Puget Sound Region Teams Come Up with Big Wins on MLK Weekend

The Matt Hartner Memorial tournament in Eugene Oregon has become a very big deal in the Pacific Northwest Volleyball Community. 229 competed in U18 and U16 divisions in this year’s event and in both divisions it was Puget Sound Region team that rose to the top.

Sudden Impact 18 Tsunami Showed off Their Hawks Pride and Took Care of Business on Sunday at the Matt Hartner Memorial Tournament in Eugene, OR.

The U18 division provides both an early season test and one of the last chances for unsigned seniors to get noticed by collegiate coaches from all over the Pacific Northwest. Sudden Impact 18 Tsunami started the tournament as the number one seed and finished the tournament with a perfect 8-0 record, dropping only one set on their way to the title. Their opponent in the final was a bit of a surprise as Washington Volleyball Academy’s 18 Mizuno squad went from a #14 seed to the final with impressive wins over Webfoot 18-1 and Adidas Northwest 18 Matt along the way. Seattle Juniors 17s and Kent Juniors 17 both finished in the top five, rounding out an impressive showing for the Puget Sound Region.

In the U16 Division, Puget Sound Volleyball Academy qualified three teams into the gold bracket for the final day of play. With the odds of winning seemingly in PSVBA’s favor, it was Puget Sound 16 Steph that claimed the title. They finished the tournament with nine wins and no losses and dealt Sudden Impact 16 Thunder their only loss of the tournament in the final. Puget Sound 15 Jess and 16 Rod finished tied for fifth place overall.

Closer to home, it was Rivals U16 Black from the Evergreen Region who defeated Space Needle 16 Reign for the Northwest Juniors MLK Weekend U16 Championship. The loss in the finals were the only two sets that Space Needle lost on the weekend.

It was high fives all the way down the line for coach Dan Morin as Snohomish Valley Fusion Earned the Title at the Northwest Jrs. MLK Weekend Tournament for the second year in a row.

In the U14 Division, it was Snohomish Valley Fusion 13s who took down Island Thunder 13 Black in three set thriller to claim the championship. It was the second year in a row that the Fusion group has won a title at the Northwest Juniors MLK Weekend event. The final four featured two teams from Fusion and two teams from Island Thunder.

The teams will have a short week of school this week followed by the first point scoring weekend of Puget Sound Region Power League play where the U18 and U16 divisions will have bids to the Platinum Power League up for grabs. Locations for power league weekend will be posted by Wednesday on the Power League page of PSRVB.org.