March 22, 2022

The bid recap stories featured AZ Storm 15 Thunder, Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar and Austin Skyline 15 Royal. Here, I take a look at some other points of interests from 15 Open. LOOKING AT THE SEEDINGS As we said with 17 and 16 Open, any qualifier this early in the season poses challenges when it comes to seeding. It’s hard to do with limited results. The most shocking development in this regard from Salt Lake was Day 1 top seed Absolute Black 15-1 not breaking pool on Day 2 and being eliminated. Absolute, by virtue of finishing third at Triple Crown, was a solid choice to open as the top seed but didn’t look sharp Friday or Saturday and paid the price. Of the eight No. 1 teams in their respective Day 1 pools Skyline 15 Royal and AZ Sky 15 Gold joined Absolute in not reaching the final eight. Those three spots went to Aspire 15 Premier (seeded No. 11 to start), Excel 15 National Red (seeded No. 12) and ARVC 15 Adidas (seeded No. 13). Compared to some of the things we saw in 16 and 17 Open, there wasn’t much to note outside of what happened to Absolute. BOOK THOSE OPEN SPOTS With only three bids to award, surely more teams from the Salt Lake field will gain Open spots as qualifying season continues. Here are the teams I feel like are locks to make it: Absolute Black 15-1: The feeling here is that placing third at Triple Crown and then being seeded No. 1 overall at Salt Lake put a target on Absolute’s back that the team wasn’t quite ready for. Teams were coming hard for Absolute, which seemed to struggle with its passing and ball control and didn’t really look in sync the first two days when watching them. Absolute will be better in the long run as it should learn plenty from Salt Lake. Elena Fisher is who Absolute seems to turn to on the outside when things break down. She’s got some springs to her but it’s asking a lot for her to carry the offense. Setter Julia Waller does look to get her middles involved in Isabella Ehrlich and Monika Brinlee as often as possible but looked like their timing was slightly off. Regardless, it would be shocking if Absolute doesn’t put it together and get its Open bid at some point. Excel 15 National Red: A lot of Excel teams tend to be smaller, scrappier teams. This Excel squad scraps but appears to have some more size than usual. It’s a strong front row when outside Halle Jameson and right side Jordyn Moore or paired with either middle in Catherine Warren or Aubrey Bellus. Moore also sets in the back row, with Keely Harrington the other back row setter. One thing that stood out about the group is they seem to play well together and are in sync with each other. Excel beat out Madfrog in a key victory on Day 3 to earn its shot at qualifying in the third-place match but just couldn’t find a way to get past Austin Skyline for a second time. Madfrog 15 Green: Madfrog was a victory away from playing for a bid but fell to Excel in the last match of gold pool play and finished third in the pool. Madfrog has good height in the middle with Olivia Wayne and Kylee McCoy, as well as right sides Anna Barr and Naya Salfiti, who also sets in the back row. It gives them a big right side block plus nice options for setters Sophia Wei and London Upchurch, who also have outsides Morgan VanVoorhis and Karson Barclow to work with. Madeleine Smotherman helps out defensively at libero. Like other 15s teams this time of season, Madfrog struggled with consistency. It lost to Aspire 25-12, 25-21, but then showed well against eventual champ AZ Storm the next day, losing 26-24, 25-23. Once Madfrog gets dialed in a little more and isn’t as up and down it’ll get its Open bid. Alamo 15 Premier: I didn’t see Alamo as much as I would’ve liked but I did see some of the pieces it has. Megan Fitch is legit on the outside and go-to attacker for them. Aniya Hall gets up quick in the middle and can run the slide efficiently. Setter Kaia Thiele was part of a 6-2 on Day 1 but was running a 5-1 on the final day. Alamo was 6-0 until running into Austin Skyline to open gold pools Saturday evening. Alamo defeated Austin Skyline at Triple Crown but couldn’t repeat the feat. Alamo then swept Aspire and needed to beat AZ Storm to get into a three-way tie. Alamo fell to Storm in three, becoming the only team to take a set off of Storm all weekend. ON THE RADAR Here are a few other clubs to keep an eye on who could gain Open bids down the road: Aspire 15 Premier: Aspire had a strong start to the tournament by wining five in a row, including beating Madfrog 15 Green to end Day 1 and AZ Sky 15 Gold on Day 2. But Aspire lost its final Round 2 pool match to ARVC 15 Adidas and lost its final four matches, including all three gold pool contests against AZ Storm, Alamo and Austin Skyline. Avery Boothe is a tall presence on the right side for Aspire, which also relies a lot on outside Alyssa Aguayo. This team is going to have to find a way to make up some ground against the stronger teams and if so could potentially play its way into the Open field. Skyline 15 Royal: I didn’t see a lot of Skyline either but outside Alexandra Richter was a player of note with her length at outside. She seems to be a real weapon for them. Middle Kaelynn Sims gets off the ground very well and will line up and swing from the left

