Submitted Photo – The young Hoopa players and coaches celebrate their tournament championship last weekend.

A group of young Hoopa girls don’t get to play as many volleyball games as they would like, but they’re definitely taking advantage of the time they do get on the court.

Last weekend, the Hoopa seventh-grade team traveled to play at the Sunny Brae Tournament and won all three of their games to take home the championship.

The young Braves defeated Jacoby Creek in three sets in the championship showdown, 21-16, 19-21, 10-8.

The tournament win was a nice turnaround from a year ago, when many of the same players went winless at the same tournament.

And they hit the ground running in their first competitive games of the fall.

“I knew they had the potential, so it was great to see the things we worked on in practice translate to the games,” head coach Karmen McCovey-Benson said. 

The Hoopa girls, who include seven seventh graders and three sixth graders, also defeated Crescent Elk and Sunny Brae in tournament play.

Even more remarkable, these were the first-ever games for some of the players.

Hoopa was led by tournament MVP Muriel Jackson, who had an outstanding day, particularly serving the ball.

In one of the games, Jackson remarkably served 19 consecutive points, earning the respect of opposing parents and coaches.

“She served great,” McCovey-Benson said. “And she was great defensively.

“But all the girls did really well. Even my little sixth graders, they stepped up and did what they needed to do.”

Seventh graders Avery Benson and Summer Dean both also impressed and were each named to the all-tournament team along with Jackson.

The Hoopa team also includes seventh graders Akira Reed, Cici McKinnon, Malerie Marshall and Verdina VanPelt, as well as sixth graders Anieyah McCovey, Kautia Hostler and Stephanie Myers.

And it’s a close knit group of players, who play multiple sports together.

“I feel like this group is a very athletic group of girls,” McCovey-Benson said. “The majority of them are good friends and all of them are multi-sport athletes and they play together in basketball and softball. They’ve definitely been playing together for a while.”

The young players also earned the respect of one of the tournament officials.

“One of the refs complimented us on our serving,” the head coach added. “He said it was one of the best serving seventh-grade teams he has seen. And they just played well all-around.”

Unfortunately, this was the final tournament of the year for the young Hoopa players, who do not play in any league but will continue to play games when they get the opportunity.

They followed last weekend’s big tournament championship with a victory over Crescent Elk on Wednesday to go to 4-0.