SCVA 32nd Annual Las Vegas Classic

32nd Annual Las Vegas Classic

     The Las Vegas Classic hosted by the Southern California Volleyball Association took place this past presidents day weekend at the Mandalay Bay convention center.  The Tournament hosted 7 divisions ranging from U-15 to U-18.  There were approximately 644 teams from around the country along with some teams from our neighboring countries playing on 93 courts.  Teams converged on Las Vegas to see how they stack up.  Most teams have 12 players, some simple math tells me had roughly 7,728 players not to include coaching staff, officiating staff, parents and volunteers, Vegas was flooded with Volleyball for the weekend and it was Awesome! Many teams from the Northwest Puget sound region were in attendance with Seattle Jrs 18 taking the top honors from our region by placing 3rd in the club division.  Puyallup Jrs sent three teams, one each in the U-16, U-17 and the U-18 club divisions.  PJ's U-16 had a respectable showing, taking 38th place and the U-17, after a couple of weird three way ties during both days of pool play, placed at 43rd.  The U-18 club division had by far the largest number of teams in any division, PJ's U-18 finished off ranked 51st.  PJ's U-18 had two great days of pool play finishing both days by beating two of the three teams and placing second both days.  Day three found the U-18 up against their old home town rival Kracken VBC U-18, PJ's jump out to a strong start beating Kracken 25 to 18 but could not hold them off in the next two sets, falling 10 to 25 and 8 to 15.  It was a fun tournament with lots of excitement mixed with all the lights of Vegas.  Congratulations to all the teams that attended, its fun to win on the court but how many new friends did you make?

Matt Hartner Memorial Classic 2018

PJVBC U-18 National Team

MHM Classic 2018

     The holy grail of volleyball tournaments took place this past MLK weekend at the beautiful University of Oregon facilites in Eugene Oregon.  U-16 and U-18 teams from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Canada and a team all the way from Puerto Rico showed up to do battle against some of the top teams in the country.  108 U-18 teams and 120+ U-16 teams were on hand to see how they stacked up against their rivals.  Puyallup Juniors Volleyball club (PJVBC) sent four of their Nationals teams, U-15 and U-16 completing in the U-16 bracket and U-17 and U-18 competing in the U-18 bracket.  Competition was fierce at every level and no easy points given, all the teams played their hearts out, but at the end of day three the tournament was in the books.  The PJVBC U-18 team got off to a rough start on day one failing to win a match against teams that went on to be top teams in the tournament.  Day two saw more tough competition but this time the PJ's got it done, winning all  their matches for the day.  Day three brought more of the winning streak for the team, winning their first two matches to enter the championship game against Rivals U-18 out of Spokane.  Each team had one apeice after the first two sets with the Rivals taking the third and the match!  Congratulations to all the teams that competed at the Matt Hartner Memorial Classic in 2018!

Saint Martins University Volleyball Prospects Camp

Saint Martins VB Prospects Camp
  

Ever wonder what it would be like to be part of a DII Volleyball program?

 

Thanks to the Saint Martins University volleyball prospects camp, that took place on the 30^th of December, 17 girls from the local Club and High School programs got to be part of the Saints DII program for the day. Head coach Jon Killingbeck along with his assistants Lauren Herseth and Joe Holland were on hand to run the girls through a typical 2 ½ hour practice session in the beautiful SMU Marcus Pavilion. All off the girls started off with some nervous energy but it quickly subsided as the session got goin.  They started off with some warm ups, some individual position coaching, moved on to some Queen of the court and finally some full on scrimmage matches. There was plenty of top notch coaching for each player through out and they all walked away with some tips to improve their game. Somewhere around the middle of the session (as the players became comfortable with the coaches, learned names and playing traits) it became hard to tell the difference between this group of players and what the real SMU DII team might look like. The pavilion was absolutely gorgeous for the players and the one thing I noticed right away that is almost unheard of as a parent of a club player is the facility had heat. For $25 bucks and the best bargin in volleyball, the players got to experience being a Saint for the day, received exceptional coaching and played in a beautiful facility.  Who knows, if you got what it takes you may even catch the eye of one of the coaches!  This is "One Not To Miss" for 9th -12th grade players who aspire to go on and play at the collegiate level.