NIKE Tournament of Champions

Deja Vu for Broncos V-Ball

By Randy Lefko
randy@claytodayonline.com

MIDDLEBURG - The Nike Tournament of Champions, held in 2023 in Tampa, and recently held in Gainesville has been a measure of elite preparedness for not just area high school programs, but programs from as far away as Alaska, California, and Nevada with Middleburg and St. Johns Country Day School on the roster in 2024.
"We went 4-2; started the weekend a bit sloppy," said Middleburg coach Meredith Forkum. "They settled in and responded very well. The adversity for any team is a good thing, sometimes it shows them they're capable of digging deep and truly fighting."
After losing early matches to Trinity Christian Academy and Doral Academy, Middleburg finished as the Premium Silver Division champion with a finals win over Timber Creek.
Senior outside hitter Brooke Forkum led the Bronco offense with double-figure kills in three of the four championship games; 15, 12, and 11 with six against unbeaten Deland. Forkum has 80 scoring strikes thus far in 2024 after finishing as Middleburg's second scorer last year with 373 kills.
With 65 kills for the season, Camden Rahn hit double digits with 10 in Middleburg's semifinal win over Bob Jones of Alabama.
For Middleburg, now 7-2 overall, who camped out in the Premier division of the tournament which was positioned in between a National division and an Elite division, a similar finish ended with the Broncos battling back from two pool losses (Leon and Deland), then a string of wins in the Silver Bracket championship rounds to win the first place trophy with a finals win over Timber Creek.
Middleburg had wins along the championship bracket against Jackson Academy (MS) and Ocala Forest before beating Timber Creek behind 11 kills from Brooke Forkum and eight from Camden Rahn.
In Pool play, the Broncos were 1-2 with teams from Deland, Bob Jones (AL) and Leon with losses to Trinity Christian Academy (Jax) and Doral Academy.
Last year, Trinity Christian and Doral Academy both beat Middleburg prior to the Broncos getting to the silver bracket championship game where they lost to Jensen Beach.
On September 24, Middleburg will host Trinity Christian in regular season play.
In the National division, teams from Clovis North (CA), Flint Hill (VA), Lovejoy (TX) and football powerhouse Bishop Gorman (NV) battled among nationally ranked programs.
In the National division, Lovejoy (TX) held a sixth in the USA ranking via Maxpreps and Carrollwood Day of Tampa was 17th (6-1).
For Middleburg's Premiere team roster, Orangewood Christian of Maitland (8-1 in 2A) was sixth-ranked in Florida with Merritt Island 13th (7-2 in 4A) and Middleburg 34th (7-2 in 5A) despite a Class 5A title last year and a bevy of top returners on the team.
St. Johns Country Day School (0-3), in the Elite division, had the likes of Service High of Alaska (7-8 in 4A), Savannah Arts Academy in Georgia (9-8 in 2A) and Enterprise High (5-5 in 7A) in Alabama.
"It was St. Johns first time competing in the Tournament of Champions," said St. Johns coach Jenna Williams. "It was faster offense that we have ever faced, but I saw girls adjusting and making quicker reads. It was a fantastic learning experience to go up against 6A schools from Miami and Tampa and even a defending state champion from Alaska. Our depth hurt a little because our starters played three days with no relief."
For the Spartans, in Elite division play, the Spartans finished at 0-6 with a sets record of 2-12 against teams such as Service (AK), Dixie County, True North Academy, George Jenkins, Land O'Lakes and St. Johns Paul II Academy, all of Florida.
In the championship brackets, Tampa Plant (7-0 in 7A) beat previously unbeaten (6-1) Carrollwood Day in the National Platinum final, unbeaten Deland beat Incarnate Word Academy (MO) in the Premium Platinum final, Bob Jones (AL) beat Bishop Kenny in the Premium Gold final and Gainesville beat Leon in the Premium Bronze final.
In the Elite Division, Sagemont Prep defeated Archbishop McCarthy in the Elite Platinum final.