Day 3 is always fun at Nationals and this one was no different with crazy upsets, Cinderella runs continuing and no lack of controversy 🙂   Will be updating this as the other divisions finish tonight… 

Volleyball Mag Championship Bracket Pick-em  (join us in trying to pick winners of 2025 16 and 18 open championship brackets)  

16 Open – challonge.com/nt05vizt
18 Open – challonge.com/zp0yfzha

18 Open – Results

#1 MB SURF, #2 WPVC, #3 Balboa Bay, and #4 Bay to Bay, #6 SPVB, #9  SCVC, #11 Adversity South and #17 MVVC went through all sort of crazy matches but all managed to make it into the championship round.  2 teams, Adversity South and Balboa Bay are still undefeated and both have only dropped 2 sets so far.  

#1 MB Surf lost a close but meaningless match to Yorktowne since they already clinched the #1 seed and then took on #21 SC Legends and dispatched them in 2 short sets.

#2 WPVC finished 2nd in their pool after losing a close match to Adversity South and so had to go through 2 tough challenge matches against #15 HPSTL (2-0) and then one of the pleasant surprises of the tournament #18 Pulse (2-1) who was still undefeated at the time.  

#3 Balboa Bay won their pool in a very convincing fashion  but then faced a lot of issues with HVA who pushed them to three sets.

#4 Bay to Bay already clinched #1 spot in their pool and ended up losing a marathon match to SCVC (30-28, 21-25, 11-15).  They were matched up against #8 COAST team that has struggled the whole week but still put themselves in a position to make it into the championship bracket after taking set 1 vs. Bay to Bay but then eventually succumbing in three sets.

#6 SPVB beat  Academy in pool play and sent them to play Adversity South one last time this year (and they have had a ton of head to head matchups this year).  SPVB, despite finishing 2nd in their pool had to win only 1 challenge match  to make it to the championship bracket.  Simon Bratt, Grayson Covay and the crew came through and beat SMASH to claim a spot in championship bracket.

#9 SCVC has had the most rollercoaster ride of all the championship bracket participants.  They have lost 7 sets so far and won 16 and are the only team in top 8 who have lost 2 matches.  This morning they beat Bay to Bay in 3 to give themselves a 2nd spot in pool D, then went on to beat Yorktowne in a crazy, we are done finish where Yorktowne seemingly won 15-13 on a hard middle hit by #2 Carter Weight but downref signaled a net violation.  SCVC took advantage of this opportunity won 17-15 and then proceeded to upset Rockstar 2-0 in the next round.  

#11 Adversity South did not want to let SPVB take all of the Illinois spotlight and looks like Marist High School crew just want to keep playing together in big matches against Illinois teams :).  They convincingly beat their big competitors Academy in their challenge match and earned their spot among top 8 teams in the country.  

#17 MVVC lowest seeded team to make it into the championship bracket won a hard fought battle against Roch PaceBootlegger and continues to prove doubters wrong.  If they keep playing like this they could go all the way.  

So we are now left with 2 southern California, 2 Northern California, 2 Illinois teams playing each other in the first round of the championship round.  At this point its anybody’s guess who will win this 🙂  I suggest watching if you can!

Tomorrow’s Championship Bracket Matches:

MB Surf vs. SCVC

MVVC vs. Bay to Bay

Balboa Bay vs. WPVC 

SPVB vs. Adversity South 

16 Open – Results

While 18s held mostly to the expectations, that definitely was not the case in 16s 🙂  What a wild ride for some of the teams.  Here are the 16s Open Championship Bracket participants:

#2 GVA Boys 16u Dark Blue – after starting a little slow on day 1 with a couple of  3 set wins, they steamrolled their way through the rest of the teams in their pool.  Today they battled hard against Logan Hutnick led Pinnacle 16 McKay and won a hard fought 2-1 win.  #4 Maximiliano Aponte was pretty much unstoppable in the 3rd set.  If GVA can continue to play clean volleyball they have been displaying so far they will be very hard to beat.

#4 HPSTL B16 Royal – HPSTL lost a meaningless match to MOD in pool play and then managed to squeak out a really close win against #24 HVA (26-24, 28-26).   They had a couple of huge plays from their setter #30 Stone DeGreeff who come through with a big block and a block cover and their libero #10 Gabriel Scheve with a game saving dig of a huge hit by HVA middle  #5 Leonardo Meoni.  

#5 Aspire 16 Spiderman – These boys are still undefeated and have only dropped a couple of sets on their road to the Championship Bracket.  They took out #1 Rockstar in convincing fashion earlier today (2-0) (25-15, 25-23) and look poised to make a deep run in the playoffs.

#6 Bay to Bay 16-1 – After the early loss to SASVBC they have not dropped a set and convincingly dispatched SCB 16 Salty JJ today (2-0) (25-19, 25-13).  

#9 MOD B16 Blue – They started off really slow on the first day (1-2) and things were not looking great as the team is also dealing with some injuries.  However, this has not stopped them from turning the ship around and reeling off 6 straight wins, led by their outside hitter, #3 Jimmie Chrusfield.  They dropped the first set to MB Surf today but then convincingly beat them in sets 2 and 3 and earned their spot in the final 8.

#10 Pulse 16-G – Hey were undefeated until losing to COAST this morning but then came right back and won their challenge match against Torrimar in a pretty convincing fashion.  

#16 AZ Fear 16 LL – Pool D has given us 3 of 8 championship bracket participants (MOD, HPSTL, and AZ Fear).  AZ Fear started off a bit slow and lost their first match to Roch Pace Bootlegger but won 2 matches today in very convincing fashion as they beat MVVC and Balboa Bay in back to back matches to make it to the final 8.

#30 SASVBC B 16 JAYCE – Have to be considered the surprise of the tournament as they continue to roll along and are still undefeated with an 8-0 record and have only dropped a couple of sets their whole time in Florida.  Today they beat a big and physical MVC 16-Brad team in the challenge round and I am sure at this point they feel really good about their chances to win it all 🙂

Tomorrow’s Championship Bracket Matches:

So we have 2 Arizona teams, 1 Illinois, 1 Missouri, 1 Southern and 1 Northern California team, 1 Hawaii and 1 Puerto Rico team.  Love to see geographic dispersal.  Its also sad to see 2 Arizona teams competing for the national championship with the recent closure of Grand Canyon University men’s volleyball program.  Would have been great for those boys to have an option to play in their home state.  

AZ Fear 16 LL vs. MOD B16 Blue – Rematch from the first day of pool play.  AZ Fear won that one in an extremely close matchup.  This is a tossup 🙂
Aspire 16 Spiderman vs. HPSTL B16 Royal – This should be a battle of two very physical teams.
Pulse 16-G vs. SASVBC B 16 JAYCE – Can the Cinderella story continue?  
Bay to Bay 16-1 vs. GVA Boys 16u Dark Blue – I love this matchup of two well coached teams.  Should be super exciting!

Follow the nationals here!

AAU Nationals Wave 1 – Orlando, Florida – Schedule | Watch 

For more data on boys’ nationals please take a look at this spreadsheet: 

Boys National Championships DataSheet