April 17, 2022

Before Saturday evening’s gold pools started in 16 Open, the three available bid recipients were already known. We’ll get to that shortly. Bids are still on the line in both 15 and 17 Open when Day 3 commences Sunday. vballrecruiter.com will have more coverage from the three-day event in days ahead, including our substantial standout players list. Some athletes we saw on Day 2 that you’re likely to find featured on that list include BVA 15 Mizuno outside hitter Kelly Kinney, Next Level 15-1 outside hitter Elena Maynulet and Triangle 15 Black setter/RS BreAnna McMillan. Also sure to be included is Top Select 16 Elite libero Mayte Camacho, Club V 16 Ren Wayne middle blocker Zoey Burgess and OT 16 Jason setter Taylor Parks. For now, we bring you three points of interest from Day 2. ALL WRAPPED UP Of course, the championship is yet decided in 16 Open. As are the final placings. But we need not wait any longer to know which clubs are leaving the Big South Qualifier with their bids. OT 16 Will, Rockwood Thunder 16 Elite and Gainesville Jrs 16 Black all punched their tickets to Nationals later this season by virtue of making the top eight. With A5 Mizuno 16 Gabe, Triangle 16 Black, Top Select, Wave 16 Brennan and OT Jason all making the gold pools and having their bids, the three remaining participants are guaranteed of qualifying regardless of their finish Sunday. It was up in the air as to whether or not all three bids would be awarded in 16 Open. However, both OT 16 Roberto and Club V 16 Ren Wayne were eliminated from Pool 4 in Round 2 as Triangle and Rockwood Thunder advanced. It seemed likely that with three teams in Pool 4 with bids, two would advance and that would possibly make for six teams with bids in the gold pools and only leave room for two bids to go out.  But now we know no bids will go back into the at-large pool from Big South. THIRD OR BETTER The way the 17 Open gold pools started off Saturday evening the odds are very much in favor of unqualified teams getting their bids if they can finish in third place or better in their respective gold pool. A5 Mizuno 17 Jing and OT 17 John picked up victories to open play in Pool 1. Wave 17 Juliana took its opening match in Pool 2. All three are previously qualified and should finish in the top six unless some crazy stuff happens Sunday morning. That would mean three of the remaining five teams would claim bids. Top Select 17 Elite, CHAVC 17 Black, No Name 17-1, CUVC 17 Premier and Mich Elite 17 Mizuno are all alive to qualify. Top Select and CHAVC are in Pool 1 together and it’s very likely going to come down to their head-to-head match in the 2 v 3 meeting as to which team gets a bid. Wave is favored to win Pool 2, which is more in flux. Mich Elite defeated No Name in three sets to open play Saturday evening, while CUVC fell to Wave. The team that finishes in last place in the pool has no way of qualifying. All three still have a path to a bid but only two of those three in Pool 2 can qualify. One result of note from Round 2 pool play was Wave beating OT John in straight sets in a matchup of two qualified teams. Another note came from Pool 3, where No Name upset Top Select to create a three-way tie at 2-1 with Paramount VBC 17-1. That was a huge victory for No Name, which ended up winning the pool instead of finishing in third and missing gold play with a loss. Top Select was second with Paramount losing out on the tiebreaker edge and taking third. LET’S PLAY TWO The format was much different in 15 Open, where there were six, three-team pools. That meant teams only played two matches Saturday instead of the typical three. All three clubs with bids – OT 15 Randy, HPSTL 15 Royal and GP 15 Rox – that were still in Round 2 survived to make the gold pools, which consist of four, three-team pools on Day 3. Should two or more win their respective pools and make the gold bracket, then it’ll bring the silver bracket into play for qualifying. However, if only one of the three make the gold bracket, there will be no need for the silver bracket. Of course, if none make the gold bracket, teams that do make the gold bracket will have to win at least one more match to qualify once there. Two of the best performances in Round 2 came from Academy 15 Diamond and Next Level 15-1. Academy came through as the No. 2 team in Pool 2 after downing Elevation 15 Crofton in the 1 v 2 match. No Name 15-1 had already defeated Elevation in the 1 v 3 match, so Elevation was eliminated while Academy won the pool and No Name took second. Next Level was the No. 3 team in Pool 6 but went 2-0 with victories over BVA 15 Mizuno and Jupiter Elite 15. BVA went 1-1 to make it out as well.