in serve-receive, we out-rally teams all the time.” In the Pikes Peak Division, NORCO’s 14-2 took first place, with the NORCO 13-1 team winning the Longs Peak Division. The San Luis VBC 14’s won the Horsetooth Division. COLORADO TOURNAMENT SERIES – This event wrapped up the four-tournament schedule for the CTS, introduced to the regional volleyball market as a way to help clubs evolve the talent on their rosters backed by Triple Crown’s insight and expertise in event production. From the 175 teams that played in 2022, more than 1,000 athletes suited up for matches at the NORCO facility. “Getting this tournament series up and off the ground was a labor of love. This was my first time event directing, and I didn’t get everything right but was lucky to be surrounded with great support from my division,” said CTS director Sarah Dannettell. “The relationships I gained with clubs and directors that supported CTS have been incredible. Seeing familiar smiling faces of coaches and players in this last one who were truly excited to be playing in a Triple Crown event made all the work and effort worth it. “I got the opportunity to watch a match between a 13’s team and a 14’s team this past weekend where the final score was 32-30. The joy and excitement that the teams and parents had during the nailbiter gave me full body chills … giving all caliber of players the opportunity to have those types of memories.”  The President’s Day Summit tournament from the Colorado Tournament Series saw the FUNdamentals Volleyball Club Mystics 17’s take first place in the Gold Division. After back-to-back fifth-place finishes in the first two CTS tournaments, the Mystics won seven of eight matches, topping Northeastern Volleyball in three sets (25-21, 24-26, 15-11) for the overall championship.
Key stats from the tournament: Kyla Adams – 16 aces Ainsley Lynett – seven aces Lauren Stanga – top hitting percentage at .31 Kendall Morrison – .29 hitting percentage Team leaders in digs were Kyla Adams, Bella Kith and Lily Kunselman. The Mystics (based out of Littleton, CO) have nine players on the roster, including four 15-year-olds, and four 16-year-olds. Head coach and club director is Kendra Adams; assistant coaches are Heather Kunselman and Karen Stanga. “Our team isn't one of the tallest out there, but our strong defense and our commitment to playing smarter helps us win more matches even against taller teams. The biggest advantage we have over other teams is our team chemistry,” said Kendra Adams. “We are a family who cares deeply for each other's well-being and values our team success more than our own personal successes. I love coaching these incredible, smart, kind, young ladies. Winning the tournament meant so very much to the players and coaches. We got close in the past two tournaments, so it was so fantastic to finally bring home the gold.” The Mystics 16u team has played in all three CTS events as well. At the December Havoc tourney, they took second in the Longs Peak division; they placed first in the Horsetooth division in January and then took second in the Pikes Peak division at the February event. Head coach is Karen Stanga, assisted by Heather Kunselman and Kendra Adams. Key performances from February: Aliyah McDonald – 15 aces Annemarie Stanga – 14 aces Makenzie Green – .39 overall hitting percentage Annemarie Stanga – .38 hitting percentage  Having just entered their teen years, players on the WyoCity Crushers 14 Blue volleyball team know there are many matches to come, and a million swings left to take.
However, that’s no reason to stand around and let opportunities go unexplored. The Crushers (Casper, WY) approached Saturday’s action at the Triple Crown Mile High Madness tournament with an aggressive mindset, typically taking on older teams and showing plenty of fight despite any shortages in experience or physical size. They posted three wins on the day, the last one a resounding 25-14, 25-13 victory over ClubOne 16-2 to set the table for a Sunday run in the Division 2 Pikes Peak bracket. Other results for the Crushers on Saturday included a 25-7, 25-14 win over NORCO 13-2 and 25-14, 25-18 over ClubOne 15. In the day’s finale, the Crushers muscled up in multiple positions, with Makieha Humphreys and Presley Pruitt swinging hard and with accuracy. Soryn Gold mixed in an ace and multiple kills along the way in a show of the roster’s depth, and Noa Hodgin also impressed, especially with a perfectly placed kill at the end of Set 2. “We are very pleased. We are working hard, and there’s accountability here. They talk, communicate and never will give up,” said Crushers coach Anthony Gold. “Some of the aggressiveness is natural, and with that is, I want them to swing hard. When you get a good set, a kill is what you need to have, and if there’s a dig on it I tell them to switch it up, with a tip or to push it one side or the other. This is a good bunch of girls.” Applying steady pressure worked great for the Crushers; ClubOne would try to bang their way back into the mix, but too many hitting errors made it impossible. The Crushers close the first set with a 10-2 run, and did the same in Set 2 with a burst of 11-3. “It’s so great to be playing older teams and to be doing it at this level; it can be intimidating because we are a really short team,” Humphreys said. “If I see a block at the net, I try to swing through their hands, and just try to rip it through on a normal hit.” “Whenever I get a good set and opportunity, I just go for it,” Pruitt added. “I do my best, try to hit it as well as I can. Before the match I was a little worried about playing a 16’s team, but in the match I see that we can do this. I like the chemistry we have, how we play together and get ourselves back up if we’re down.” Defensively, the Crushers had solid moments as well, keeping plays alive and doing the hard work of getting back in system, when they could again let their offensive weapons get loose. “Our (runs) feel good, but that can make you nervous, too, because volleyball can be anyone’s game on any day,” coach Gold said. “You have to keep working until it’s over, and then you can celebrate.”  