The Lockport Volleyball Club’s 16-and-under team entered the AAU Junior National championship as one of 92 teams. And it was the last one standing at the end.
Lockport went 12-1 — winning 25 of 29 sets — in the tournament, held June 30-July 3 in Orlando, facing teams from nine states in the premier division. It was the program’s first national championship since being founded in 2011.
Lockport started the tournament by defeating the SoCal Legends (California) in a tight 29-27 first set and completed the sweep with a convincing 25-16 win. It continued pool play by beating the Dallas One Volleyball Club (Texas) in a dominant 25-11, 25-16 sweep and then capped the day with a win over Warren Sixpack (New Jersey), 25-18, 25-18.
The second day began with a 25-10, 25-18 romp over Pipeline Volleyball Club (Illinois), but it led into Lockport’s lone loss of the tournament. Lockport dropped the first set to Northeast Volleyball Club (Connecticut), 27-25, but rallied to win the second set 25-17, only to fall in the third, 18-16.
Lockport rebounded to win its final match of the day in a 25-22, 25-16 win over the Capital Sliders, based in Albany.
Day three started inauspiciously, dropping the first set to Skronk Strong (California), 31-29. But Lockport rallied to win the next two sets, 25-11, 15-13. Lockport then took down Bartonville Area (Illinois), 25-19, 25-14. And then beat another Illinois team, MOD Volleyball, 25-16, 28-26.
Lockport finished the day by beating Mentor (Ohio), 25-19, 25-17, to advance to the gold championship bracket.
In the quarterfinals, Lockport nipped Pipeline (Illinois) in the first set, 26-24, and then won the second set with a convincing 25-13 win. The semifinals saw Lockport beat Vegas United, 25-20, 25-23, to advance to the championship.
Triad United, from Bermuda Run, North Carolina, was Lockport’s championship opponent. Lockport won the first set, 25-18, but Triad came back to win the second, 25-14. Lockport was able to outlast Triad in the decisive third set, 15-13, with Canisius High School’s Tristan Kolek getting the championship-winning kill.
The team consisted of Clarence’s Vincent Dambra, Connor Dzierba, Noah Hanes, Blake Langlotz and Cole Mack, Kolek, St. Joe’s’ Chase Lipps, Grand Island’s Luke Nowocien, Williamsville East’s Temo Ortiz, Churchville-Chili’s Seth Smith and Frontier’s Owen Stoehr.
Dzierba was named the tournament MVP after notching 67 digs and 17 aces from his libero position.
Langlotz was named a tournament all-star with 77 kills, 36 digs, 16 blocks and nine aces. Ortiz was also an all-tournament selection with 55 kills and 21 blocks.
Hanes led the team with 85 kills, 20 digs, 19 blocks and 13 aces. Nowocien added 51 kills and 31 kills, while Kolek had 58 kills, 15 aces and 10 blocks.