The Nansemond Volleyball Club’s newly formed 14-Blue squad has set a new precedent for the club in only its second event.

The team traveled to Richmond to compete in the Monument City Classic, which ran Jan. 16-18. Of 54 total teams entered in the 14s division, the NVC squad was seeded 19th and finished fifth, the highest finish ever for a Nansemond Volleyball Club team playing in the Open Division.

It was also the highest finish in the Classic this season among 14s teams (generally consisting of girls in the 14-year-old age group) in the region.

“I thought they did great,” NVC 14-Blue team coach Robyn Ross said of her girls, noting they are learning the fundamentals and trying to play volleyball the right way. “And that’s important for me to teach them when they’re at this age.”

The team is made up of eight girls — seventh- and eighth-graders from Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, StoneBridge School and Smithfield High School.

Similar to Ross’ 2015 varsity girls’ team at NSA, NVC’s 14-Blue team is generally shorter than its opponents, “but we are beating people by being smart and being really good at the right things,” Ross said.

The coach noted the tallest member of her team is middle blocker Elizabeth Reese of StoneBridge, who might be as tall as 5 feet, 10 inches. At the 14-year-old age level, Reese and her teammates are already playing teams with girls over 6 feet tall.

For all of the NVC 14-Blue team members, this is their first time playing for Ross.

“For them to have the success that they did over the weekend really helps me a lot,” Ross said. They see what she is teaching them, they apply it and “they now see that it really does work.”

The team went 6-2 in the Monument City Classic, winning matches against Vienna Elite 14, Piedmont Volleyball Club 14 and MVSA 14 Dynamite on Jan. 16.

The next day, the local squad defeated Academy 14 Diamond.

“And then you could see the youth and the fatigue kind of set in a little bit,” Ross said.

In its next match, the NVC 14-Blue team fell 2-1 to Virginia Juniors 14 Apprime, which Ross described as a big club from the Northern Virginia area that picks its players from a massive pool of active players.

The Nansemond Volleyball Club squad closed out its play on Sunday with a win over Maryland Juniors 14 Elite.

On Monday, the NVC 14s team lost to MVP 14 Gold, a big club out of Mount Pleasant, S.C.

Like 14-Blue’s prior loss in the Classic, it was a close 2-1 match.

Ross was pleased to see her girls challenge the big club teams, because it boosted her girls’ self-confidence, helping them realize “they aren’t just Suffolk-good, they’re legit-good.”

They finished out their play in the Monument City Classic with a win against American 14.

For the weekend, Elizabeth Reese led the NVC team’s offense with 79 kills. The team produced 70 aces, with middle blocker Addison Greene and outside hitter Livian Matthews, both of NSA, generating 23 apiece. Rachel Wingfield of StoneBridge handed out 145 assists.

But rather than focusing on standout players, Ross noted this is one of those situations in which it takes all eight girls for the team to succeed.

“All eight have to pull their weight,” she said.

Given how well they have started, “if these guys stick together, they will be an amazing team,” Ross said.

The NVC 14-Blue team (7-4) will next compete in a tournament on Feb. 6 and 7 in Charlotte, N.C.