The first three bids of the season went to Co Jrs 16 Sherri, Club V 16 Ren Wayne and Coast 16-1. I took some time noting how their weekends played out already. So now it’s time to switch gears and take a look at some other happenings that stood out to me in 16 Open in Salt Lake City. SEEDINGS ARE HARD EARLY As I noted with 17 Open, it’s tough to seed a qualifier early on. Results are limited so it can be a bit of a guessing game, it’s just the way it is. The top three seeds respectively in AZ Storm 16 Thunder, Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar and Coast 16-1 were close. Coast took the last bid over Storm and Beach finished in a three-way tie in gold pools but caught the short end of the tiebreaker stick and didn’t get to play for a bid. That wasn’t the case with the next group of original seeds in No. 4 Rockwood Thunder 16 Elite, No. 5 Madfrog 16 Green, No. 6 Gainesville Jrs 16 Black and No. 7 DCVA 16 Hong. Rockwood was bounced from contention on Day 1. The other three were knocked out on Day 2 and didn’t reach gold pools. Co Jrs, seeded No. 8, won the event of course. Club V, which finished second to Co Jrs, opened as the No. 15 seed overall. Rev 16-1 Fury was the lowest seed to make gold pools after opening as the No. 17 overall seed. OPEN SPOTS RESERVED I think these five teams are going to earn an Open bid for sure as qualifier season continues on: AZ Storm 16 Thunder: Storm was a victory away from qualifying, going down to Coast in the third-place match. Admittingly, this is a tough team to write about in the sense it really is more about the sum of its parts. Piper Rama and Blaykli Bobik were taking up spots at outsides, with setter Ireland Avalos also having middles Camila Carnejo-Farmer and Skyler Gartin as options. Storm lost its opening match on Day 1 to Rev 16-1 Fury but then won seven in row, including beating Madfrog, Coast and AZ Rev 16 Premier on Day 2. Storm could’ve clinched a bid outright but fell to Co Jrs to end gold pool play before facing Coast again. Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar: Losing out on set percentage after a three-way tie at 2-1 in gold pools kept Beach from a chance at qualifying. Beach was done in by Club V on Day 1 and then again to open gold pool action Saturday evening. Beach responded by beating both Coast and OT in three sets to force the three-way tie with Coast and Club V. There’s not much height to this group but Beach can scrap and has a high IQ player in setter/right side Charlie Fuerbringer. She was running a 5-1 on the last day and is very smooth at what she does. The team’s only real height comes from Babi Gubbins on the left. The attack can be pin heavy at times, with Fuerbringer also targeting Kate Martin at outside and Gabriella Destler, who was playing right side. Bryn Shankle and Jade Dudley-Epps fill out the middle spots. The defense does help carry Beach with liberos Malyssa Cawa and Summer Suppik plus DS Taylor Mercado doing good jobs. OT 16 J Will: There’s an element of what-if to OT’s weekend in Salt Lake. While OT made it to gold pools, it finished 0-3 against Coast, Club V and Long Beach. However, the losses to Coast (15-11 in the third) and Beach (15-13 in the third) could have gone the other way and it would have been a different story. Chelsea Sutton is a game-changer in the middle with her size and ability to disrupt opponents with her blocking and as well as her attacking. Rauly Eason also has some physicality to her as well in the middle. Connor Rahn carries a good swing and a portion of the offense at outside. OT just needs to learn to play with more consistency because its performance was too up and down at times. When OT figures that out it’ll get its Open bid. Rev 16-1 Fury: Rev Fury had a tough go at it in gold pools, falling to AZ Storm, Co Jrs and Flyers 16 Dylan. It did beat Storm on Day 1 and OT on Day 2, so the squad is capable of playing at a high enough