FORT COLLINS, COLO. – Last week the NCAA passed legislation adding the National Invitational Volleyball Championship as a permanent season-ending event for volleyball. Since the return of the event in 2017, Triple Crown Sports has been operating the championship off a waiver from the NCAA. The move allows teams to plan and budget for a postseason tournament now before the season starts.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have the NCAA officially make the NIVC a permanent second event for college volleyball,” said NIVC Director Jared Rudiger. “We have run the Postseason WNIT in basketball since 1998 and have seen firsthand the impact that event has made on women’s basketball. For teams who miss out on the NCAA Tournament, it gives them valuable postseason experience, builds fan support and many times boosts the team’s success the next year.” Georgia Tech made two appearances in the NIVC, first in 2018, where they were knocked out in the second round, and then again in 2019, where they won the championship after defeating South Dakota in three sets. “We played it in 2018, and the buildup for us to 2019, and then the buildup to the 2020 season, it was great to get that experience,” said head coach Michelle Collier. “I felt we just got better and better, and the competition got harder, and it prepared us for the (2020) run in the NCAA’s. We want that in our culture, that we are playing volleyball in December, and the NIVC definitely helped create that culture and the normalcy of thinking we’ve got a couple more weeks to go after Thanksgiving. It paid off for sure.” The NIVC has featured 32 teams each year since 2017 with all matches hosted on campuses. In 2017, Ole Miss defeated Texas Tech in front of a sold-out home crowd to win the championship. Iowa State swept Tulane in front of 1,500 Cyclone fans in 2018 and Georgia Tech in 2019. In 2020, the event was cancelled due to COVID-19 but made a strong return in 2021 with UNLV downing Valparaiso in three sets. The National Invitational Volleyball Championship has its roots in another NCAA Division I event that ran for several years before the turn of the century. The Women’s Invitational Volleyball Championship debuted in 1989, with 20 teams, in response to demand for another postseason opportunity within the sport. Administrators at smaller but competitive programs like Western Kentucky, Alabama-Birmingham and Eastern Kentucky did the introductory work of gauging interest and building a format. The teams played at one site, in four five-team pools, with each pool winner advancing to a single-elimination bracket. After two years, the event was renamed the NIVC. Previous event champions were: 1989 – Wisconsin 1990 – Houston 1991 – Kentucky 1992 – Washington State 1993 – Louisiana State 1994 – Cal-State Northridge 1995 – Wisconsin The new incarnation of the NIVC run by Triple Crown Sports was announced at the AVCA Convention in December of 2016.  FORT COLLINS, CO – United in their collective concern for the shortage of sports officials and the mission to improve how officials are treated, Triple Crown Sports and Officially Human have announced a partnership through the TCS event seasons of 2022 and 2023 to better highlight how players, parents and coaches can assist in fortifying this essential aspect of competitive sport.
Officially Human will be provided multiple platforms at TCS events to share the message about the crisis already affecting youth and college sports in terms of fielding enough officials to play the games. Triple Crown will soon be formalizing its own “no tolerance” policy regarding treatment of officials at TCS events, and Officially Human will assist in spreading the word about what is ideally a new era in appropriate behavior in the stands, on the sidelines and in the field of play. Triple Crown will welcome Officially Human to its top events, including the Colorado 4th of July softball event in Colorado that will feature nearly 1,100 teams in 2022. Other events include the Omaha SlumpBuster baseball tournament (650 teams) and the 2023 TC Volleyball NIT, arguably the nation’s most competitive club tournament that will have about 550 teams in action at the Kansas City Convention Center. Points of emphasis for the partnership include, but are not limited to, encouraging all involved to remember that officials are invested in what they do. Many officials have regular, full-time jobs, and they are sacrificing time away from their families. Empathy is critical -- how long would you continue to go to your job knowing that at any time you could be subject to verbal abuse or threatening behavior? Better treatment of sports officials is the best way to ensure these key members of our sports ecosystem work in an environment where they feel comfortable and safe. Officially Human was founded by Brenda Hilton, a current employee in Division I college athletics who has spent most of her over 20 years working in low/mid/high major collegiate officiating, collaborating most closely with the assignors and the officials at the highest level of Division I men’s basketball. ”We are pleased to join Triple Crown Sports in addressing the officiating crisis affecting TCS, and frankly, all of youth sports,” said Brenda Hilton, Founder and CEO of Officially Human. “The entire TCS organization is first class, and their willingness to address these issues head on shows TCS continued leadership in youth sports. OH appreciates the ability to spread our message far and wide as part of the large and growing TCS event platform.” “No one wants to imagine a situation where sports teams are sent home and seasons are cancelled because there are no officials to work the games, but it’s hardly impossible with the shrinking pool of willing officials around the country,” said Keri King, CEO of Triple Crown Sports. “We are steadfast in confronting the problem of how officials are treated, and Officially Human is the ideal messenger for this moment. It’s time to demand an end to the terrible behavior we sometimes see in competition – we