March 31, 2022

The Sunshine Volleyball Classic takes place Friday-Sunday in Orlando. While vballrecruiter.com will be in Las Vegas for the Red Rock Rave, we’ll be following along and watching how everything plays out there. Below, we give our thoughts and predictions on 15, 16 and 17 Open. 15 Open Number of Teams: 32 Bids Available: 3 Previously Qualified Teams (3): Hou Skyline 15 Royal; 1st Alliance 15 Gold; Austin Skyline 15 Royal Thoughts: The top seeds seem to be relatively in order. There’s No. 1 Hou Skyline 15 Royal, No. 2 1st Alliance 15 Gold, No. 3 OT 15 Randy, No. 4 Legacy 15-1 Adidas, No. 5 Austin Skyline 15 Royal, No. 6 Alamo 15 Premier and No. 7 HJV 15 Elite. Hou Skyline finished first at Northern Lights. 1st Alliance took second at MEQ. With that, Day 1 is going to be interesting. Metro 15 Travel seems under seeded at No. 14. So does OT 15 Meg at No. 19. OT finished ninth at Northern Lights. Triangle 15 Black finished ahead of A5 Mizuno 15 Bob at Northern Lights but is seeded three spots behind A5. Flyers 15 John had a strong showing at Salt Lake but starts off seeded No. 22. As for how it might play out, with Hou Skyline and 1st Alliance having strong seasons so far, it figures both will finish in the top five and that should create trickle down to fifth. Austin Skyline might be able to crack the top six and create another spot of trickle down to sixth. Predictions: 1st Alliance defeated Hou Skyline in three at Triple Crown, so you know Hou Skyline is itching for a rematch. We think it’ll happen in the final, with Hou Skyline prevailing this time and taking home the title. That does nothing for the bids however. I like HJV, Legacy and OT Randy to earn those. *** 16 Open Number of Teams: 32 Bids Available: 3 Previously Qualified Teams (3): OT 16 Jason; A5 Mizuno 16 Gabe; 1st Alliance 16 Gold Thoughts: Top-seeded Metro 16 Travel gets its first big test of the season by making its qualifier debut. We’ll see if Metro can withstand with other teams having played a stronger schedule to date. OT 16 Jason, seeded No. 2, and A5 Mizuno 16 Gabe are both qualified and round out the top three seeds. 1st Alliance 16 Gold, also qualified, opens as the No. 5 seed. That means a chance of trickle down going to sixth place. Triangle 16 Black, OT 16 Roberto, HJV 16 Elite, Pohaku 16-1 and Skyline 16 Royal join Metro as being among the top hopefuls for one of the three bids. I foresee trickle down coming into play but probably not to sixth place. I think A5 and OT have a good shot of finishing in the top five. But I think it’s likely trickle down only reaches to fourth place. Predictions: The pick to win it all is A5, beating OT Roberto. After that, the bids will go to HJV and Metro. *** 17 Open Number of Teams: 40 Bids Available: 3 Previously Qualified Teams (6): TAV 17 Black; 1st Alliance 17 Gold; Legacy 17-1 Adidas; Alamo 17 Premier; OT 17 John; Dynasty 17 Black Thoughts: This is the strongest 17 Open qualifier to date featuring a deep field that includes six previously qualified teams. In theory, only two bids could be awarded if all six place in the top eight. OT 17 John – playing in its third qualifier after a fifth-place showing at Northern Lights and taking third at NEQ and qualifying – opens as the No. 1 seed. TAV 17 Black – the winner of MEQ last weekend – follows at No. 2. Dynasty 17 Black is the No. 3 seed. Dynasty came in fourth at Northern Lights then qualified by taking second at NEQ. A5 Mizuno 17 Jing is the No. 4 seed. After winning Triple Crown A5 finished tied for fifth in its first shot at qualifying at NEQ. The seeds for the other qualified teams are No. 5 1st Alliance 17 Gold, No. 6 Legacy 17-1 Adidas and No. 9 Alamo 17 Premier. In between are No. 7 Hou Skyline and No. 8 HJV 17 Elite. 1st Alliance is playing in its first qualifier since winning Northern Lights. Legacy finished tied for third at MEQ last weekend. Alamo hasn’t played a qualifier since finishing runner up at Salt Lake City. Hou Skyline narrowly missed its bid at NEQ, where it came in fourth. HJV is trying to qualify for the third time having tied for seventh at Northern Lights and tied for fifth at NEQ. Skyline 17 Royal is in the field. After tying for fifth at Northern Lights, Skyline is the No. 15 seed and is in the same Day 1 pool as Legacy. That’s a real good Day 1 match. It’s a given trickle down is going to be in play. It’s just a matter of how far will it go down? The way TAV was playing at MEQ, it’s hard not seeing TAV in the final here. The format has four, three-team gold pools set for Day 3. Of course teams need to make it that far then at least finish in second place in their respective pool to even have a chance at a bid. It’ll be interesting to see if any gold pool might contain three qualified teams because that will definitely impact trickle down. The only team with a bid I’m not sure about finishing in the top eight is Alamo. So I do think all three bids will go out with trickle down possibly extending all the way to eighth. Predictions: With its bid out of the way and given how TAV performed in Indy, I’m picking TAV to beat 1st Alliance in the final. I don’t have any surprise picks for the bids. I think they’ll go to A5, Hou Skyline and HJV.