2018 AAU Nationals Recap
Every year, club volleyball season starts shortly after the IHSAA state tournament ends in late October. This means the road to an AAU Nationals performance begins and lasts around eight months, when Nationals are held in Orlando, FL at the end of June. It’s a long, grueling road with months of practices, tournaments, workouts, and team sessions. Nationals is the culmination of all of the hard work and effort the players of #TINation have put in, and we couldn’t be more proud of all of the players and coaches who had a great season, ending with four top 10 finishes for Team Indiana teams at AAUs!
Four Top 10 Finishes
The Elite 18 team, led by head coach Rich Coleman and assistant Jordanne Scott & Claire Gerwig, had a third place finish in Orlando in the 18 Open division. The team went 3-3 over the first two days (including a three-set victory over the eventual champions, Sports Performance 18 Elite) and battled to win all three of those matches in the third set. After a three set loss to WVBA on day three, Elite 18 ran off two more wins and won a playoff set against WVBA to send itself to the final four! On the final day, Elite 18 fell to the same Sports Performance team in a three-set thriller 10-15. Congratulations on a great season and a 3rd Place Finish!
The Elite 15 team, led by head coach Milton Crespo and assistant Jessi Stas, finished fifth in the 15 Open division. Their record wasn’t perfect overall at 6-5, but the team fought for every match, won the right matches at the right time, and found themselves in the final 10 teams going into the last day! After winning their first match on day four against a tough Minnesota Select 15-1 team (25-22, 22-25, 19-17), Elite 15 had to turn around immediately and play against a Munciana Lorax team that came into the day undefeated. It was an epic match that a great Lorax team managed to eke out 15-13 in set three. A wonderful week full of a lot of great moments for Elite 15. Congratulations on your season and a 5th Place Finish!
The Elite 14 team, led by head coach Brian Murray and assistant Erik Dobrota, had a strong start down in Orlando. Through the first two days, they went 5-1 and put themselves in a great position to finish in the top 10. Day three, after beating a tough Triangle team, would end with a highly competitive match with Munciana Chipmunks, with our Elite 14s battling back and finishing the match in the third set 15-12! That set them up to finish within the final eight. They lost the first match on day four to a talented Sports Performance 14 Elite team. Congratulations on a fantastic run and a 5th Place Finish!
The Elite 15 Navy team, led by Morgan and Brittany Kehoe, had an outstanding run in the 15 Classic division, finishing within the top 10 and really showing that the talent and ability from top to bottom lives at Team Indiana. Elite 15 Navy was placed into a scenario where they needed to win a challenge match on day three in order to put themselves into the conversation for a top 10 finish. They topped BRAVO 15U in two sets (25-20, 25-21) in order to punch their ticket to the top 10! Congratulations to Elite 15 Navy on a great season and a great nationals trip, with a 9th Place Finish!
Four All Americans
We want to congratulate four of our players for not only having great tournaments (all of our players performed well in Orlando), but they also were awarded the title of All American!
Emma Halter – Elite 14
Claire Ertel – Elite 15
Devyn Merriman – Elite 18
Lauren Matthews – Elite 18
With the help of their teammates and coaches, these four performed at an extremely high level all four days of the tournament. It is not a small task to play at the highest level day in and day out of a four day tournament, so congratulations to these four ladies! Way to make us proud!
Great Season
What a great season for #TINation. Thank you to all of our parents, players, and coaches on their support and performance on the season. We saw fantastic growth in our teams and players both on and off the court, and cannot wait to carry the momentum of this season on into the future! Keep us updated on all of your high school moments, our coaches will be out to see you play, so keep working hard and keep making us proud! See you all at tryouts in October!