level to qualify. For one, it has a rising talent in 6-3 outside Lauren Harden. With her, Rev is going to competitive against just about anyone. There’s also height at other places with Lilah Odegard (6-4) in the middle and Madison Evett (6-2) on the right. Those are a few targets for setter Kamryn Utley. Harden, Evett and Utley, as well as middle Lucy Kay and outside Sydney Lohman, came to Rev this season after playing for Team Indiana a year ago and tying for third in 15 Open at AAUs. There’s no doubt this squad is hungry to make it to Open at JN’s in 2022. Madfrog 16 Green: One of the surprises of the weekend was seeing Madfrog knocked from contention on Day 2. Madfrog was without its best player though in outside Avery Jackson. When she returns watch out because this team has firepower. Lainee Pyles was moved from the middle to play one of the outside positions, along with Brianna Watson. Lillian Croshaw is a physical middle with a big block while Kate Mansfield fills out the other middle spot. Akunna Cos-Okpalla is a high-jumping right side so there’s plenty to work with. When Jackson returns Madfrog will have options. The staff could move Pyles to the right as she looked solid swinging from the pin, or it could use Croshaw on the right and put Pyles back in the middle. Whatever the case, this team is far from hitting its potential and will

I wrote about the 17 Open bid winners – Club V 17 Ren Reed, Alamo 17 Premier and AZ Rev 17 Premier – already and now I’m going to turn my attention to some other points of interest that caught my attention over the three days being in Salt Lake City. SEEDINGS REFLECT THAT’S IT EARLYEarly in the season, with really just Triple Crown to go off of, it’s difficult to seed a qualifier like SLC. For instance, top-seeded Coast 17-1 didn’t qualify. Neither did second-seeded Sunshine 17 LA. Fourth-seeded Texas Fury 17 Legacy, fifth-seeded Austin Skyline 17 Royal and seventh-seeded AsicsWillowbrook 17 Gold didn’t reach gold pools. Co Jrs 17 Kevin, seeded 23rd, finished fourth. Two qualifiers in Club V (seeded No. 6) and AZ Rev (seeded No. 11) were paired together in a Day 1 pool. IN DUE TIMESome notes on five teams I’m very confident will qualify for Open down the road:Coast 17-1: The top seed was virtually untouchable through the first two rounds of pool. Then Coast opened up gold pool play by squeaking past ID Crush 17 Bower in three, 25-18, 21-25, 17-15. On Sunday though, Coast plays without stud outside and BYU commit Claire Little and that changes the lineup quite a bit. On Day 3, Coast fell to AZ Rev in straight sets before downing Club V in three to force a three-way tie but took third behind those two and was eliminated from bid contention. Coast is still formidable without Little but Little gives them a finisher from the front and back row. Milan Bayless is a fun outside to watch with the energy and athleticism she plays with, while Coast turns to Catherine Schnell to fill in Little’s absence. Schnell has good passing and ball control skills yet just isn’t quite on Little’s level in terms of scoring. Coast can also use Jillian Neal to plug in for Little and Neal adds some physicality to the front row but isn’t quite as dynamic as Little. Setter Zoe Rachow still has a strong target in the middle in Brooklyn Briscoe and on the right side with Noemie Glover. And with libero Sydney Bold and DS Brooklyn Yelland helping hold down the back court, Coast is tough no matter what because they add such strong ball skills to the lineup. Co Jrs 17 Kevin: This squad lost in the third-place match, finishing fourth and missing a bid by one spot. The team didn’t fare as well as it had hoped at Triple Crown and spent the time since developing a more balanced attack and not having to rely so heavily on its outsides in Sydney Dunning and Dani Cranford. It worked, with middles Lillia Neill, Nicole Martin and Haley Glunz all seeing time and getting involved. Co Jrs also has some talented attackers on the right in Gabi Placide and Annika Sokol, who also sets in the back row, and will run both on the X to mix up the offense. One front row lineup that proved to be effective was Dunning on the left, Neill in the middle and Placide on the right. Co Jrs lost to Coast to end the second round of pool play then opened gold pool with a tough loss three-set loss to Alamo. But Co Jrs pulled out a key victory over Sunshine before falling to Madfrog and ending in a three-way tie. Co Jrs grabbed second and faced AZ Rev for the last bid but AZ Rev played too well and Co Jrs will have to earn its bid another time. Sunshine 17 LA: Seeded second, Sunshine