A near month-long national championship march begins this week. Leading the charge and getting the festivities going is the 14-and-under divisions at the AAU Girls National Championships in Orlando. That age group is set to compete from June 14-17. Below, we highlight 14 Open and make our pick to win it all.

14 OPEN

Number of Teams: 39

vballrecruiter.com National Rankings (13):

8. OT 14 Laura (FL)
11. Adidas KiVA 14 Red (KY)
13. A4 14 Helen (GA)
16. Munciana 14 Chipmunks (IN)
23. Tribe 14 Elite Cardinal (FL)
27. Legacy 14-1 Adidas (MI)
30. GP 14 Rox (FL)
32. Mauloa 14 Green (HI)
33. Tri-State Elite 14 Blue (OH)
34. Top Select 14 Elite (FL)
37. Mintonette Sports m.41 (OH)
42. Northern Lights 14-1 (MN)
44. WPVC 14 Armour Black (FL)
50. Kairos 14 Alpha (SD)

5-Star Athletes to Know:

Marissa Jones S A5 14 Helen

4-Star Athletes to Know:

Bryn Meyer OH Mintonette Sports m.41
Brooklyn Sippio MB GP 14 Rox
Cynthia Ockerman MB Legacy 14-1 Adidas

Prediction: The field features seven clubs which qualified for 14 Open at the upcoming USAV national championships later this season, highlighted by top-seeded OT 14 Laura. OT is also the highest-ranked team from vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50 rankings competing in Orlando. There’s a solid pack of teams that will challenge OT for gold. Adidas KiVA 14 Red, A5 14 Helen and Munciana 14 Chipmunks are among them, as are Tribe 14 Elite Cardinal, Legacy 14-1 Adidas and Tri-State Elite 14 Blue. Barring any early-round upsets, it’s going to take time for the top teams to build up to facing one another. If we are lucky we could see a few blockbuster matches taking place on Day 3, which sets up the eight-team gold bracket for the fourth and final day. We are picking OT, KiVA, Legacy, Mintonette, Tribe, A5, GP 14 Rox and WPVC 14 Armour Black to make the final eight. In the end, OT tops Tribe for the gold medal, with A5 and KiVA taking bronzes.