Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Youth volleyball team set for nationals, looks to continue winning ways

Vegas Aces, a 12-and-under squad, has thrived against California competition; plans more upsets in New Orleans

Vegas Aces Youth Volleyball Team Practice

L.E. Baskow

The Vegas Aces youth volleyball team, which is preparing for a trip to the national championships, consists of two sets of twins, four sets of sisters and nine best friends.

Vegas Aces Youth Volleyball Team Practice

Caroline Edgeworth (1) with the Vegas Aces youth volleyball team practices for their future trip to the National Championships at Launch slideshow »

The volleyball sails over the net and nearly lands on the ground. But out of nowhere, the Vegas Aces’ Lauren Soong stretches and saves it.

Sidra Wohlwend passes to her left, and Keji Ajayi vaults above the net to spike it down.

The scenario isn’t unusual for a volleyball practice — except Lauren, Sidra and Keji are just 12 years old.

And this isn’t some plastic Fisher-Price net they are scorching the ball over. The twine stretches 7 feet in the air, 4 inches short of a women’s professional regulation net.

The Vegas Aces, a 12-and-under squad, will compete June 27-30 in New Orleans at USA Volleyball’s Girls’ Junior National Championships.

At first glance, the Aces may seem like an easy team to defeat. The nine-player squad includes girls ages 9 to 12, while most teams are stacked with girls on the age threshold — almost 13. Because of the age difference, the Aces typically field a team of smaller players.

But they win and rank first of 162 clubs in the Southern California region.

“People in California were saying, ‘Who is this Vegas team?’ ” said Angela Edgeworth, the club’s director and mother of team members Caroline and Lauren Edgeworth. “Some parents would wonder why their team has to play our team full of shorter and younger girls, but then we would win.”

The Aces quickly outgrew Las Vegas leagues, never losing a match locally despite playing against many teams consisting of 14-year-olds. Parents and coaches decided it was time to move to a bigger pond.

“California is like the mecca of volleyball,” said Candice Tung-Wohlwend, whose daughter Sidra plays for the Aces. “We just wanted to get better competition, but once we got out there, we still kept winning.”

The Aces are the first girls’ volleyball team from Nevada to earn a bid to nationals, winning a spot by posting a 7-2 record at the Far Western Regional qualifying tournament in late April in Reno.

“I’ve heard a bunch of stories about New Orleans, and it sounds really fun,” said Keji’s sister and teammate, Reni Ajayi. “I’m really excited, but I’m also really nervous because there are a lot of good teams there.”

The girls are used to playing the role of underdog.

The team has been traveling for just over a year, and the girls were introduced to the sport on a recreational level only three years ago. That is when Angela Edgeworth and her husband, Brian, became team parents.

After having no luck finding practice facilities for youth teams in Las Vegas, Brian Edgeworth converted his office warehouse into “the Edge” volleyball training gym for teams all over the valley to use. The Edgeworths brought in head coach Ruben Herrera, a former assistant at UNLV who coached at colleges in Virginia and New Orleans.

“I didn’t know what to expect with 12-year-olds, to be honest,” Herrera said. “I was thinking, ‘Uh-oh, what am I getting myself into?’ But then I came in and watched ... and there is some potential here.”

Unlike most teams in the ultra-competitive California region, the Aces do not hold tryouts. Instead, they have kept the same group of friends playing together since the team was founded.

“It’s cool because we don’t take people just because of how good they are, we take them because we are friends,” Sidra said. “Volleyball is not really that important. It’s to have fun, not to put any stress on you. You just try to play your best.”

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