was not fully healthy but was in contention on the final day for a bid but couldn’t come out of gold pool. Sunshine was missing some key pieces in outside Grace Thrower, right side Avery Jones and one of its liberos in Saylor Little. Thrower and Jones can help spread out the offense so Sunshine isn’t relying so much on outside Torrey Stafford and right Olivia Babcock. Stafford and Babcock can take over matches but it’s asking a lot of the pair to carry as heavy a load as they did all weekend long. Carly Greskovics is the other libero and did a solid job, but usually pairs with Little in that role and Sunshine missed some of that depth. Drew Wright did a great job filling in for Thrower. She’s a strong passer and can score at times, but doesn’t have the same length as Thrower in the front row. Dior Charles plays a valuable role in the middle, especially with her blocking, but her and Catherine Maffei weren’t involved in the offense for stretches at a time because Sunshine’s passing can be hot and cold. Still, as long as Stafford and Babcock are on the court, Sunshine is always a threat. ID Crush 17 Bower: Teams are going to have to bring it to beat ID Crush, that much is known after SLC. Alamo played its best match of the tournament in sweeping ID Crush handily but outside that ID Crush was a tough out when it lost. It came within two points of upsetting Coast to open gold pools and pushed AZ Rev to three to end gold pool. The 17s division has some big teams and ID Crush fits right in in that sense. Outsides Alexandra Acevedo and Delaney Bub are consistent scorers, with Acevedo playing six rotations and a threat from the back row as well. Setter Alexandra Bower and libero Sierra Grizzle also play important roles and contribute to the team’s success. The feeling here is Crush gained confidence from the way it competing over the weekend and is only going to get better from it, so watch for this team to make some noise at some later qualifiers. Madfrog 17 Green: After losing to Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar to open play Friday, Madfrog needed to beat SIVBC 17 Storm just to advance out of Round 1 pools. Then after losing

The first 15 Open bids of qualifying season were awarded in Salt Lake City. AZ Storm 15 Thunder proved untouchable in topping the field. Runner up Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar earned a bid, as did third-place finisher Austin Skyline 15 Royal. Below, we recap their paths to qualifying. AZ Storm 15 Thunder (First, 10-0) With 12 members back from last year’s 14 Open national championship team, AZ Storm’s quest for a title at Triple Crown in February was stalled with a three-set loss to Dynasty 15 Black to end Day 2 play. Storm settled for ninth after its only loss there. Playing in Salt Lake City in its first national tournament since Triple Crown, there was no denying Storm this go around.In going 10-0 and taking first in 15 Open, Storm dropped just one set when it defeated Alamo 15 Premier in three to close out gold pool action. After that, Storm handed Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar its only defeat of the weekend, winning 25-19, 25-16, in the final.“Triple Crown was this aha moment that everyone is gunning for us and we have to play every point,” Storm coach Jami Rolfes said. “Nothing is going to be handed to us. I was really proud of them this weekend because over the past two-and-a-half weeks we’ve had three girls get concussed. I had no idea what was going to happen but I was fired up because we played with a lot of grit and found a way.”While Storm was rarely challenged outside the three-setter with Alamo and a tight sweep over Madfrog 15 Green (26-24, 25-23) on Day 2, part of its development is not relying so heavily on stud outside hitter Teraya Sigler.“We have Tee and she’s an all-around stud,” Rolfes said. “Just having her on the court, she plays well front row and back row, is one of our best passers and defenders and she obviously hits the ball hard. Her just being her is awesome, but both our middles stepped up. We are learning to get Kendal Cogill involved and our other middle Makena Rumple is just kind of earning her spot and she stepped up big time with 26 blocks on the weekend. She does a really good job closing the block.