16s Bring the Heat on First Championship Day at BJNC

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 3, 2023) – USA Volleyball crowned four champions in the 16 division Sunday at the 2023 Boys Junior National Championship in Salt Lake City, Utah.

More than 300 teams with players ages 12-18 are competing at the 43^rd annual BJNC, bringing several thousand athletes, staff and supporters to Salt Lake City.

Results and Schedule
All-Tournament Teams

16 Open

Mavs 16 Red (Heart of America) didn’t have a smooth road to the 16 Open title, either on or off the court.

Off the court, Mavs interim head coach Jen Morgan talked about some of the adversity.

“We had one player quit last week and not come; we had another player with a concussion that left earlier today,” Morgan said. “And our head coach is already in Chicago for girls nationals. They pulled together as a team. I’m very proud.”

On the court, the Mavs opened with six straight wins before dropping matches to Vegas United B16 Black (Southern California) and Club V MP 16U Black (Intermountain). After defeating Lobos Boys 16Black (Rocky Mountain), they lost a second time to Vegas. But the two teams met up again in the final, with the Mavs turning the tables for a victory and the championship.

“It feels amazing,” Morgan added. “There’s great competition here. We saw some fantastic setters, just some great teams overall.”

Third place went to Club V and Lobos.

16 USA

In the competitive 16 USA division, Boys BASVBC 16 Black (Gateway Region) sailed above the competition, finishing 11-1 and losing only three sets. In the final, they took down West Edge 16 Waves (Southern California), 25-16, 25-20.

“This was our goal from the beginning of the season, and it’s great to accomplish it,” BSVBC head coach Gabriel Norsigian said. “We had a couple of injuries early on [in the season], a couple position changes to figure out our groove. [The tournament] was fantastic. We loved every second of it.”

Forza1 West 16 ONE Boys (Southern California) and Team Colorado 16 Black (Rocky Mountain) were third.

16 American

Vortex VBC 16-1 (Intermountain Region) captured its national title in the 16 American division with a 9-1 record.

“It feels fantastic,” Vortex head coach Chad Barrett said. “This is a new team. It’s only been together for about six weeks, so we’ve come a long way. We’ve got a lot of room to improve still. We won a regional, but we kind of revamped the team and here we are … so, national champions, baby!”

Vortex’s only loss was a three-set defeat at the hands of Team Momentum B16 Navy (Gateway). Not surprisingly, the two teams met up in the final. This time, Vortex picked up the win, 21-25, 25-23, 15-12.

MVC 16 Black  (Arizona and SNVF Boys U15 (Puget Sound) were third.

16 Club

With 38 teams, 16 Club was one of the biggest divisions in the tournament, and the competition did not disappoint.

Two undefeated teams met in the final: APEX1 16A1 Black (Southern California) and Evolution 16/15 Elite (Southern California), and what a final it turned out to be. APEX lost the first set, 22-25, but turned around to take set two 29-27. A match like that can only go the distance, and it did, with APEX winning 16-14.

“It feels good. Great to be on the map for APEX,” head coach Peter Le said. “They always had to work hard throughout the entire day. The pressure was on them being ranked third; we had a bounty on our heads.”

Kinnect 16 Forest (Northern California), whose only loss was to Evolution in the semi, finished third along with  LBVC 16Gerald (Southern California), who were 9-2.