Dennis Lafata is a tournament hosted by the Gateway region of USA Volleyball in St. Louis, Missouri. Lafata, the man who serves as the tournament’s namesake, lived from 1958 to 2005, passing from leukemia after a long battle with the illness. For many years, Lafata acted as a keystone of the boy’s volleyball scene in the Gateway region, serving as an official, coach, and a player. He helped with the split of Gateway from the Heart of America (HOA) region in 1994, and assisted in growing men’s volleyball to the scale of women’s in the region. He was the foundation of many tournaments hosted there, and of course the one named in his honor, which has been played in the America’s Convention Center in downtown St. Louis for 11 years.
The Dennis Lafata tournament, held from February 8-10, 2025, hosted approximately 282 boys’ teams from around the country, even some from Puerto Rico. This article will recap each division’s victor from ages 15-18, and summarize the VLA sub-tournament, which was also hosted in the America’s Convention Center the same weekend.
“At Dennis Lafata, we continue to strive to provide a quality environment and innovative approaches to continue growing the game,” Steven Mueth said, a tournament organizer. This emphasis on good sportsmanship was exemplified in the tournament’s Sportsmanship Award System where referees could hand a pass to a player that showed exceptional sportsmanship during play. That player then could redeem the pass for an award, like a hoodie or T-shirt.
Beginning in the 15’s division. USA ended with Milwaukee Sting (MKE) taking gold, with the runner-up being Team Colorado 15-Black. The Open division ended in a battle between MKE Sting, 15-1 and High Performance St. Louis (HPSTL). Sting prevailed after a three-set shootout and the club took home both the 15-USA and 15-Open medals.
The 16’s age group contained an Open division, USA division, and a merged Club division for 15’s and 16’s. In that merged division, MVP boys 16-Silver, won gold, with Oklahoma Charge settling for second. The USA title match had two teams hailing from the Great Lakes region, and the Gateway region, VC United 16-Elite, and Pursuit 16-national. Pursuit won the title in straight sets. Finally in the Open division, HPSTL 16-1 won in straight sets over Milwaukee Volleyball Club (MVC) 16-Brad.
In the 17’s group, the USA division was capped off with two teams from the Badger region facing off for gold. MVC 17-Erik, and MKE Sting 17-2. Sting won gold in two sets. In Open, the final concluded with HPSTL17-Royal, and Southcoast Volleyball out of Puerto Rico. The match took three sets, concluding with Southcoast winning a tough division.
Similar to the 16’s group, the 18’s had three divisions, including a Club division split between 17’s and 18’s. In that division, Academy 18E gold finished first with a sweep over MVP 17-blue. USA concluded with 417 18-National falling in three sets to MVC 18-Matt. In the Open division, Houston volleyball club 18-Red, and The Academy 18-1 from Indianapolis stood across from the net from each other, ready to fight for the medal. The match was decided after two sets, when a determined HVA team took gold and finished first in the most competitive division in the tournament.
“This tournament set the pathway for other tournaments to transition to a convention center. This development in boy’s volleyball initiated a huge growth spurt that hasn’t slowed down to this day.” Mueth said. This attitude of growing the game is essential to the growth of the sport.
Another crucial key to the growth of boy’s volleyball is role models. Players that you watch in awe and strive to play like. These role models could be college players, members of the US national team, or professionals. While most male pro players are overseas, the Volleyball League of America (VLA) is a closer alternative. This year the Dennis Lafata tournament hosted a sub-tournament of VLA teams, whose players could serve as role models to the club players watching from the sideline.
The VLA pools began playing on day one. When the day concluded, Milwaukee Gold, and the Austin Jam stood at the top of the pools. Bracket play started on the second day. Where the same teams, Gold and Jam marched through the bracket. Gold took down the St. Louis Stallions in four sets. Similarly, Jam marched past the Michigan Tempo in four sets. When the two top teams met in the final, the second seed Jam upset the one seed Gold, in a three set sweep.
The Dennis Lafata tournament mixed high-level volleyball with a positive environment to play in, and provided access to watching role models play at a professional level. The tournament, named in his honor, serves as a living embodiment of Dennis Lafata’s ambitions to grow the game and inspire the next generation of volleyball players.
Discover more from Middle Hitter
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