“Our L2 Devyn Wiest is just a baller. She just wants to come out and play and goes after it. I could talk about all of my kids. I thought Olivia Lenz did a good job stepping in at libero. I don’t think she’s played that role with this group before. Izzy Mahaffey is normally our libero but since she was just coming back and it was working I didn’t want to change anything.”Setter Avery Lim is playing up an age group and is continuing to come along. Rolfes said she’s “filling big shoes” this season and even though she’s undersized at the net she was able to slow some balls down. Moving forward Storm will look to get right side Raegan Richardson even more involved in the offense as well.“Just continuing to have a balanced offense so Tee doesn’t have to carry everybody,” Rolfes said. “I think we need to continue working on our blocking, especially on the right side because teams attack us there. Our serve and pass game was pretty solid.” *** Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar (Second, 9-1) Given Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar’s 11th-place showing at Triple Crown and being seeded No. 7 overall at the Salt Lake City Showdown, it wasn’t surprising to see the So Cal club earn its bid as much as it was the way it went down. Beach was undefeated heading into its 15 Open championship match clash against AZ Storm 15 Thunder, a squad that narrowly clipped Beach last month in Kansas City. Even though it was all Storm in the rematch – sweeping in straight sets, 25-19, 25-16 – Beach walked away with an Open bid nevertheless.“I’m really proud of this group,” Long Beach coach Carlos Briceno said. “They work really hard in practice and they listen. They’ve really bought in at the beginning of the season. There’s a lot of upside to this team. Every offensive player is capable of getting five kills a set. We are strong across the front at all times and we have strong players who can attack out of the back row.”Beach is not a particularly big team, with the exception of Kalyssa Blackshear in the middle. She’s capable of hitting over double blocks or as Briceno pointed out hitting “crazy angles” around single blocks. Emma Rowell is the other middle and like other Beach players is a bit undersized but she’s quick and knows how to score.Outsides Kiana Greer and Simone Roslon are similar with both their strong passing skills and effective hitting. Greer was playing on a 2s team the past two seasons before breaking through this year. Meanwhile, Rolson is one of three eighth-graders who start. Layli Ostovar and Preslie Saunders are the other two and line up on the right along with Sunni Skipps at times. Isabella Jones and Ayva Ostovar share setting duties, while Sydney Raszewski and Kayla Ostovar don the libero jerseys.“When we pass we can beat anybody,” Briceno said. “It’s the same for other teams but we have so much firepower that when we have our three front row players available it’s hard to stop us.”Beach got over a bit of a local hurdle on Day 1 against a pair of SCVA mates, clipping Tstreet 15 Curtis in three and sweeping Coast 15-1. Beach struggled against Tstreet last year as 14s and was 1-2 in regional tournaments against Coast so far this season but found its groove after beating them Friday. Beach swept its next six contests before running into Storm. It included beating top-seeded Absolute Black 15-1 on Day 2 and a strong Madfrog 15 Green’s team on Day 3.“We still have a lot of upside,” Briceno said. “We aren’t close to our best. They are really

The first three teams to pick up 16 Open bids occurred at the Salt Lake City Showdown. Co Jrs 16 Sherri finished on top of the field with a perfect record after beating Club V 16 Ren Wayne in the final. Coast 16-1 earned the final bid by beating AZ Storm 16 Thunder in the third-place match. Below, we recap the three bid winners’ weekend in Salt Lake. Co Jrs 16 Sherri (First, 10-0) Day 1: d. AP 16 Adidas (25-11, 25-13); d. SF Elite 16 Saga (25-14, 25-8); d. Livewire 16 Adidas (25-19, 26-24) Day 2: d. Xcel VB Adidas (25-16, 25-10); d. Gainesville Jrs 16 Black (25-19, 25-23); d. Club V 16 Ren Wayne (25-23, 25-22); d. Flyers 16 Dylan (25-20, 25-23) Day 3: Rev 16-1 Fury (24-26, 25-18, 15-12); d. AZ Storm 16 Thunder (25-10, 25-16); d. Club V 16 Ren Wayne (25-18, 25-18) It was nearly a flawless three days of volleyball for Co Jrs 16 Sherri as it captured not only a bid but the 16 Open crown in Salt Lake City, going 10-0 in matches and dropping just one set along the way. Co Jrs capped its impressive run by downing Club V 16 Ren Wayne in straight sets, 25-18, 25-18, in the final, the fifth time the Colorado club didn’t allow more than 20 points to an opponent in either set on the weekend.