cannot in good conscience sit back and assume the trends of disrespect and abuse are just going to stop on their own.” About Officially Human Based in Lombard, IL., Officially Human was founded to restore respect to, and positive treatment of, sport officials through increased education and communication to all stakeholders (administrators, coaches, athletes, and fans.) Founded in 2019, OH is the leader in addressing the growing crisis in officiating that touches every sport, official, and level of competition. OH offers tailored solutions to athletic host organizations of all sizes that improve the stakeholder experience at each of their sporting competitions. The comprehensive OH solutions package includes digital education, awareness building, event host communication strategies, and organizational support in addressing poor fan behavior. About Triple Crown Sports Based in Fort Collins, CO., Triple Crown Sports has been producing youth, high school and college events for 40 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men’s and women’s DI Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. Triple Crown is also powering “WNIT” concept events in D-I softball (NISC) and volleyball (NIVC), with those two events debuting in 2017. Triple Crown’s PV College Challenge features 8-10 of the top DI college softball teams in the country each year in Puerto Vallarta, MX. TC fastpitch tournaments (including the 1,000-team Sparkler/Fireworks event) draw the nation’s finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend TCS events for recruiting purposes. TCS produces one of the largest youth baseball events in the world with the 650-team Omaha SlumpBuster during the College World Series. The Triple Crown Volleyball NIT has become the top-recruited club volleyball event in the country each February when 550 teams compete in Kansas City, MO.  Name: Brooke Paxton
Job title: Volleyball Director Email: brooke@triplecrownsports.com Hometown: Greeley, CO. Family: I come from a family of 5. My parents Kim and John are high school sweethearts and have been married for 35 years. I have two older sisters, Haley (29) and Laiken (28). College attended/graduated: Johnson and Wales University, Denver/2021. Sports background: Played everything I could growing up but decided to pursue volleyball in college and played as an outside hitter/libero for four years. Proudest moment: Winning a state championship with University High School volleyball in 2021 as their assistant coach. Most humbling defeat: Has to be against Flynn and Cavo at the company party while playing spikeball. I have never felt more unathletic in my life! Hobbies/interests: I love to read, watch sports and eat unhealthy amounts of ice cream. Favorite trip: That would have to be to Dallas, TX. I was with my team and we ended up upsetting U Dallas while we were there and it was a lot of fun. How you became associated with Triple Crown: I started out as a catcher on the Triple Crown 16U team in high school. After that my sister started working here, then my dad, and now me. What intrigues you the most about Triple Crown?: I love the family environment and the uniqueness of what this company actually does. Being able to give back to youth sports after it taught me so many life lessons is really great.  After yet another wildly successful run this year, the TC Volleyball NIT is dialed in for its next appearance on the calendar!
The 2023 TC NIT will be held President’s Day Weekend, Feb. 18-20 at the Kansas City Convention Center – College Camp Friday and our popular Unsigned Senior/Junior Workout will take place on Feb. 17. You can look for updates on the event website. Contact Sarah Dannettell (sarahlauren@triplecrownsports.com) if your club hasn’t played in the NIT before and wishes to be considered, or if your club wants to bring an additional team to the event.  Name: Kristin Conor
Job Title: Sponsor and Vendor Coordinator Email: kristin@triplecrownsports.com Tell us about your family, kids, siblings, parents, names, ages etc.: It's just my dog, Maya, and me that will be living in Fort Collins. Dad - Steve Stepmom - Anne - both live in MN with the rest of my extended family. Siblings - Matt (25), David (23), Ally (21) - all live in CO still, Grace (19) - at school at GCU in AZ Hometown: Lone Tree, CO College Attended / Year Graduated: Fort Hays State - 2017 Sports Background (proudest moment and most humbling defeat): I played volleyball from nine years old until my sophomore year of college. Both my proudest moment and most humbling defeat would be my freshman year of college playing at the University of Cincinnati. I had reached my goal of playing the sport I loved as a division 1 athlete and, although it was not a successful season, I created lasting relationships and proved to myself how much strength and perseverance I had inside. Hobbies/Outside Interests: Hiking, reading, playing volleyball, traveling and learning new things - currently practicing Spanish and drawing! (Not very good at either) Favorite trip taken as a child or adult: My first solo overseas trip was to see one of my good friends who lives in Germany. I got to see Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, and Innsbruck, Austria in a span of two weeks. How did you find or first become associated with Triple Crown? I knew of Triple Crown through the volleyball world because of the NIT. Office Direct Number: (303) 249-3838 What intrigues you the most about Triple Crown? I love the ability to be back involved with the sports world, now just on the other side of it of in assisting in running the events. There is a lot of opportunity of growth within the company and I appreciate the flexibility and family aspects Triple Crown provides.  Fort Collins, CO (February 25, 2022) – Triple Crown Sports (TCS) announced today that it has reached an agreement with BASE Sports Group (BASE) for the company to manage its sponsorship rights. BASE will have the exclusive rights to manage and sell sponsorship for the event operator and its portfolio of premier amateur sporting events around the United States.
