Welcome to the Rochester Youth Volleyball Association

Club News

• 6/26/2008: The 16-1’s ended up holding their seed throughout the tournament in Orlando this past week taking 9th out of 96 teams.  I would have to say that in the 8 years that I’ve been to AAU’s, this has been the toughest competition any of my teams has faced throughout the whole tourney.  With the exception of the first team we played from Louisiana, we had to play our best to win matches.  We ended up 6 and 4 and 2 of the loses were to the teams that finished 2nd and 3rd overall and those matches went 3 games.  The other 2 losses were 3 game matches that could have gone either way but as one of the girls wrote in her journal, it just didn’t go our way.  We played probably our best match of the year (excluding our win against NL 16-2’s at regionals) against Sky High out of Illinois, winning in 2 games (they ended up 5th overall).  I was very proud of all the girls with the way they represented SMV.  I had a coach from one of the clubs we were reffing come up to me after and tell me that our girls did the best job lining that he had seen in a long time. 
  
  Much fun was had off the court as well at Islands of Adventure, Cocoa Beach and Sea World…not to mention the fun and games at the house.  I’m sure the girls will remember this experience for many years to come.  For a couple of the players, it was even their first time flying. For me, it was fun to see the things we take for granted be so special to those experiencing them for the first time.
  
  
• 5/22/2008: The SMV Spring Tournament was held on Sunday, May 18th. Check out the results!
  
  
• 4/24/2008: SMV 16-3 was on the road again, playing in Andover on 4/12 and again on 4/13 in Buffalo.  We dodged the snow storm to play in a 13 team 15s'/16's tournament at the wonderful community center in Andover, home of the North Stars Volleyball Club.  We did not do real well in pool play but finished 2nd, enough to get us into the Gold Bracket for playoffs.  Somehow we did not get fired up for playoffs and lost in the first round, losing to the home team North Stars 16, finishing 3rd for the day.
• 
  
  Then it was on the road to Buffalo for Sunday's 28 team Heartland 16's tournament.  Again we finished second in our pool, putting us in the Silver Playoff Bracket.  We had some interesting matches, especially playing with one of our outside hitters and our libero as our middles for the day.  Note the height of our team in the picture. We could not pull out the win in the Silver Championship match, losing to Wadena Deer Creek 16's, finishing 2nd in the bracket and 10th over all.
  
  
  So far this season the 16-3's have played in 13 events, played 66 matches, 166 games, with a record of 46 wins, 18 losses and 2 splits. We have about three weeks and three events left before our season ends on May 18.
  
  
• 4/17/2008: SMV 15-1 played in the 15's tournament April 12, at the 16th Annual Heartland Tournament, Big Lake High School. With a snowstorm well underway, 2 sick players, players with multiple scheduling conflicts, and a player pick up from our club, we took the team on the road and won the gold medal in the 15's, beating Little Falls Gold, St. Michael Albertville and Dig It in the finals. Matches were often close, but our team pervailed and hung on winning the bracket with 2-0 match wins in the last 2 championship matches. There were a few times in bracket, we were down by 3-5 points, but perseverance and good defense helped us mount some rallies, to go on and win. We went 5-0 on the day. Thank you players & parents who committed to traveling for the weather effected weekend, and working hard to make SMV a known club in the region.
  
  
• 4/14/2008: The 16-2’s finished their Power League schedule Sunday night (April 13th). The best we could of done at the start of the 6 week Power League was finish 5th out of 72 teams due to where we where originally seeded and only if we placed 1st  every week. Well the girls did just that as we capped off a terrific 6 weeks with another 1st place pool finish over a couple of Northern Lights teams and Eden Prairie. Overall the girls went 43-6 in games and went from Pool 14 to the top of Pool 2. Congratulations to all the girls and thanks to the parents who supported the team over the six long weekends. I hope we can use this momentum to make some noise this weekend.
  
  
• 4/11/2008: The Northern Lights Qualifier is April 19, 20 and 21. All teams play Saturday,
  Sunday and Monday. The tournament is played at the Minneapolis Convention Center. This year there is a fee for admission. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance from the Qualifier web site http://www.midwestvolleyball.com/nlj/qualifier.htm
  
  

• 4/9/2008: SMV 16-1’s…coming off a very successful weekend of VB!! Saturday we played in our last Power League at the NL warehouse.  We were in the top pool playing a cross pool bracket format.  In the first match we beat Burnsville Thunder 18-1’s who we’ve split with our first two meetings.  This gave us the opportunity to play NOMA again (4th time) having lost to them all 3 times we’ve met them.  They were at full strength with their big middle hitter back but the girls were determined to take it to them.  We beat them in two games!!  We thought we were finally going to get to play NL 17-2’s who have dominated all year in the PL but they fell to their 17-3’s team.  Against the 17-3’s in the finals, the girls lost the first game 23-25 but came back strong winning the next two games 25-19 and 15-12…winning the 18’s Power League!!!!!

  Sunday was the NCR Regional qualifier…the event we’ve been training so hard for the last 3 months for…a chance to qualify for the USAV National tournament.  In our 3 team pool, we beat M-1 16 Navy which guaranteed a spot in the gold division playoffs.  We then lost to NL 16-2’s in two games.  First round of playoffs we played M-1 16 East knowing if we won the match, we would be assured a bid to nationals.  It was a hard fought match and we won 25-23 and 25-18.  You would have thought we won nationals…not just the chance to compete there.  In the semis we played the top seeded M-1 16-1’s and lost in two.  Although they were a very strong team, the girls were disappointed with their performance.  They regrouped and came back for the 3rd place match ready to play and got another shot at NL 16-2’s.  This time, we were the better team winning the match 25-20, 16-25 and a thrilling 15-13 game three victory. 

  SMV turned some heads this weekend.  If you would have walked through the gym and looked at some of the other teams, they were bigger and stronger but none of them have as much heart as this team has.  I would not trade any of them!!!  Win or lose, they stick together and their character is unmatchable.

  My thanks to the other teams in the club who have taken the time to scrimmage us, helping to prepare us for this level of competition!! Also, a big THANKS to our great fans who made the bleachers rock with their cheering!!  We could not have done it without you!!

• 4/2/2008: RYVA 2008 Camp: June 9 - 12, 2008 OR July 21 - 24, 2008. For boys and girls grades 3 through 8. Registration deadline is May 30th. Get the brochure.

• 3/4/2008: Southern Minnesota Volleyball Club Team, SMV 163, finished 1st in the Gold Division in the Farmington 16's Volleyball Tournament on Saturday 3/1/08, beating Apple Valley Eagles 15's, Farmington 16's, Mankato East 16's and Lakeville 15's in the Championships.  SMV 163 finished 2nd in the Gold Division of the Stewie Sizzler Volleyball Tournament on Sunday, 3/2/08, with a 11W & 4L record, losing to Chatfield Atomic Force 16's 24-26 & 24-26 in the Championship match.