by Adam Burns
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — MadFrog is certainly no stranger to the Triple Crown NIT. With nine of its 11 players returning to the qualifier in the Heart of America, MadFrog’s top 14-year-old squad on Sunday captured three straight-set victories inside the Kansas City Convention Center.
MadFrog (5-1), based in Plano, Texas, tallied convincing Elite Division wins over PVA Elite (25-9, 25-10) and AVC Cleveland (25-11, 25-13) on Sunday morning. That was after handling Idaho Crush (25-12, 25-17) in a reseeding contest.
“Today we played really well,” MadFrog coach Thanh Vo said. “The girls had a lot of energy and really played well in their roles. And we got the W’s today.”
Does that NIT experience prove pivotal to success? It can’t hurt.
“It’s always a great tournament and we always play the nation’s best here,” Vo said. “There’s no bid here, so you have to come here with the motivation yourself and show people that you can play.”
MadFrog outside hitter Peyton Smith-Johnson and her teammates have done just that with their three Sunday victories and Power Pool wins over the Arizona Storm Thunder (25-23, 21-25, 15-7) and Mizuno Long Beach (25-20, 25-18).
“I feel like we’re playing good,” Smith-Johnson said. “We’ve had some ups and downs, but we overcame some of those things. We’ve come together as a team and have had a lot of energy which helped us control games.”
The upset frog from Texas has had just one blemish on the weekend — a straight-set loss to OTVA (23-25, 19-25) in Power Pool play on Friday.
“We hit a bump in the road but they bounced back,” Vo said. “We can play with the best at this age group. These girls all have that growth mindset and want to get better.”
All that winning has set up a win-or-go-home scenario with Coast Volleyball Club at 8:30 a.m. Monday. But MadFrog is not worried. They have created loads of momentum to help them along the way.
“What you see now is a combination of what we’ve been doing the past month,” coach Vo said. “We’ve had tournaments every weekend for the past four weeks. What you’re seeing here is the hard work they’ve put in together.”
Smith-Johnson added: “The goal is to win but also grow as a team with my teammates and have fun. We’re ready to go for tomorrow and compete.”
They’ve been here before. Only time will tell how far that experience can take them.