“TCS is excited about the value that BASE Sports Group brings our organization,” said Andy Hansen, Chief Marketing Officer of Triple Crown Sports. “They’re providing a true end-to-end service that will enable us to measure how our sponsors are impacting our bottom line and help us build a better experience for our players, parents and coaches.” BASE provides a 360-degree service negotiating, managing and activating partnership rights for sports facilities and amateur sporting events. BASE carefully considers the activation support necessary to deliver incomparable brand experiences, integrating its staff into support for activation, marketing and any other operational execution. BASE takes an analytical approach to determine the success of each property and partnership, using industry-leading measurement techniques. “Triple Crown Sports has a tradition of building strong and engaged communities around their events,” said BASE Co-Founder, Mark Dvoroznak. “BASE is facilitating access for brands to directly integrate into the strong community that TCS has built. They create unique and valuable experiences for not just the athletes, but parents, coaches, and all attendees.” TCS showcases over 100 annual events in sports such as volleyball, fastpitch softball, baseball, basketball and lacrosse, hosted in major markets from coast to coast. The organization welcomed 550 girls’ volleyball clubs in Kansas City, MO at the 2022 Triple Crown NIT, hosting over 20,000 visitors at the Kansas City Convention Center during President’s Day weekend. Other notable events in TCS’s portfolio include the Colorado 4th of July, a fastpitch showcase that brings in over 1,000 participating teams; the Omaha Slumpbuster, which hosts over 600 club baseball teams; and the Cancun Challenge, an annual men’s and women’s college basketball tournament that takes place Thanksgiving week. About Triple Crown Sports Based in Fort Collins, CO., Triple Crown Sports has been producing youth, high school and college events for 40 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men’s and women’s DI Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. Triple Crown is also powering “WNIT” concept events in D-I softball (NISC) and volleyball (NIVC), with those two events debuting in 2017. Triple Crown’s PV College Challenge features 8-10 of the top DI college softball teams in the country each year in Puerto Vallarta, MX. TC fastpitch tournaments (including the 1,000-team Sparkler/Fireworks event) draw the nation’s finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend TCS events for recruiting purposes. TCS produces one of the largest youth baseball events in the world with the 650-team Omaha SlumpBuster during the College World Series. The Triple Crown Volleyball NIT has become the top-recruited club volleyball event in the country each February when 550 teams compete in Kansas City, MO. Web: https://triplecrownsports.com Instagram: @tcsports Twitter: @triplecrownspts About BASE Sports Group: BASE brings a sophisticated and measured approach to brand engagement in amateur sports. The amateur sports industry has seen intense consolidation in the last two years, making it easier and more impactful for brands to engage this valuable market. BASE’s leadership team touts nearly 50 years of experience in the sports industry. This experience includes sponsorship strategy and sales from amateur, collegiate, and professional sports. Through partnerships with rightsholders of various sizes, scope, and sports, BASE’s portfolio of facilities and events offers brands access to the most diverse and valuable demographic. BASE’s national reach exceeds 12 million unique individuals and offers brands customizable and cutting-edge activations to deliver leading consumer engagement experiences. Additional Information Web: www.basesportsgroup.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/base-sports-group Twitter: @BaseSportsGroup  By Adam Burns
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On the biggest stage of the TC NIT, Munciana Samurai 18s was up for the challenge. Even if it was a daunting task. The kids from Muncie, Indiana, bounced back after dropping the first set to take down star-studded Sunshine from Los Angeles (23-25, 25-22, 17-15) in a thrilling Elite Division Championship contest Monday afternoon inside Bartle Hall at the Kansas City Convention Center. “They challenged us,” said Munciana outside hitter Eva Hudson, who recorded a match high 25 kills. “It was scary to come out here on the big stage, but to prevail is just amazing. We really came together as a team, which was great because (Sunshine) is such an amazing team.” Highlighted by outside hitter Elia Rubin and setter Kelly Belardi – a pair of future Stanford Cardinal players – Sunshine boasted 11 Division I bound players out of the 12 on this weekend’s roster. “How about that?” Munciana head coach and club owner Mike Lingenfelter said. “It had to be a street fight because they were so good.” Like most of the match, the two sides stayed within two points of each other and endured 11 ties during the third and final set. Hudson and Lovie Wallace (uncommitted) each delivered a kill to knot the score at 14- and 15-all, respectively. Then, Hudson notched a crucial kill for a 16-15 lead prior to a game winning combined block from Wallace and North Carolina bound Ella Bostic. “It was amazing,” Hudson said of her final kill. “I knew that I could swing away because my defense was going to cover me up. To have that confidence in each other is even that more amazing.” Sunshine went 7-2 overall in the three-day NIT. On Championship Monday, they beat Tri-State Elite in straight sets (25-20, 25-21) and Skyline in two (25-23, 25-17). A5 Mizuno was the other club to beat Sunshine (28-26, 21-25, 15-5). “The volleyball was very high level. (Munciana was) very, very tough,” Sunshine coach (LA) Ali Fathali Nejad said. “But we were happy because we had practiced for this situation. We were prepared and we knew this tournament was very tough. We had the path but unfortunately we had some errors. We have to go back and work. “We’ll meet this team again in nationals and hopefully this tournament will prepare us for that.” Munciana, which went 8-1 overall and beat Club V (25-13, 25-13) in the quarters and PVA Elite (25-18, 25-19) in the semis on Monday, relied heavily on the right arm and hops of the 6-foot-1 Hudson throughout the title match, especially late. Hudson, who recently decommitted from Notre Dame due to the departure of former Irish coach Mike Johnson, hammered home eight of her team’s 17 points