“I think we had hoped we could do it but I’m not sure we expected to or that I expected to anyway,” Co Jrs coach Sherri Hawkins said of the team’s undefeated run to the bid. “It was definitely a strong field. If you compared our results to other teams in the field from Triple Crown, we had the fifth-best record from there.”An integral part of Co Jrs – which tied for 21st at Triple Crown – is 6-1 S/RS Izzy Starck. Co Jrs defeated Club V on Day 2 before beating Club V again in the final and there really wasn’t any stopping her either time, Club V coach Wayne Wood said.“That Co Jrs setter/opposite No. 9 (Starck) played amazing volleyball,” he said. “I feel like we were able to minimize some of their other hitters but we had no answer for her. We watched game film to see how we could improve and I’m not sure I’ve seen another opposite as dynamic as her.”While Co Jrs can turn to Starck in tough moments, she’s hardly responsible for carrying the bulk of the scoring. Avah Armour – a 6-6 junior OH/RS committed to Central Florida – more than had her moments as Co Jrs moved her around between outside and right side. Outside Paityn Chapman, at 6-3, is another tall and effective option that’s plenty involved.They are part of a lineup that is not lacking in height. Middle/RS Addie Kanouff is 6-5, as is middle Marae Reilly. Even the team’s shortest middle in Grace Woodring at 5-10 plays taller, as she touches 9-8. Back row setter Regan Kadel is 5-10, so there is length pretty much everywhere. Toss in libero Ella Vogel and DS Eve McLaury – the only newcomer to the roster – and there aren’t any holes and it’s what makes Co Jrs dangerous when the team is on and clicking.“I think we had a well-balanced attack,” Hawkins said. “I think we were able to pretty much attack anywhere on the court and that helped. The blockers couldn’t key in on one hitter because we had multiple people attacking with a high kill percentage.” *** Club V 16 Ren Wayne (Second, 7-3) Day 1: d. NCVC 16 Blue (25-4, 25-14); d. Alamo 16 Premier (20-25, 25-17, 15-11); d. Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar (27-29, 25-12, 15-11) Day 2: d. Gainesville 16 Black (25-17, 25-23); d. Xcel 16 Adidas (25-14, 25-22); l. Co Jrs 16 Sherri (25-23, 25-22); d. Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar (25-21, 25-21) Day 3: d. OT 16 J Will (25-16, 25-16); l. Coast 16-1 (25-19, 25-11); l. Co Jrs 16 Sherri (25-18, 25-18) If we’re to use Triple Crown as a guide, Club V 16 Ren Wayne wasn’t on the radar as a potential qualifier in Salt Lake City. After finishing tied for 41st in Kansas City, Club V opened its first qualifier of the season seeded No. 15 overall. But after Day 1, there was ample proof Club V could contend if it kept its level of play up after knocking off Alamo 16 Premier and Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar en route to winning its pool.A chance at qualifying became a reality by the time Club V upended Long Beach for the second time a day later as the two sides opened gold pool action against one another. At that point, Club V had only lost to Co Jrs 16 Sherri and entered Day 3 in as good a spot as any to clinch a bid. It came to fruition Sunday when Club V beat OT 16 J Will before falling to Coast 16-1, ending in a three-way tie with Coast and Long Beach while owning the tiebreaker and advancing to the final where it fell to Co Jrs once more. “It was a great team weekend,” Club V coach Wayne Wood said. “I’ve coached a couple of teams that have qualified for Open but this is the first one to do it at the first qualifier of the year. The core of this team won USA at Nationals last year so they fell short of getting the Open bid. We added a couple of players and it really took every one of them this weekend.”Club V suffered a setback before Triple Crown when it lost libero Trinidy Tien for the season to an ACL injury. That left a big void in the lineup that needed filling and the team turned to Greta Brown, one of their outsides, to fill it.“She played huge,” Wood said. “Hats off to her. She had to shoulder a lot of responsibility. This was only her

Club V 17 Ren Reed, Alamo 17 Premier and AZ Rev 17 Premier secured bids during their first qualifying efforts of the season last weekend in Salt Lake City. Here’s a recap on their respective efforts. Club V 17 Ren Reed (First, 9-1) Day 1: d. NPJ Seattle (25-20, 25-16); d. LAVA West (25-11, 25-19); d. AZ Rev 17 Premier (20-25, 25-22, 15-9) Day 2: d. Aspire 17 Premier (28-26, 25-15); d. Madfrog 17 Green (25-21, 26-24); d. TVC 17 Black (25-13, 25-13); d. AZ Rev 17 Premier (22-25, 25-10, 19-17) Day 3: d. ID Crush 17 Bower (25-20, 25-21); l. Coast 17-1 (23-25, 25-15, 15-12); d. Alamo 17 Premier (26-24, 25-16) Fortunately for Club V 17 Ren Reed its only blemish at the Salt Lake City Showdown wasn’t as costly as it could’ve been. Club V lost its last gold pool outing to Coast 17-1 in three games but still managed to take first in the pool after Club V, Coast and AZ Rev 17 Premier finished tied at 2-1. Winning one set against Coast gave Club V the tiebreaker edge over the other two teams and a spot in the championship match where Club V came out on top after downing Alamo 17 Premier in straight sets.