Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Local volleyballers head to nationals

The Atlanta Juniors 17’s Orange Crush volleyball team traveled to Tampa the first weekend in April to compete against 93 other 17’s teams from across the country. At the end of the three-day tournament, the gals from Atlanta were one of only two undefeated teams left standing, having beaten nine teams from states including Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Louisiana, Florida and Texas.

The final match pitted the Atlanta team against a formidable team from Wisconsin. In a tough, close match, the team from Wisconsin won the third and deciding game and finished first overall in the tournament. The Atlanta Juniors finished second overall in the field of 93.

Only the top two teams in each age bracket qualify for nationals, which means that the Atlanta Orange Crush team will be traveling to Houston in late June to play in the National Invitational JO Volleyball Tournament. This marks the first time a team from the Atlanta Juniors JO Club has qualified for nationals at a national qualifier tournament.

The team has a match record of 49-8 this season. Local girls playing on the team are Ashley Mead of Newnan (Landmark), Lindsey Richardson of Peachtree City (Woodward) and Shelley MacBean of Peachtree City (Starr’s Mill).

The team will travel to Minneapolis at the end of April to compete in another tournament field of more than 100 teams from all across the country, hoping to improve on their skills for nationals in June.