in the third set. Lingenfelter wouldn’t have it any other way. “I can tell you this,” he said. “In the last possession, if we got the transition, I told them to get it to (Hudson). She got us to the dance, so we’re going to dance with her. … That kid is as good a player as I’ve ever had. And I’ve had some pretty good ones. What’s amazing is that she’s a really gutsy player, but it’s something that’s lost in volleyball today; she’s got great volleyball IQ. She feels the game, I mean, and I think the special one’s do.” Tight until the 20s in the first set, Sunshine used a 5-1 late run to claim the opener. The Los Angeles squad then started the second set strong with a 6-3 lead. However, a big-time block from Liberty University bound Brooke Elliott and kills from Wallace and Hudson ignited a Munciana 6-1 run and 9-7 lead. But, more importantly, a jolt of momentum and confidence. “One of the questions I had coming in here was their tenacity and their willingness to win,” Lingenfelter said. “How hard are they willing to work?” Sunshine responded, eventually tying it at 15-15 and 17-17 in the second set, but Hudson slammed home two kills and UMKC bound Kimora Whetstone added another kill to help send the title match into the decisive set claimed by the Indiana club. And, of course, playing in front of a roaring crowd and an ESPN3 broadcast, Munciana came through in a big way. “We’ve been fighting for these moments,” Hudson said, “so it just feels good to finally feel that glory.”  By Cody Thorn
The flight home will be a good one for the TStreet Volleyball Club 13 Bailey squad after winning the TC NIT Elite championship on Monday. The Irvine, California club beat MadFrogs 13’s National Green from Plano, Texas in three sets, winning the first set, 25-23 and the deciding third set, 15-7. In between, MadFrog won 25-15. “It feels incredible; this is the first of many big tournament wins for this team,” TStreet coach Bailey Tanner said. “They win a lot of local ones so it was about time we got a national one. We are ready to go home and get better and go onward and upward.” TStreet Bailey went 9-0 during the tournament and was 3-0 in matches that went three sets – including the semifinals against Arizona Storm 13 Thunder early in the day. “I was worried,” TStreet’s Ella Olson said of going to a third set. “But I knew we would pull it out. It was great winning. We came a long way and we proved why we got here and we showed them what we had.” The decisive third set in the finals started out in favor of the Californians after a kill by Kate Jackson started the scoring. Olson, who led the team with eight kills, made another to make it 3-1 on a shot that landed in the corner, just in bounds. “We had a call that didn’t go our way. It was close, 1-2, and it made it 1-4,” MadFrog coach Stefanie Samuels said. “We got the ball back and then we missed a couple of serves back-to-back. That put us back where we could’ve closed the gap, we didn’t get the opportunity to.” MadFrog pulled within 6-4 but back-to-back points for TStreet, including a kill by Megan Hodges, made it 8-4 and led to a timeout by the Texas squad. The break didn’t help much as TStreet scored the next three points – two when kills by Jackson went off a MadFrog player and out of bounds. Samuels called another timeout but TStreet added the next two points and led 14-4. MadFrogs kept battling and scored three straight, the last on a kill from Keelyn Green, making it 14-7. However, a shot into the corner by Katherine Nowak fell in and ended the title match. “Normally the team that wins the second set has momentum and we didn’t let that get to us,” said Olson, who was named her team’s MVP for the match. “We gave everything we had left, it was our last game, we came this far. We just had to show them.” Olson came up with big plays throughout the finals. A kill in the first set gave TStreet its first lead of the set, 10-9, after trailing by as many as three points. The first set was tied at 10, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 – before return errors gave TStreet the lead for good. “We knew they would get kills, they were big and strong, but we had to hang in there and dig them out,” Turner said. MadFrog, which had a majority of the roster of players that won the 12’s title last May in Kansas City, reached the finals by beating Mizuno Long Beach 13 Rockstar in the semifinals, 25-22 and 25-18. “This was the first loss of the season and we’ve played a lot of good teams,” Samuels said. “Our region in North Texas is so strong with Skyline, TAV, Dallas Premier. We’ve been doing so well, now what do we learn from a loss like this?” Up next for the Texas club is a trip to Salt Lake City in early March. For TStreet, the win in three sets was different than the two previous ones, where they won the second set and then carried that momentum into the third set to win. “We knew they (MadFrog) are a good team but our girls were terrific all day, all weekend,” said Tanner, who was an AVCA All-American player at Washington in 2016 and was a three-time All-Pac 12 selection. “They bought back a few times and we got better each time we went three sets. I was stoked.” Tanner played for TStreet when she was younger and is now coaching, following in the footsteps of her dad Troy Tanner, who won two NCAA titles as an assistant coach for the BYU men’s program. He also coached Misty May and Kerri Walsh to a gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics.  By Kyle Koso
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After a weekend of flying high, it came as a total shock to see Jurnee Robinson laid low. The soaring, roaring offensive presence for the 17s A5-Mizuno Jing squad had a truckload of huge kills in the team’s 17 Elite title match Monday against Drive Nation, and it’s no surprise she had the finishing blow in what was a 25-21, 19-25, 15-9 victory. However, she landed awkwardly after making the shot and had to be helped off while the Kansas City Convention Center crowd watched anxiously. She eventually made it back to the celebration, posing for pictures and reveling in an amazing performance. Her kills and a cluster of hard-to-believe block from teammate Milana Thornton were the obvious highlights as A5 Mizuno held on the claim the title, which they won as 16s last May at this event. “I was ready for it. This matchup, I had no idea about Drive Nation, but to play like we did feels great,” said Robinson, who has signed to play collegiately at LSU. “We had nothing to lose, and in that third set we talked about having the energy we showed the whole game. We just