Jason Jones is the CEO and founding father of JBJ Occasions introduced an thought to life to run a membership volleyball AAU Silver State Invitation and NCAA males’s volleyball matches on the Reno Occasions Heart. The school groups that participated on January 31st and February 1st have been eleventh ranked Grand Canyon, Fort Valley State, Belmont Abbey, and primary ranked Lengthy Seaside State. All of the matches have been streamed on Baller TV and free tickets have been supplied to all native highschool boys’ and ladies’ groups to assist develop the sport. “Jason and his whole JBJ crew deserve a whole lot of credit score for the occasion and success. I believe the occasion has a whole lot of potential for progress. It’s nice to see volleyball rising and folks excited to convey volleyball to areas that don’t traditionally see a lot males’s volleyball,” mentioned Lengthy Seaside State Head Coach Allan Knipe.
JBJ Occasions has hosted excessive stage volleyball competitions throughout the nation that convey the volleyball neighborhood collectively. At any given occasion you may see membership, school or professionals competing. Jones and his firm use these occasions as a automobile to attach all these elements of the sport to come back collectively as one for a weekend. “JBJ Occasions is all about elevating the general expertise in addition to the sport of volleyball. That is greater than only a match, it’s a chance for younger athletes to witness excessive stage collegiate volleyball, join with recruiters, and compete subsequent to a number of the greatest groups within the nation and greatest gamers on the earth. JBJ Occasions is dedicated to creating subsequent stage volleyball alternatives, and this previous weekend was no completely different,” mentioned Jones.
On high of working occasions to attach so many individuals JBJ Occasions is dedicating to giving again. They’ve created a scholarship program, the place at every match they choose one boy and woman on the membership stage to obtain a $777.00 scholarship to assist younger athletes pursue their educational and volleyball goals. Woah! Fairly cool. If in case you have the urge to offer to this excellent trigger checkout JBJ Occasions on Instagram and direct message them. You’ll be able to observe them @j.b.jevents.
January 31st Matches:
LBSU vs FVSU: Primary nationally ranked Lengthy Seaside got here into Reno and took care of enterprise in opposition to Fort Valley. The scores within the clear sweep have been (25-19, 25-17, 25-20). The Seaside placed on full show of their depth with six completely different gamers ending with 5 or extra kills. Freshman phenom Moni Nikolov led his squad to a .385 hitting share, dished out 27 assists, had eight digs, three aces and 5 kills. “Moni could be very distinctive. He has the flexibility to play the whole sport at an extremely excessive stage. In actuality he might be an elite reverse, when is fairly uncommon for a setter,” mentioned Coach Knipe.
Sotiris Siapanis led Lengthy Seaside with eight kills, Isiah Preuitt and Daniil Hershtynovich added seven to the combination. All through the match Kellen Larson and Sebastian Rodriguez have been good within the libero spot passing persistently to maintain Lengthy Seaside in system.
Fort Valley was restricted to a .189 hitting share of the match. Taviian Martin put collectively a pleasant match for the Wildcats posting 4 kills on six swings with a .667 hitting share. Head Coach Larry Wrather has strategically put a troublesome schedule collectively for the Wildcats. They’ve performed Ohio State twice, Lengthy Seaside, GCU, Belmont Abbey and Lewis are on the schedule. “All the pieces is to rise up ready to compete on the highest stage. In addition to throwing challenges their means of seeing how we react, studying to stay in uncomfortable environments in order that we will develop and develop. We wish to be within the high 20, so we should see what it’s prefer to compete with them, how they carry themselves, how they see the sport, the whole lot. I consider we’ll begin to hit our stride as convention comes round,” mentioned Coach Wrather. Final yr the Wildcats earned an computerized bid to the NCAA match representing Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Convention. They’re testing themselves early to organize to make a run at this yr’s NCAA match at Ohio State in Columbus.
GCU vs Belmont Abbey: Grand Canyon got here out of the gate of the Silver State Showcase with a 3-0 victory about Belmont Abbey (25-21, 25-17, 25-16). The match gave GCU a chance to get a whole lot of guys within the match. Over 13 guys bought on the ground and the Antelope’s hit .324 as a workforce. Main the cost for GCU was freshman Trevell Jordan out of the center with six kills on eleven swings with a .455 hitting share, three digs and three block assists. Karter Rogers contributed essentially the most kills for the Antelopes with a complete of 9.
After the match Head Coach Matt Werle was quoted on the GCU web site, “It was good to get a few of our bench guys a while on the courtroom. We’re positively going to need to tidy some issues up. We performed a whole lot of balls, and I believe our first contact at instances simply actually was not as clear as we wish it to be. We have to be higher shifting ahead and ensure that we take alternatives that once we’re on the courtroom we will get higher every day.”
