April 12, 2022

The Show Me Qualifier proved to be one of the best ones we’ve been at yet. vballrecruiter.com spent time throughout the three days watching and observing as many teams and players as we possibly could. Below are the liberos who caught our attention the most. 15 OPEN Keri Leimbach, Nebraska One 15 Synergy – Leimbach’s play helped Nebraska One to the 15 Open title. She’s very quick and flies around the court making up ground and tracking down balls.   McKenna Garr, Northern Lights 15-1 – It was a good weekend for Northern Lights in clinching a 15 Open bid. Garr – a three-star recruit – made some of her ups look too easy! She was also on point in serve receive with consistent first-ball contact. Avery Baker, MAVS KC 15-1 – MAVS has to rely on its ball control and defense to be competitive. Baker is not a flashy libero but she’s even-keeled and makes plenty of plays in the back row. Hadley Porter, Dynasty 15 Black – Porter is the backbone of the Dynasty defense. Her game has an intensity to it where it looks like she loves to compete and she’s just real steady in what she does. Julia Grace, NKYVC 15-1 Tsunami – Unfortunately for NKYVC, it didn’t advance as far as it would’ve liked. However, there’s no doubt Grace was a standout. She’s a four-star recruit and the first word that comes to mind is smooth. Avery Freeman, Circle City 15 Purple – Circle City is built on its ball control, with Freeman the anchor of the defense. She’s another three-star recruit who’s willing to sacrifice her body to keep rallies alive. Emma Ortiz, OT 15 Meg – OT couldn’t push itself into gold pool play but it wasn’t without effort. Ortiz was not missing her mark out of serve receive, consistently getting OT into system. 16 OPEN Faith Frame, Premier Nebraska 16 Gold – Frame was a standout everywhere this weekend. She garnered one of the MVP awards at the Under Armour Next Camp and performed consistently well throughout the weekend. She has a stoic demeanor on the court but has great command of the position. She’s a three-star recruit with potential to move up to four or even five stars in due time. Alleigh Dutton, Circle City 16 Purple – Dutton is another three-star recruit and showed why in helping Circle City to the 16 Open title and its bid. There aren’t many plays she doesn’t make and teams are reluctant to challenge her in serve receive. Luca Bredenberg, Northern Lights 16-1 – This three-star recruit was passing dime after dime in serve receive. She has a good platform and keeps things simple. Annalise Grant, Six Pack 16 – There were definitely moments where Grant was owning the position. She has a calm, easy-going approach with lots of upside to her game. Elizabeth Tabeling, NKYVC 16-1 Tsunami – What a weekend it was for NKYVC in taking second and qualifying. When on, Tabeling was as good as anyone in the division this weekend. She’s a four-star recruit with good range and she’s not afraid to stand in and dig big shots. Ryan McAleer, Dynasty 16 Black – This was a strong division for liberos and McAleer is yet another who stood out. This four-star recruit is very consistent and steady and is difficult to get balls past. Mya Bolton, KC Power 16-1 – Yet another three-star recruit making noise this weekend, Bolton is fun to watch with the spirit she plays with. This Power team has a scrappiness about it and Bolton is at the heart of it with her defense. 17 OPEN Jonna Spohn, Mintonette Sports m.71 – This Ole Miss commit is a three-star recruit. She can cover some ground around the court and is typically on point with her passing and defending. Alayna Pearson, KC Power 17-1 – Pearson is a three-star recruit committed to Texas AM. She flies around the court. And she brings tons of energy and excitement to the position! Heidi Devers, Dynasty 17 Black – Devers is another spirited libero with good energy. She also can cover well with her quickness. Jocelyn Healy, NE Elite 17 Vici – It felt like Healy was one of the more energetic liberos in the division. At the times we caught her, she was digging a ton of balls and extending rallies. Ava Roth, Rockwood Thunder 17 Elite – One of the things that came to mind watching Roth is she’s a hard worker and leaves it all on the court. She also showed great passing skills out of serve receive. She’s a three-star recruit committed to Arkansas. Meg Berkland, Iowa Rockets 17 – It was a great weekend for Iowa Rockets, which came within a victory of qualifying. Rockets is not a big team and has to rely on ball control and defense to hang. Berkland, who is a sophomore playing up, fits right in with her ability to pass dimes out of serve receive and keep plays alive with her effort. Kate Thibault, MN Select 17-1 – A three-star recruit committed to Oregon, Thibault had a good weekend holding down the back court. Her serve reception was on and she consistently made plays to give the offense another shot.

The first weekend of the Show Me Qualifier is in the books, with bids going out in 15, 16 and 17 Open. We’ll have more about what took place in those divisions in the next day or two, plus our standout players list featuring some of the top talent we witnessed in action. For now, here’s a quick rundown of how Day 3 played out. Dynasty 17 Black – which qualified originally at NEQ and captured first place the weekend before Show Me at the Sunshine Classic – had a rough Day 3 in gold pool play in Kansas City. In going 0-3, Dynasty finished in fourth place in Pool 2 and helped set up the only bracket match with a bid on the line in any of the three Open divisions. Premier Nebraska 17 Gold defeated MN Select 17-1 in the championship match. MAVS KC 17-1 and Rockwood Thunder 17 Elite ended up tied for third. With Premier Nebraska and MAVS already qualified, bids went out to MN Select and Rockwood Thunder. The third and final qualifying spot came down to the fifth-place match between Mintonette Sports m.71 and Iowa Rockets 17. Mintonette swept to land the final bid. Iowa Rockets was involved in prior drama even before getting to the fifth-place contest. Iowa Rockets was 0-2 and needed to defeat Rockwood Thunder in the 3 v 4 meeting in Pool 1. Iowa Rockets came through in three sets. When NKYVC 17-1 Tsunami fell to Premier Nebraska in the 1 v 2 match, Rockwood Thunder, Iowa Rockets and NKYVC ended in a three-way tie at 1-2. Rockwood Thunder took the second-place tiebreaker, with Iowa Rockets getting third and NKYVC taking fourth. Had Iowa Rockets lost to Rockwood Thunder, NKYVC would’ve played Mintonette for the final bid. In 16 Open, Circle City 16 Purple not only qualified but it took home top honors after outlasting NKYVC 16-1 Tsunami in three sets in the championship match. NKYVC, which earned a huge victory over Dynasty 16 Black in pool play, also earned its bid. Dynasty tied for third place with Premier Nebraska 16 Gold. Both already had bids. KC Power 16-1 and OT 16 Roberto tied for fifth. With KC Power already having a bid as well, OT Roberto picked up the final bid in 16 Open. Nebraska One 15 Synergy lost its first match on Day 1. Then lost its first match on Day 2. However, the Great Plains Region club was standing on top at the end after sweeping Dynasty 15 Black in the 15 Open final. Both already had bids so trickle down was in effect. Circle City 15 Purple and NE Elite 15 Matrix tied for third place. Circle City already owned a bid, but NE Elite did not and earned itself one. The last two bids went to Northern Lights 15-1 and HPSTL 15 Royal, who tied for fifth place. Northern Lights ended in third place in Pool 1 on the strength of a head-to-head victory over MAVS KC 15-1. Both finished 1-2. In Pool 2, the 1 v 2 match came down to HPSTL facing Mich Elite 15 Mizuno. Both were 0-2 and the winner would earn the last bid. HPSTL swept to make it happen.