Excel’s excellence emerges, secures 12 Elite title at TC NIT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – One thing about volleyball at the 12u level – there just seems to be a lot of room on the court between players.
 
That means keeping points alive long enough to do damage with finishing shots is an important concern, and the hustle was there from start to finish for the Excel National Red (Plano, TX) 12 squad, which bashed away Monday to earn the 12 Elite championship at the Triple Crown NIT event.
 
Blessed with a tall, rangy and aggressive lineup of hitters, Excel made it through with a two-set win over A5 (Georgia) and a three-set showdown with fellow Metroplex squad Mad Frog (18-25, 26-24, 15-11) before topping Mizuno Long Beach in the final, 28-26, 25-15.
 
In the title match, Excel trailed 17-10 in Set 1 before getting its roster in rhythm, going on a 10-0 run at that point, capped by a kill from Rhys Walker. Walker again handled the pressure late in the set with a block and kill; Excel closed the comeback with a kill from MC Crutcher and an ace by Anna Lukas, as her serve clipped the net and fell just over the other side.  
 
“We had to just keep our energy up. We didn’t want to get down on ourselves; they were acing us a lot, and we just had to get it together,” said Skye Lincoln, arguably the team’s most persistent kills leader on the day. “We’ve got people who can get kills and or middles get the big blocks – it works when we are moving our feet quicker.”
 
In Set 2, Excel ended most of the drama early, taking an 8-1 lead on a kill from Lincoln. A couple of aces from Walker pushed the lead to 19-6, and the match concluded with a block from Reagan McDonald and a kill by Crutcher.
 
“I liked the resilience we showed as a team. We started with A5, a really good team, and we came out with an energy and a focus on our game,” said Excel coach Libby Shewski. “Against Mad Frog, it was a real dogfight to the finish. It was a huge mental victory for us. With this one, we started off a little shaky and had a bit of nerves, but I love the fact we wanted it even though we were down. Second set, we showed our true game and played it to that level.
 
Excel did a lot of things right, but the constant and overwhelming pressure put on the opposition via the serve jumped out throughout the final.
 
“Serving, we’ve been working on doing it aggressively, and you can make a lot of errors that way, and we struggled for the first two days,” Shewski added. “Today we got in the second the doors opened, girls were warming up with their serves, and we said find that aggressive serves and make it consistent. At 12’s, aggressive serves and good serve-receive is the name of the game.”