dropped a bit in the second set … we always know other teams may be bigger than us, but we are stronger. We have confidence in everyone.” Thornton had a message-delivering block to start off the third set; Robinson had one to make it 3-0, Thornton did it again for a 5-0 lead, and she added a service ace off the top of the net to push the lead to 7-1. Drive Nation found some footing late, pulling within 12-8, but one more Thornton block felt huge, and was a nice table-setter for Robinson’s final swing. “I had faith and I was focused, it all felt really good,” Thornton said. “They had good hitters, but we decided to bring it right back at them, and harder. We won last year, so we wanted to get back in.” “Sometimes we get a little bit down and look at the ground,” said A5 head coach Jing Hou. “Our blocking wasn’t good there for a while, and we didn’t get off to a good start in that second set. Those were great blocks (by Thornton) and really, really important. It totally shut things down.” She didn’t get the early swings in the title match, but Ashley Sturzoiu eventually got into the flow and smoked a series of impressive kills that matched whatever Drive Nation was putting together on their end. “At the end of the day we win as a team and lose as a team; whatever I can do to help is my job,” Sturzoiu said. “When I get my moment, I’ll take it, but until then I’m there for my team. I wasn’t too concerned about the second set, there was just a moment there when they took the momentum But it wasn’t like they took all our energy. We made some errors, and I knew for the third set we’d just go all out.”  By Kyle Koso KANSAS CITY, Mo. – One way to describe the task of facing the 16u Dynasty Black volleyball team can make anyone shiver in dread – imagine having a never-ending to-do list. The way Dynasty can take charge at the net, as well as dig up any variety of tough shots, while also offering up numerous offensive threats from the back row to the front … well, it’s a lot to solve. And the team from Kansas City, KS., simply played at the height of its powers on Monday, storming past NKYVC in the TC NIT 16 Elite title match, 25-9, 25-18. Dynasty won every match in straight sets in bracket play, in one of the toughest competitive challenges a team will face in a given season. You can shower compliments on them just as they showered points in a dominant Set 1, scoring 14 in a row at one point. “All of us talked after that first set, and we thought we played pretty perfect volleyball. We’ve been focusing a lot on our defense, and we’ve been pretty confident in our offense,” said Dynasty head coach Cassie Rockers. “They’ve been pretty darn good; we added three players to our roster who make us a lot better. They round out the team.” Those additions – setters Reese Messer and Lauren Wright and middle Jada Ingram – did great work, with Messer using some clever tips to register points. Providing relentless offense and great blocking was Skyler Pierce, while Carlie Cisneros answered every assignment, whether it was to keep a point alive or to come flying in from the back row to tally another point. Libero Ryan McAleer had a couple of difficult digs right out of the gate, more or less announcing to the crown and the ESPN3 audience that Dynasty wasn’t kidding around with a title on the line. “It went really well, the best we played all weekend, and we did it as a team, not individually,” said Pierce, who had a noisy solo block for the first point in Set 2 that made it hard to imagine Dynasty would be letting down. “It felt amazing to do what we do, and it’s fun to do it with this team. I wouldn’t ask for anything else.” Ultimately, Set 2 did get a bit interesting as NKYVC took a 12-11 lead on a tip from Lilly Gillespie, with another moment where all six Dynasty players watched a ball just drop in the middle of the court. But the window closed quickly. A sharp-eyed backset from Messer led to a kill from Abigail Mullen, Pierce combined with Piper Newton on a block, and Cisneros had an ace and another tough serve to handle, and suddenly it was 16-12. “Our offense is already amazing, but we’ve been working on defense. Scouting teams, knowing what moves to make, and we all made the right moves at the right time,” McAleer said. “We had a moment of miscommunication, but we know that mistakes will happen and you have to move on from it. We’ve gotten good at putting a smile on our faces and talking each other up.” “It feels amazing, because every single player that goes out there for us, we all have a very important part in things,” added Cisneros, who had a nice terminal swing to make it 22-15 in the second set and later ended the match with a kill. “We were meshing together; we didn’t want matches to go to three (sets), and the goal was to win Triple Crown.”  By Craig Buchanan
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A year after losing in the NIT 13U Elite Championship after taking the first set, MadFrog 14 National reversed the tide, overcoming a 1-0 deficit to Wave Volleyball to claim the 14U Elite NIT Championship (15-25, 25-18, 15-13). MadFrog returned 10 players from the 2021 NIT Finalist team, but head coach Olaya Pazo said that her team tried to keep that out of their mind. “We try to take it one match at a time,” Pazo said. “Of course we have high expectations for our group, but expectations can be hard to handle, especially at this young age. We just keep things in perspective; we want to compete, we want to do our best, and we want to improve as a team. The results will come.” Their mental fortitude was tested in the first set as Wave jumped on MadFrog from the start and never looked back. Wave utilized great floor defense and aggressive serves to keep MadFrog out of rhythm and looked dominant in an opening 25-15 set victory. “I told them that they have to get their mind right to compete,” Pazo said. “We fixed a couple of things (between sets). We tried to serve a little bit more aggressive to get them a little bit more out of system, which worked. When my girls play together as a team, they play amazing.” That amazing display was in full force in the second set, led by a three-headed attack of Simone Heard, Blaire Bowers and Layla Austin. Heard led the team with 11 kills in the match, while Bowers and Austin had nine and eight kills respectively, as MadFrog took the second set in commanding fashion, 25-18. The championship headed to a deciding third set, which MadFrog had plenty of experience in. MadFrog was tested with three-set victories in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, while Wave had yet to play a three-set match in bracket play. The third set was worthy of a championship-deciding set, with both teams exchanging points, and neither side able to lead by more than two points. With the set tied at 11-11, libero Gabi Rodriguez saved a point with a diving dig and followed it up with an ace to give MadFrog a 13-11 lead. Wave responded with two points of its own to tie the game at 13-13 and force a MadFrog timeout. MadFrog came out of the timeout composed and rattled off the final two points to give the team a 2-1 victory in the championship. “What’s amazing about my team, is we are so deep,” Pazo said. “We have 11 really good players. Those three (Heard, Bowers, Austin) are just really competitive. When it gets to the point, they just don’t care about making mistakes. I think that was the difference. They were just really aggressive.”  By Kyle Koso
