2016 VOLLEYBALL FESTIVAL A SUCCESS!

The 33rd annual Volleyball Festival Championships hosted 448 teams from across the US, Canada and Mexico at the Phoenix Convention Center June 24-27, 2016. Festivities kicked off with a fun-filled welcome party themed Red, White and Spike that celebrated “the Super Hero in all of us.”

Four days of competition concluded with an exciting afternoon of Championship matches. Aspire 12 Rox (Tempe, AZ) won the 12U division over Flash 619 12 Mac (Chula Vista, CA) in dominating fashion after only losing one set the entire tournament. In the 13U division, #1 seed Livewire 13 Adidas (Phoenix, AZ) finished 11-0 and took the gold over Rancho Valley 13 Premier (Hesperia, CA).

Championship brackets at the Volleyball Festival are double-elimination and the 14U division saw White Tanks 14N (Litchfield Park, AZ) fighting back from the loser’s bracket to face off against the only team to beat them earlier in the tourney, Buhitas (Hermosillo, Mexico). The same Buhitas team finished 6th in 2015 and was looking for gold this year. White Tanks won the exciting match 25-23, 25-21 to set up a winner-take-all one set final where they were victorious 25-21.

AZ Epic 15 Mike (Buckeye, AZ) won a 3 set final in the 15U final over cross-town rival Club One AZ 15 Gold (Chandler, AZ). The 16U division saw the #15 seed Long Beach 16 Meg fighting through the winner’s bracket to face off against Saddleback 16 Steve (Forest Hills, CA). Saddleback took the first match 25-18, 29-27 but Long Beach, showing their grit, came back to win the “and one” match to take the championship 25-22. In the 17/18U division, Temecula Viper 18 Costa (Temecula, CA) beat White Tanks 18 Open in the first match in bracket play. White Tanks won 6 in a row in the loser’s bracket to set up a rematch, but Temecula was not to be denied and won the final 25-16, 25-18.

The 2017 Volleyball Festival Championships (www.volleyball-festival.com) will be held at the Phoenix Convention Center June 29 – July 2, 2017.