For Fishers resident Madi Miles and her Academy Boiler Juniors 13 Gold AAU volleyball team, it was a busy summer. The West Lafayette-based club team won the AAU national tournament in late June and then made a strong run to the elite eight of the USAV Nationals in early July. Miles is entering eighth grade at Fall Creek Junior High.
The first national championship appearance was organized by the AAU and was played in Orlando, Fla. It was the third national championship for the team and the fourth major tournament the team won during the season.
Bridging June and July, the second nationals were hosted by USA Volleyball in Las Vegas. The team was seeded fourth and finished seventh.
“(The competition) was really tough,” Miles said. “Every team there was really good.”
Madi’s mother, Olivia Miles, said the loss was “pretty devastating” for a team that was not used to losing many games. But Olivia said the seventh-place finish was still an impressive accomplishment, and the family and teammates got to spend quality time at Disney World and Las Vegas.
“Our team spent a lot of time together. We’d hang out a lot and we would go out to eat a lot,” Madi said. “In Las Vegas, we went to the Sugar Factory. They had crazy dessert things there.”
For Madi, wrapping up the 2021 volleyball season does not mean the end of volleyball. She’s playing in a summer camp now and her sights are set high on next season.
“Next year, I want to win both nationals because we would be the first team in history to do it,” Madi Miles said.