If you told Bob Westbrook he has a unique mindset and likes the idea of something turned upside down, he’s not going to debate you. Addressing a problem from an unexpected direction has always been the right path for Westbrook, founder and director of the A5 volleyball club in Atlanta and the 2022 winner of the John Sample Award, presented by Triple Crown Volleyball. With more than 45 years invested in the sport, in every role from player to coach to administrator to visionary, Westbrook has stood at the front of the line in the revolution of club volleyball. With a natural understanding that, as a women’s sport, volleyball circa the 1970s had much still to be explored, Westbrook got himself educated and then motivated to make a difference. Step 1 of that education – become a law school dropout. “My dad was a truck driver, and moving that direction, into law school, was a point of pride for him, as it should have been,” Westbrook said. “But me, thinking of myself as some sort of radical, and mad at my dad about all kinds of stuff, I dropped out. It was an added bonus to play volleyball and really make him mad.” Westbrook chose to pursue coaching and training volleyball athletes, taking him to Chicago and California before filling the head coach post for pre-NCAA women’s volleyball at the University of Florida. By 1977, he was tasked with starting a real, functioning girls youth volleyball program in Atlanta; professional advancement meant moving around some more, and he returned to Atlanta in 1991 to take another swing at the club world there. In 2004-05 he created VolleyPerformance, a private training company, and then brought together the right group of people to launch A5. “I founded A5 at the urging of several folks who believed in a commonly shared vision of where club volleyball needed to go. We implemented a top-to-bottom training methodology,” Westbrook said. “We initiated a national level competition schedule as we wanted to be the best volleyball club in the country. We addressed how we travelled, number of coaches on a team, scheduling for success, and much more with the aim of being the deepest national level club in the country.” “How we communicated, how we trained, Master Coaching and a host of other things that, we believed, would catapult us into the forefront of clubs in the country. This was a bold vision and goal as volleyball in the South was a wasteland at the time. The only thing we have truly done that is extraordinary is create culture, how we do what we do, in a vacuum.” Starting from that point of restlessness and curiosity that occupied Westbrook’s thinking years ago, it’s no surprise his ideas for changing volleyball would weave in with how the South approached the games as well. Today, A5 takes great pride in its vibrant diversity where varied ethnic groups and genders come together for a greater cause, in a place where diversity was not always embraced. “Of course, it’s a group of people that make things happen – revolution was in the air in 60s and 70s across our culture, and what was apparent to me was the last great unexplored natural resource in this country was women. They didn’t have the political, social and economic access – how much I saw that clearly, I don’t know, but I certainly sensed it,” Westbrook said. “It can’t matter what sex you are, what color you are. What does matter is who you are as a human being.” “Maybe it was a part of the hippie culture, the new-age culture … the transfer of being a revolutionary and political actor, which I thought I was, to being a revolutionary volleyball person, had a lot of synergy, even if I never defined it that way. I always like and still like being on the cutting edge, the edge of what is possible. Volleyball became the tool with which I examined the truth in my life.” Bob Westbrook timeline: 1974: Founded U of Fla VBC Junior Program 1975: Attended Coaching and Teaching VB course taught by Jim Coleman 1976: First Coach at University of Florida 1977: Trained with Adidas Girls (Debbie Landreth Brown, Debbie Green, Sue Woodstra) Junior Team, Orange County, California w/ Chuck Erbe 1977: Founded Atlanta VBC Junior Program; sent to Atlanta to start Girls Junior Volleyball in the Atlanta/South 1978: Georgia State University 1979: Played in inaugural Haitian International Volleyball tournament 1981: Assistant coach for the East Coast Sports Festival women’s team 1981: Founded Front Range Volleyball Club in Denver, Colorado 1984-85: Assistant Coach George Washington University 1991: Returned to Atlanta to Coach Junior VB w Atlanta Juniors (next iteration of Juniors Club) 2004-05: Founded VolleyPerformance and A5 VBC 2008: 18-1 team won national championship in National Division 2011: Qualified First 18’s Team in Atlanta for Open Division in USAV National Championships 2020: AVCA 15’s Coach of the Year 2021: Second Ranked VB Club in US via Triple Crown Rankings (5-Year average as No. 2 Ranked Club in US) The John Sample Award is presented by Triple Crown Sports in honor of coaches and program directors who go the extra mile in developing players, building character and supporting the priorities of hard work and compassion while demonstrating the highest level of integrity to the sport, the players, the families and competitors. John Sample was the visionary and leader behind Texas Advantage Volleyball for 27 years; his life’s work was dedicated to the positive mental and physical growth of all players. He was determined to give back time, energy, money and expertise to create the best possible atmosphere for each student-athlete.  KANSAS CITY, Mo. – As 12’s, 13s and 14’s, the current group from the Absolute Black (CA) 15 Black squad has had success, understood pressure, and made big plays.