“It was a good finish,” Club V coach Reed Carlson said. “We are glad things worked out the way they worked out. It was nice to get it done.”Missing out on Open last year as a 16s group, Club V retooled the 17s squad coming into this season by adding outsides Levani Key-Powell and Jordyn Harvey and middle Taylor Harvey from Hive, which finished tied for 11th in 16 Open. Also joining was BYU commit and middle Mia Lee. All played key roles in the team’s success in Salt Lake and it stands to reason this new group is only going to keep improving throughout the season.“The key for this team is just more time together playing against high-level competition,” Carlson said. “Our only other high-level tournament before this was Triple Crown. We are going to be at Red Rock, Lone Star and Reno, so we have some good tournaments coming up. We need time playing against different teams and different looks.”Club V ended Day 1 beating eventual third-place finisher AZ Rev in three games. The sides met the next day to kick off gold pools, with Club V hanging on in three, 23-25, 25-15, 15-12, in one of the best matches of the weekend.“They made some really good adjustments from the first time and ran some offense we didn’t see as much and that caught us off guard,” Carlson said. “It came down to athletes being athletes and it was one of those matches where we would get a great swing then they would get a great swing. It was just who can make one or two plays was going to be the difference.”Beating ID Crush 17 Bower to start Day 3 put Club V in a position to win the pool outright and clinch its bid by beating Coast, which needed to sweep Club V to have any shot of advancing.“We knew there was a bid on the line if we could win one set,” Carlson said. “We were a little too focused on that stuff and not focused on playing our best volleyball. The final it was all about focusing on trying to play our best.” *** Alamo 17 Premier (Second, 9-1) Day 1: d. Elevate Athletics (25-21, 25-10); d. Top Flight 17 National (25-9, 25-7); d. AZ Storm 17 Thunder (25-21, 25-20) Day 2: d. AsicsWillowbrook 17 Gold (27-25, 25-13); d. Excel 17 National Red (25-17, 22-25, 15-3); d. ID Crush 17 Bower (25-15, 25-11); d. Co Jrs 17 Kevin (25-23, 23-25, 15-9) Day 3: d. Madfrog 17 Green (25-18, 25-20); d. Sunshine 17 LA (18-25, 25-23, 15-11); l. Club V 17 Ren Reed (26-24, 25-16) Undefeated through two rounds of pool play and headed to gold pools after sweeping ID Crush 17 Bower handily, Alamo 17 Premier coach Scott Mattera was wondering afterward with his assistant if their squad was really as good as what they had just witnessed against Crush.If Mattera wasn’t entirely convinced after that impressive victory, what transpired in gold pools certainly did the trick. In order to clinch or at least play for a bid in the third-place contest, Alamo had to navigate a gold pool featuring Co Jrs 17 Kevin, Madfrog 17 Green and Sunshine 17 LA. Three victories later Alamo had its bid and a spot in the final, where its tournament ended with a loss to Club V 17 Ren Reed, 26-24, 25-16.“We were pumped up,” Mattera said of qualifying. “We had been up and down as we knew we would be coming into this year. We were assigning girls to do new, different and advanced things and with it a riskier style of play. With it we knew it would be high risk, high reward and we were very much a high error team for a while this season. We managed to split with Drive Nation at the Tour and they started to see that this stuff works when executed.“We settled in at Salt Lake. We played this beautiful match to end the second pool against a very good Crush team. We were wondering if we were really this good because we weren’t sure. The first match of gold pool we were watching Sunshine and Madfrog dropping bombs all over the place then we ended up taking a tight match against Co Jrs. Sunday morning we beat both Sunshine and Madfrog. It had a lot to do with our serve game taking teams out of system along with our defensive system came together and the girls really started grasping our concept.”Outside Nayeli Gonzalez was a force to be reckoned with all weekend for Alamo but not that it was the only reason for the team’s success. Libero Alyssa Manitzas played like one of the best liberos in the