DALLAS, Texas (July 3, 2019) – If your club’s name is Mountain View, you better be ready to do some hiking.
When the Mountain View Volleyball Club (MVVC) out of the Northern California Region lost its first match of the 18 Open Division, the players knew it was time for a hike.
“We knew it could only go up from there,” said setter Kevin Mathew. “Every match we fought harder and harder and at the end of the four days it paid off and we ended up playing our best volleyball at the end of the tournament.”
In Wednesday’s thrilling 18 Open final before a packed house, MVVC beat Balboa Bay of the Southern California Region, 25-22, 19-25, 15-9.
Mountain View Volleyball Club had never won a set against Balboa Bay until Wednesday.
“We came in feeling like underdogs with a chip on our shoulder,” Mathew said. “We came in with a lot of fire, knowing that we wanted to get the win.”
Team Rockstar 18-1 (SC) and 949 B18 Black (SC) tied for third place. Mountain View’s Jarrett Anderson was named division MVP.
MVVC Head Coach Jonah Carson credited his team for advancing from its opening pool, which included two other teams that made it into the Gold Division bracket: AJV 18 Mizuno and 949 B18 Black.
“We lost our first match and I was really proud of the guys and the way they responded,” Carson said. “A lot of this tournament is about how you bounce back and what your resilience is going to be.
“We’ve taken some losses throughout the season, but I think that has developed our ability to respond.”
Mathew was still processing the victory less than an hour after the match was over.
“It feels surreal to me,” he said. “I can’t believe we actually pulled it off.”
18 USA
Spike and Serve Boys 18s out of the Aloha Region took the 18 USA title with a 25-17, 25-20 win over Sport Performance B18 Alpha from Great Lakes.
“We focused on assigning everyone jobs and they stuck to that the entire time,” said SAS Head Coach Micah Aiu. “In the games, we were very in the moment. We played five-point mini games the entire way through. That’s how they stayed super focused on their jobs.”
SG ELITE 18 Elite (SC) tied for third with SPVB B18 Lenny. Liam York from SAS was named division MVP.
18 Club
Going into the 18 Club final, Arizona Fear 18 JB (Arizona Region) had only one loss, 12-25, 25-21, 15-13 to Vegas Xtreme 18s (SC); the team it was playing in the final.
AZ Fear took advantage of its second chance to defeat Vegas, 25-13, 25-12.
“Their game plan against us caught us off guard in that first match,” AZ Fear Head Coach John Beckwith said. “We were completely prepared for it the second go-round.
“Not only just knowing what was coming, but actually executing, defending it and being offensive against what they had; that’s some big guys on that squad and really well coached over there. It was really nice to be able to get that opportunity to see them, prepare for them mentally and then come back and execute at a high level.”
Bayou Boys 18U (Bayou Region) and Vegas Elite 18 Gold (SC) tied for third. Jackson Hickman of AZ Fear was named MVP.
The BJNC uses a staggered start and finish for divisions over the course of the eight-day tournament played on 57 courts. Open and USA Division teams must qualify through USA Volleyball bid tournaments held across the country, or through at-large selections based on results at bid tournaments.
2019 USA Volleyball Boys Junior National Championships Schedule
- 18 Open, USA and Club Divisions: June 30-July 3
- 17 Open, USA and Club Divisions: July 4-7
- 16 Open, USA And Club Divisions: July 2-5
- 15 Open and Club Divisions: July 3-6
- 14 Open and Club Divisions: July 1-4
- 13 Club Division: July 5-7
- 12 Club Division: June 30-July 2
Sport Court is the official athletic flooring for all USA Volleyball national championship events.