However, it’s fresh ground they are walking these days, thanks to a hard-fought and stress-filled three set win over Drive Nation 15 Red to wrap up their Saturday at the TC NIT and earn a berth in the quarterfinals of the Elite bracket. Absolute Black came up a step short at Open Nationals last year, but confidence is surely building after a win like this, 30-28, 21-25, 16-14, which tested every aspect of the roster. During the final push in Set 3, Absolute got a couple of critical digs and good work defensively at the net to blunt the charging approach of Drive Nation. “We have the luxury of three really good defenders who are interchangeable anywhere in the back row. Whatever the matchup we need, we can move those pieces,” said Absolute head coach Thomas Amberg. “Drive Nation is a really good team, and the matchup in the middle was really fun to watch. At the end, Bella (Ehrlich) was able to get a funnel block to one of our defenders, they transitioned it, and we got the big point.” Absolute tried to maintain the big boost it got from winning the demanding first set, but a letdown felt almost inevitable, especially with the pace and power Drive Nation brought to the table. “We talked about being consistent, but hey, we’re playing 15s volleyball here. The drive to sustain it is tough to maintain, and we made three our four mistakes in the middle of the set that we couldn’t come back from,” Aberg said. “This has been a successful team historically, but for us to break through and get into the last day, the top 8, is a big deal. To win today and be in a position to play for a championship (Monday) I couldn’t be more proud.” Other 15 Elite quarterfinalists include Dynasty, which beat Arizona Storm in three sets Sunday night and will face Absolute on Monday at 7:30 a.m. The other three matchups are OTVA Randy (FL) and Surfside Legends (CA); Legacy (MI) and MadFrog (TX); and Houston Skyline and 1st Alliance (IL).  By Cody Thorn
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Arizona Storm 18 Thunder made quick work of two foes on the way to a quarterfinal spot in the 18s Elite Division Championship Bracket at the TC NIT on Sunday at the Kansas City Convention Center. The Phoenix-based squad reached the quarterfinals with a 25-16, 25-16 win over Ku’ikahi 18 Wahine RSB in its second match of the day. A combo block from future Division I players Logan Bluetreich (North Texas) and Anita Babic (North Carolina) got the scoring started for Arizona, and the duo had another block for the second point of Set 1. The Storm 18’s scored five of the first six points and bumped the lead to 15-6 before the Hawaiian squad recorded consecutive points for the first time, pulling within 15-8. “That team was a good team, but the key was staying fast and making them think,” Storm coach Terri Spann said. “I think we were able to stun them a little bit.” The deficit grew to 21-10 for Ku’ikahi and then 24-12 before a late rally. The Hawaiians scored four in a row and forced Arizona to call a timeout to regroup. A return error ended the match shortly after the respite. Ku’ikahi came out of the gate hot in the second set, getting a pair of kills from Kelia Giusta, jumping ahead 6-2. Slowly the Storm 18’s started to cut back at the deficit and tied the match on a return error at 11-11. A kill that sailed out of bounds gave Arizona the lead for the first time at 12-11. The lead never changed hands after that. “I think we dug deep, we knew we were a little bit off,” said Storm player Jordan Middleton, who followed with a kill to make it 13-11. “We started to click and communicate and make the pass, running the middle and splitting the block really helped us. Our block is really solid and we just worked really hard along the net and it really paid off.” After the kill by Middleton, who signed with USC, Ku’ikahi called a timeout to try to regroup. It worked initially when Belle Iosua got a kill to cut the deficit down to a point. From there the Storm closed with a 12-5 advantage. Ella Lomigora, a Long Beach State pledge, had two kills and a block, while Middleton added two more kills. “We have not been very pretty at winning, we’ve been winning in three and it’s been ugly,” Spann said. “We’ve been waiting for teams to make errors – today, the last two matches we were earning our wins and forcing teams to have to play a little harder against us.” Next up will be a Kansas City-area team in PVA 18 Elite, which also posted a pair of two-set wins on Sunday. The quarterfinal matchup will be at 8:30 a.m.  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Scott Harris had just one request.
“Conserve your energy. Conserve your energy,” the Sky High Adidas 16’s head coach informed his players prior to Sunday. Why? Sky High had to work for its 2-1 opening day during their efforts Saturday at the TC NIT. The Illinois-based club located just north of Chicago went to three sets in all three pool play contests. “They like to make it tough,” Harris said with a laugh. “They dig a hole and have to climb out of it the hard way.” Setter Jenna Meitzler was also relieved to play three fewer sets than the previous days. “Today, we had a lot of energy because we didn’t go to three sets,” she said. That’s right, Meitzler and her teammates gave their coach a break with a 3-0 Sunday, capped with a straight set victory (25-19, 25-20) over Colorado-based Momentum. In the win, Sky High used a 10-4 run to take the first set. The final set was more of a back-and-forth affair, with a 7-3 burst to seal the deal. “They’re starting to execute things more consistently like combo plays, which we need in our offense,” Harris said. “We tried a lot of combos just to throw off their blockers,” Meitzler said, “which we worked a lot on in practice. And just staying up beat and working together.” With the victory, Sky High moves into the Select Division Championship bracket and will play in a semifinal match at 10:30 a.m. Monday against the winner of OK Charge-Illini Elite. Harris just hopes he sees the Day 2 Sky High squad that did not drop a set. “They’ve gained more confidence since they’ve been there,” Harris said. “Things are starting to come together for them and we’ll take that into tomorrow.” So does Meitzler. “I think we got rid of our tired and anxious nerves,” Meitzler said, “and we just have to do that again.” |
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