Three New Champions Crowned in 15s at BJNC

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 3, 2023) – NCVC 15-1 Blue (Northern California Region) hit a hot streak when it counted to win the 15 Open division Sunday at the 2023 Boys Junior National Championship in Salt Lake City, Utah.

More than 300 teams with players ages 12-18 are competing at the 43^rd annual BJNC, bringing several thousand athletes, staff and supporters to Salt Lake City.

Results and Schedule
All-Tournament Teams

NCVC opened the tournament with three straight wins, including a tough 25-23, 18-25, 17-15 victory over Forza1 North 15 One (Southern California). But the team hit a rough patch and lost three straight, including a three-set loss to GSL 15 Elect Sam (Intermountain). But those losses motivated NCVC, and they turned it around to win another three to reach the final, where they met up with GSL 15 again.

And, like five of their previous matches in the tournament, NCVC went the distance again, but this time with a win over GSL, 25-18, 21-15, 15-4.

“It feels really good,” NCVC head coach Tyler Rennie said. “It’s good to get that after a long year. The boys have been working hard all year long so it’s good to see it finally pay off. We had our ups and downs, but we made it up in the end. We had a lot of tough battles, a lot of games going to three, winning by 2-3 points. It was a lot of fun.”

Third place went to Vegas United B15 Black (Southern California).

15 USA

SG Elite 15 Elite Boys (Southern California) lost just one match and three sets en route to a 10-1 record and the title in 15 USA.

In the final, SG Elite faced off against SF Elite 15 Manalo (Northern California), winning 25-23, 26-24.

“We had a lot of learning,” SG Elite head coach Shari Iwatani said. “We actually got challenged in our pool along the way. Good competition.”

Bayou Boys 15u (Bayou) and Rancho Valley 15-Black (Southern California) finished third.

15 Club

Twenty-two teams competed for the title in 15 Club, but Rush 15 Red (Arizona) stood out above the rest. Rush finished the tournament with the championship and an unblemished record, winning all 22 sets for an 11-0 record.

Rush defeated Core VBC 15 Elite (Northern California), 25-15, 25-15, for the final win. Core advanced to the final by beating previously undefeated FAV 15 Maverick (Southern California) in three sets in the semifinal.

“We had a really, really rough tournament a couple of weeks ago,” Rush head coach Brian Farr said. “Had to change our whole system, even go from a 6-2 to a 5-1, and we changed our liberos because our libero couldn’t make it to this tournament. So, we had some obstacles.

“We had a couple of really good games,” Farr continued. “We have a strong team, though, and we were able to pull it off and play well the whole time.”

FAV 15 and Rage 15 (Northern California) were third.