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Congratulations to MVP Red and Gold teams for their
strong performances at this year's Nittany Invitational (boys 18s tournament)
held on February 7-8 at Penn State University.
The tournament has grown bigger and better every year since its
inception. This year featured 56 teams
from the East Coast, Mid-West, and Canada.
MVP Gold finished 3rd in the Silver division (tied for 19th
overall), while MVP Red placed 2nd in the Gold division.
MVP Gold entered the 20 team single elimination
Silver bracket on Sunday and defeated Beaver Valley Premier (25-22, 22-11) and
Tool City Royals (25-19, 25-22) in the first two rounds. In the quarter-finals against Eden Mizuno, MVP
Gold came back from an 11-14 deficit in the deciding game to win the match at
16-14. Facing Richmond Volleyball Club’s
(RVC) top 18s team in the semi-finals, MVP Gold lost 25-15, 25-22. MVP Gold players included Jason Shen, Mike
Simon, Tyler Tilghman, Dave Godwin, Warren Deng, Ari Drabkin, Ryan McDowell,
Patrick Gallahan, and Shawn Swierdsiol.
In the 16 team single elimination Gold bracket, MVP
Red defeated top-seeded Mountain Athletic Club - MAC (Canada) 22-25, 25-23,
16-14 in a nail-biter match. The
quarter-finals against Bronte Beach (Canada) also proved to be a tough match-up
that ended in a 25-23, 25-23 win. Just
when we thought it couldn’t get any more exciting, MVP Red staged a comeback in
the deciding game of the semi-finals against Sports Performance Runbird
(Chicago) 18-25, 25-19, 18-16. In the
finals against Sports Performance Mizuno (Chicago), MVP Red finally succumbed
to their opponent’s solid blocking and effective quick hitting that ended the
match at 25-21, 25-19. MVP Red players
included William Price, David Wong, Thomas Pereira Da Silva, Jake Woolery, John
Kessenich, Jose Morel, Eugene Golbin, and Zach Schwartz.
MVP Red’s 2nd place finish earns the
team an automatic bid into the 18 Open Division (36 teams) at the 2004 Boy’s
Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships to be held around the July 4th
holiday in Austin, Texas.
Complete results of the Nittany Invitational
tournament are posted in the Tournaments section of the Maryland Volleyball
Program (MVP) website: www.mvpvolleyball.net.
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