Louisville volleyball clubs flourish

The Kentucky Indiana Volleyball Academy (KIVA) and the MidAmerica Volleyball Association (MAVA) will return to Louisville with three national titles and 25 All-Americans after a successful week at the AAU Junior Girls' National Championships in Orlando, Fla.

KIVA, which won three titles at this event last year, came away with just one this time but had 16 players named All-Americans, including: Coral Maybrier from fifth-place KIVA 12 Red; MVP Courtney Robison and Natalie Keck from national champion KIVA 13 Red; Deja McClendon, Lindsey Roth and Madison Hardy from third-place KIVA 14 Red; Whitney Craven, Emily Hayden and Alexis Bauer from national runner-up KIVA 15 Red; Morgan Springer from fifth-place KIVA 16 White; Sloane Donhoff and Stephanie Riley from third-place KIVA 16 Red; Sara Hayden, Rebecca Bloemer and Kirstie Brangers from national runner-up KIVA 17 Red; and Christina Kaelin from fifth-place KIVA 18 Red.

MAVA won the first two titles in the club's history and had nine players named All-Americans, including: Claire Gerwig and Jennifer Houserfrom third-place MAVA 13 Elite; Melanie Hicks and MVP Emily Juhl from national champion MAVA 14 Elite; Casey Garvey, Grace Krauser and MVP Kelsey Anderson from national champion MAVA 15 Elite; and Emily Lechleiter and Natalie Schonefeld from third-place MAVA 16 Elite.

KIVA, MAVA win national titles

Two Louisville-area volleyball clubs each have won at least one title at the AAU Junior Girls' National Championships in Orlando, Fla., and are in a position to accomplish more today.

The Kentucky Indiana Volleyball Academy (KIVA), which Assumption High School coach Ron Kordes has built into one of the best clubs in the country, won the 13-and-under national championship with its 13 Red team on Friday.

The MidAmerica Volleyball Association (MAVA) also won a national championship on Friday, taking the 14-and-under division with its 14 Elite team.

The two clubs then collided for the 15-and-under national championship today, and MAVA 15 Elite beat KIVA 15 Red to win the title.

Additionally, MAVA 12 Wilson won the consolation title at 12-and-under; KIVA 14 Red placed third at 14-and-under; and MAVA 13 Elite placed third at 13-and-under.

KIVA 17 Red will play for the 17-and-under national championship tonight.

Louisville dominates USTA league senior state championships

Louisville teams won six of the seven divisions at the USTA League Tennis Senior Kentucky District Championships in Henderson last weekend.

That guarantees the city will send a strong contingent to the Southern Sectional Championships in Charleston, S.C., in July - regardless of what happens at the Adult Kentucky District Championships later this month.

The Louisville winners (listed by captains) included Brook Seymour’s team at the women’s 3.0 level; Sherry Geissler’s team at the women’s 4.0 level; Jean Jansen’s team at the women’s 4.5 level; Michael Schneider’s team at the men’s 3.0 level; Skeeter Stark’s team at the men’s 3.5 level; and Joe Hampton’s team at the men’s 4.0 level.

Patricia Lee’s Pennyrile team from Western Kentucky was the only non-Louisville winner, taking the women’s 3.5 level.

Those district champions will play their counterparts from eight other states at the Southern Sectional Championships, which will be divided into two parts: July 22-25 for seniors at the 4.0 and 4.5 levels and for adults at the 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 levels; and July 27-30 for seniors at the 3.0 and 3.5 levels and for adults at the 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 and Open levels.

The National Championships will be held in September and October.

USTA League Tennis is the largest recreational tennis system in the world and includes more than 500,000 players.

Runners take lead in LMPD event

More than 300 people kicked off the Louisville Metro Police Department’s 200th Celebration with a five-kilometer run through downtown this morning.

Scott Holzknecht was the overall winner with a time of 16:11.79, fractions of a second slower than his victorious mark in the da Vinci Downtown Festival race in New Albany, Ind., last month. He easily beat 318 other runners and walkers - including Bret Vanpoppel, who finished second in 16:33.48.

Jen Alessandro, who won the Polar Bear Grand Prix in February, topped the field of women in 18:11.39. She was 12th overall. Katie Braekkan, who was the runner-up in the Polar Bear Grand Prix standings, was second behind Alessandro again today in 18:57.64.

Full results for the race, which began on E. Witherspoon Street between Floyd and Preston, can be found here.

The LMPD’s 200th Celebration was organized by the Louisville Metro Police Foundation, a non-profit partnership between the department and the local business community created earlier this year.

The event, which was based at Waterfront Park, included the road race, several cycling races, a health and safety fair, a food court, live music and entertainment, and an autograph signing session with the Louisville Bats.

About those LMPD races. . . .

Thanks to the likes of Fleet Feet Sports Louisville and 2WheelSports, most serious runners and cyclists in the area already know about the races that will be part of the Louisville Metro Police Department’s 200th Celebration tomorrow.

Thanks to the likes of The Courier-Journal, however, a lot of other people don’t have a clue.

As hard as it is to believe, the newspaper’s only reference to this event was a traffic brief buried at the bottom of the left column on Page B3 of today’s edition.

So… It’s not always where you live.

Here’s what The C-J had:

“The Third Street exit ramp from westbound Interstate 64 will be closed from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. tomorrow because of the Louisville Metro Police Department's 200th Celebration Run, part of a department event from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Great Lawn of Waterfront Park. The celebration was designed to highlight 200 years of Louisville law-enforcement history with activities for children and adults. Besides the run, there will be a health and safety fair, food, concerts and information on police units and departments."

That even neglects to mention the existence of any cycling. Six criterium races, beginning on E. Witherspoon Street, are scheduled for cyclists: a 4/5 category (9:30 a.m.), a women’s category (10:15 a.m.), a 3 category (11 a.m.), a masters’ 40-and-over category (noon), a category for kids and celebrities (1:30 p.m.), and a pro/1/2 category (2:30 p.m.). With sponsorship from Texas Roadhouse and Papa John’s Pizza, the races have been said to offer the richest awards in Louisville criterium history. More details are available here.

The five-kilometer run, which will begin on E. Witherspoon Street at 8 a.m., will offer awards to the top five men, the top five women and the top three in each age group. More details are available here.