By Iain Plank, Class of ‘23
On Saturday, February 4, Montverde Academy hosted the 19th Roger Ross Montverde Academy Tournament (RMAT). Ten teams from seven different schools joined our MVA teams A and B in the seven-round competition.
Both MVA teams played five preliminary rounds, which decided who moved on to the semifinals. Montverde A went 4-1, only losing an extremely close game to Geneva with a final score of 205-200.
During those rounds, team captain and senior Elliot Rose logged the fourth best single round performance with an 85-point match against Chain of Lakes. Elliot ended the tournament as third highest overall scorer. Another standout performance was a record-setting 120-point game by sophomore Laven Parker, the highest scoring game out of any player in the entire tournament.
Montverde A played their first semifinal game against Lake Highland who had both of the top two scorers in the tournament. Montverde A had an impressive performance but were eventually knocked out of the tournament in the semifinals, finishing third place. Lake Highland went on to win the entire tournament.
Montverde Academy B put up a competitive performance despite a losing record. They also had 2 players in the top 20 scorers, freshman Jacob Novis and sophomore Vaasu Gadiparthi. These statistics are extremely impressive when considering how young the team is compared to the experience of their opponents.
Overall, the future for the MVA Academic Team is looking bright. MVA is currently competing to qualify for states for the second year in a row. The team also has young talent, with many freshmen and sophomores earning spots in the upper divisions of individual scoresheets. Young talent, combined with experienced leadership, will surely keep Montverde Academy at the top of the standings for the rest of this season and many years after.
