April 3, 2022

The Red Rock Rave in Las Vegas is in full swing. When the three-day tournament concludes you can check back at vballrecruiter.com for a substantial list of the top individual performers we saw in action. A few notable players that we’re very likely to have more on is TAV 15 Black middle blocker Kennedy Washington, Drive Nation 15 Red outsides Karli Jordan and Lauryn Mack, as well as AZ Storm 15 Thunder outside Teraya Sigler. Drive Nation 16 Red also had a pair of standouts in middle Zoe Gillen-Malveaux and outside Suli Davis, while Momentous 16 Dan libero Annah Legaspi flashed some of her skills. For now though, here are some thoughts below on how the opening day in Vegas played out. It Was A Great Day To Be No. 1 The top-seeded teams in their respective pools had near universal success in 15, 16 and 17 Open. Combined, the top teams in each pool went 72-5 across the three divisions. The best results came in 16 Open, where seven of the top eight Nos. 1 teams went 3-0. The lone exception? That was Momentous 16 Dan, which went 2-1. Momentous was in a three-team pool and fell to Drive Nation 16 Red in the 1 v 2 contest. Momentous bounced back to down Aspire 16 Premier in crossover play. In 17 Open, eight of the 10 Nos. 1 teams didn’t drop a match in going 3-0. AsicsWillowbrook 17 Gold had a tough day, finishing 1-2 as the top team in Pool 8. However, Willowbrook avoided being the sole No. 1 team in its respective pool to be eliminated on Day 1 across the three Open divisions. The format in 17 Open afforded four teams to work their way back into contention. Willowbrook took advantage by defeating both Club Cactus 17-Mizuno and Vision 17 Gold in one-game playoffs to remain alive. Supernova 17 All-Stars, Club V 17 Ren Matthew and Forza1 17 UA also won challenge brackets to stay in the mix.   OJVA 17-1 Gold was part of a three-team Pool 9 and went 1-1. It lost to A4 Volley 17 Joaco before beating Flyers 17 APX in the crossover to finish 2-1. Six of the eight top teams in their respective pools went 3-0 in 15 Open. Tstreet 15 Curtis and Vision 15 Gold both went 2-1. Tstreet lost in Pool 3 to Club V 15 Adam in the 1 v 2 match as Club V finished 3-0. Vision fell to Aspire 15 Premier, also in the 1 v 2 meeting. Aspire ended the day 3-0. *** Moving On Up Busting out as a No. 3 or 4 team in any of the Open pools proved difficult on Day 1. In fact, it didn’t happen at all in 15 Open. United 15 Arete was the only No. 4 team to break rank when it went 1-2 in Pool 5. The rest of the No. 4 teams all went 0-3. Three teams broke through in 16 Open to move upward and onward. OJVA 16-1 Gold was the No. 3 team in Pool 4 and finished 2-1 to advance. Club V 16 Ren Matt, in Pool 5, was another No. 3 team that went 2-1 and advanced. The biggest mover was from Pool 6. ABQ Juniors 16 Daniel – a No. 4 team – survived its day by going 2-1 and taking second in beating a pair of California clubs in Viper 16-1 Mauro and OMNI 16 John. In 17 Open, the pool of the day was Pool 8, which featured Willowbrook. While Willowbrook survived through challenge play, No. 2 in the pool Arizona Storm 17 Thunder went 0-3 and was knocked out. That meant the Nos. 3 and 4 teams in the pool both advanced without any help. Tx Performance 17s went 3-0 to become the only No. 4 team to make it to the top pools on Day 2 without any challenge help. Rev 17-1 Raptors was 2-1 as the No. 3 team. They were among five teams to break ranks and move on from the lower side of the pool. Legacy 17 Girls Pyramid (Pool 1), AVA TX 17 Adidas (Pool 3) and Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar (Pool 4) all went 2-1 as the No. 3 team in their respective pools. Final Thoughts I spent the day watching 15 and 16 Open exclusively. The top contenders all played like it in 15 Open. Salt Lake City champ AZ Storm 15 Thunder didn’t drop a set as the top seed. I watched both TAV 15 Black and Drive Nation 15 Red – which has its bid already – for the first times this season. Neither dropped a set and looked like they’ll be there at the end fighting with Storm for top honors. I also caught Vision 15 Gold for the first time. As I mentioned above, Vision went 2-1 as the top team in Pool 7. I had Vision as a team to watch out for coming off its performance at PNQ. There, Vision defeated top-seeded Surfside PV 15 Legends on Day 2 as Surfside failed to advance. That was a notable because Surfside has been the best 15s team in So Cal during Premier Volleyball League competition so far but Aspire played well in sweeping and winning its pool. Aspire tied for seventh in Salt Lake City but perhaps could make some noise if it can keep going like it played on Day 1. One match I was keeping an eye on was in Pool 4 in 15 Open between Excel 15 National Red and Wave 15 Scott. Excel, the No. 4 seed overall, looked vulnerable in beating SynergyForce 15 Rheann in three games in the 1 v 4 meeting. But, Excel played strongly against Wave in the 1 v 2 contest and swept handily to win the pool. Excel just missed a bid in Salt Lake City where it finished in fourth place. AZ Rev 15 Premier went 3-0 as the top team