Belmont Abbey was led by sophomore exterior hitter Zach Puentes, who had 11 kills and 6 digs. Junior center blocker Jibriel Elhaddad added seven kills and hit a powerful .462. As a workforce, Belmont Abbey struggled hitting .103, had 20 hitting errors and recorded 13 service errors.
February 1st Matches:
FVSU vs Belmont Abbey: The Belmont Abbey Crusaders defeated Fort Valley State Wildcats in 4 units (25-21, 25-16, 19-25, 25-23). Setter Joseph Morris distributed 34 assists, and the Crusaders hit .206 on the match. In set two that they had their greatest offense set with a .438 hitting share. Zach Puentas on the surface continued to be regular and in keeping with a season excessive 15 kills.
Belmont Abbey Head Coach Derek Sullivan shared his ideas in regards to the match, “I believed we did a great job of serving and passing. I figured each side would have nice offense with a number of first workforce convention gamers and All Individuals. The sport was going to come back right down to who may serve and cross effectively.”
Fort Valley was in a position to present some flashes of greatness within the match. For the third set the Wildcats hit .385 and completed up the set with 15 kills. Isaiah Fed had a heck of a match for Fort Valley, he hit for .412, had 20 kills, one ace and two block assists. Though the workforce whole of 27 hitting errors and 17 service errors have been expensive within the match for the Wildcats.
LBSU vs Belmont Abbey: Lengthy Seaside left Reno undefeated on the season with a 8-0 document sweeping Belmont Abbey (25-17, 25-14, 25-20). Main Lengthy Seaside was two freshman Alex Kandev and Moni Nikolov. Kandev hails from Bulgaria and made his means on the ground for the primary time this yr. For the match Kandev had 11 kills, three aces and hit .786. Nikolov continued to who that he can do all features of the sport at a excessive stage with seven kills, hitting .636, 9 digs and 23 assists.
All through the match Lengthy Seaside had full management hitting .507, had three athletes recording over seven kills and solely committing seven attacking errors for the match. Center blocker Jibriel Elhaddad put up a great hitting share of .429 for the match. Lengthy Seaside’s service stress, blocking and attacking have been simply an excessive amount of for the Crusaders to deal with. “These matches in opposition to high 10 packages assist us in convention. Our different high groups in our convention are going through extremely ranked opponents. So as to put together for convention play, we attempt to hunt down aggressive matches,” mentioned Coach Sullivan.
GCU vs Fort Valley State: Quantity 11th ranked GCU swept FVSU (25-19, 25-11, 27-25) and performed 12 gamers for the match. Jaxon Herr is the standard staring setter for GCU however was feeling below the climate. Freshman Kyle Zediker stepped up and dished out 33 assists. The Antelope’s didn’t skip a beat hitting .321 as a workforce and had 4 members of the workforce document over seven kills.
Graduate scholar Jarrett Anderson had a workforce excessive 9 kills and hit .353. Anderson began his enjoying profession on the Division III NCAA powerhouse Springfield Faculty. Whereas enjoying for Coach Sullivan out east he earned Division III All American honors and now’s thriving on the Division I stage with GCU.
Isiah Fedd continued to be the purpose scorer for the Wildcats. For the match he had ten kills, hit .389 and had one service ace. In set three the Wildcats had essentially the most success and confirmed their potential. They recorded 14 kills and hit for .233 within the set. Competing in opposition to three 2024 NCAA Championship playoffs groups will put together them effectively for league play.
KP’S High Performers:
Moni Nikolov, Lengthy Seaside State.
Isiah Fedd, Fort Valley State.
Zach Puentes, Belmont Abbey.
Connor Oldani, Grand Canyon.
Kevin Pratte has enthusiastically been concerned in volleyball for over 23 years. Pratte began enjoying in center college and was lucky sufficient to play NCAA Division 1 volleyball at The College of the Pacific. After his enjoying profession Pratte bought concerned in teaching volleyball. In 2009 Pratte was the graduate assistant coach for the College of Nebraska girls’s volleyball program. Later in his profession Pratte made teaching stops at College of the Pacific, a number of neighborhood schools and coached at WAVE Volleyball Membership for seven years. At present Pratte is a bodily schooling trainer within the San Diego Unified College District, San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary member, a university volleyball recruiting coordinator, hosts a volleyball podcast present, the proprietor of the Center Hitter web site and runs a non-profit group to assist increase funds to offer boys’ highschool volleyball college students scholarships to play membership volleyball. He’s excited to proceed writing for Volleyball Journal and is keen to cowl the sport.
Basis web site: www.kevinprattefoundation.com
Center Hitter Web site: www.middlehitter.com
KP HERE Podcast: Spotify
