By Adam Burns
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- MAVS KC’s Sophie Morris stepped up to serve midway through the second set with the score knotted at 12-all against A5 in the 12u Triple Crown Sports NIT Elite Championship match. With the hometown MAVS KC winning the first set 25-19, Morris was hoping to provide a spark. Did she ever. Morris calmly led MAVS KC on a 10-0 run to provide the separation it needed for a 25-15 set No. 2 win and a straight-set victory in the title match. Lethal serving, a timely run and a little bit of revenge elevated MAVS KC to the championship run inside the Kansas City Convention Center. Even more — the championship was MAVS KC’s first NIT title, according to head coach Michelle Abshire. “I’m so absolutely proud of them. We came into this tournament not ranked very high and we had a bit of a chip on our shoulder,” Abshire said. “I think it motivated the girls but we knew we were going to have to play hard to make it out of pool play.” MAVS KC registered 11 service aces in the title match — with Morris serving up six of them during the pivotal 10-run, which came after five lead changes to open the second set. It’s no coincidence the service execution was there. “We’ve been working on spot serving for the last year and our goal was to be able to serve wherever we want by the time nationals came around,” Morris said. “I was so happy we (went on that 10-0 run) but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates playing behind those serves and keeping everything up.” “We practice spot serving a lot,” Abshire said, “and we’re tough on them about being tough with their serves. But (Sophie) listened and executed.” Brynlee Johnson tallied six kills and four aces of her own — the last one coming on the match-winning point to seal the title. “I’m really proud of how aggressive she was because we talked about how aggressive we had to be against some of these top teams,” Abshire said. It wasn’t an easy road to get to the finals. In fact, MAVS KC had to go through a familiar foe along the way — Madfrog. MAVS KC dropped a pool play match to Madfrog in straight sets on Saturday before it rebounded with a come-from-behind three-set semifinal win (17-25, 25-22, 15-13) on Sunday. “They also beat us last year in Reno, so it felt good to get revenge,” Morris said. “We wanted that one bad.” “I think in the past we’ve let a few things bother us,” Abshire said. “We have been right there against (Madfrog) and I don’t think our girls wanted to let that happen again this time around.” And then, of course, came the title match and MAVS KC took care of business in its own backyard. Something it really wanted to accomplish. “It was our goal to win it here in Kansas City, and I’m so glad we did,” Morris said. |
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