2022 AAU VOLLEYBALL FESTIVAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 38^th annual AAU Volleyball Festival Championships saw 590 teams compete from June 19-26 in the Phoenix Convention Center. California and Arizona were well represented along with 18 other states and Canada. Teams came from as far as Hawaii, Alaska, Illinois, New York, and Nebraska. 22 teams received free or discounted entries by winning AAU Grand Prix or Super Regional events during the season.

In Session 1 play, Tstreet 13-Spencer (Irvine, CA) won all of their 24 sets and capped off their 13s championship with their closest match of the tournament, winning 25-20, 26-24 over Nebraska ONE 13 Empire (Lincoln, NE). SCVC 12 Roxy (Redondo Beach, CA) won all 11 of their matches and finished with a close win over Seal Beach 12-Black (Seal Beach, CA) 27-25, 25-23 in the 12s finals.

Session 2 had Apex1 17 Black (Long Beach, CA) won all 24 of their sets and capped off their fantastic run winning the 17/18s division championship over PRV Amazons 18 Mamba (Avondale, AZ). AZ Revolution 16 Elite (Phoenix, AZ) made sure a local Arizona team took home the 16s crown after 3 set wins in both the semis over Storm 16s Ahmed (San Diego, CA) and then Next Level 16 Black (Las Vegas, NV) in the finals. Dig This! 15 Black (Las Vegas, NV) claimed the 15s division over SynergyForce 15 Rheann from Northern California (Rocklin) with a hard fought 25-20, 25-23 victory. SynergyForce 14 Bryce (Rocklin, CA) came back after losing the first set 23-25 to take home the 14s Gold over SCVC 14RX (Redondo Beach, CA).


Outside of the action on the court, the Volleyball Festival paid tribute to one of their founders, Bernice Epperson, with the theme “Queen of the Court.” Bernice passed away in September of 2021 after a multi-year fight with Alzheimer’s disease. Bernice, along with her husband Dave, started the event in 1984 and grew it to national prominence while it was in Davis, California. Their innovations and contributions to the sport allowed the Volleyball Festival to be placed in the International Volleyball of Fame, and both of them to be elected into the AVCA Hall of Fame.
 

Each session of the tournament had a “Go Purple Day” to help create awareness and contributions to the Alzheimer’s Association. The VLA men’s pro league headlined by the Phoenix Ascension competed in 6 matches at the event. The much-anticipated DJ dance Player Party made it’s comeback after a three year absence with over 3,000 in attendance coming dressed in costume and having a great time together again.