April 20, 2022

As we wrote in our Day 3 recap, even though the bids were known in 16 Open before gold pool action began Saturday evening at Big South, the division still managed to produce an exciting conclusion in which Triangle 16 Black capped an undefeated weekend by beating Wave 16 Brennan in the championship match. Both Triangle and Wave needed three sets to close out respective pools and meet up in the final. Triangle rallied against A5 Mizuno 16 Gabe while Wave fought back to top OT 16 Jason. All four of those teams already had bids, as did Top Select 16 Elite. When those five squads made the gold pools it helped award bids to Gainesville 16 Black, Rockwood Thunder 16 Elite and OT 16 Will, as they were also in the gold pools and were guaranteed qualifying spots based on any possible trickle down scenarios. Below, we breakdown Triangle’s weekend, plus the three bid winners as well. TRIANGLE 16 BLACK (FIRST, 10-0)   Did Triangle announce itself as a 16 Open title contender after its performance this past weekend at Big South? It’s a legitimate question after seeing Triangle defeating Red Rock Rave champion Wave in the final and finishing its three days in Atlanta with a perfect 10-0 mark. That came after Triangle downed A5 in three sets in the semifinals. Anyone capable of topping two teams of that caliber in back-to-back outings is certainly worthy of being in the conversation of top candidates to win it all later this summer. “The girls have been working hard for six months,” Triangle coach Michael Frank said. “They have worked harder than any team I’ve had work. That’s why they do it was for that.” Triangle already had its bid when it qualified at the Sunshine Classic earlier this month. The Carolina Region club finished in a three-way tie at 1-2 with Metro 16 Travel and OT 16 Jason in gold pools there and wound up taking third place based on tiebreakers. That put Triangle in the top six and through trickle down Triangle earned its bid. “We had a bid so a lot of the pressure was off,” Frank said. “We had to have a goal and they wanted to medal. Now they have a gold one.” It’s a redesigned roster from a season ago. Setter Emily Bobbitt, middle Ashlyn Philpot, outside Asia Thigpen and libero/DS Sophia Grace Stevens are the only returning members. Among the newcomers include L/DS Coley Shiflet, outside Kiarrah Horne and right side Alayna Smith. Others include S/DS Avery Scoggins, OH/DS Avery Booker and middle Lillian Slaymaker. To see the group qualify during its first try then come out and win a qualifier like Big South has been incredible. “I think the mental toughness came together,” Frank said. “Up or down it doesn’t matter. We can be up five points or down five points and they just keep going.” *** GAINESVILLE 16 BLACK (T-FIFTH, 6-3)   Gainesville had been on the cusp of working its way into qualifying position with top-10 showings at both the Salt Lake City Showdown and Sunshine Classic. The Florida club ran into some bad luck at those qualifiers but finally broke through at Big South to secure its Open bid. Gainesville benefitted from trickle down and knew it had qualified before even playing a gold pool match in Atlanta. It won its Day 1 pool and finished second to A5 on Day 2 to advance to the top eight. In gold pool, Gainesville fell to OT and Wave before closing out its weekend by sweeping Rockwood Thunder. It was welcomed relief as Gainesville was able to catch a break for once. At Salt Lake City to open qualifying season, Gainesville lost on Day 2 to both Co Jrs 16 Sherri and Club V 16 Ren Wayne. Those two squads just happened to go on and meet in the final the following day. At Sunshine, Gainesville made it all the way to gold pools, but landed in the same pool with previously-qualified 1st Alliance 16 Gold, as well as Top Select and Flyers 16 Dylan. Gainesville pushed all three opponents to three sets but finished 0-3 and out of the running for a bid. Meanwhile, both Top Select and Flyers went on to clinch bids. Gainesville has one of the best outside hitters and a go-to on the left in three-star recruit Brooklyn Tealer. Libero Ro’Miya Thomas was another standout. *** OT 16 WILL (T-SEVENTH, 4-5)   OT opened its qualifying season in strong fashion by making the gold pools at the Salt Lake City Showdown. An 0-3 showing though kept OT from be able to qualify. Then at its next qualifier – the Sunshine Classic – a 1-2 effort on Day 2 kept OT from making the gold pools altogether. It came to Big South with one last shot at punching its ticket to Nationals. Even though OT lost on Day 1 to eventual champion Triangle it was still through to Round 2. There, OT had to put in some work to get out and into gold pools. It opened with a victory against HPSTL 16 Royal before going down to OT Jason. That set up a meeting with Tribe 16 Elite. OT wasn’t necessarily in a must-win position, but a loss would’ve created a three-way tie at 1-2. Whereas a victory put OT into the gold pools for sure. OT swept and with it claimed its bid based on the trickle-down situation in 16 Open. *** ROCKWOOD THUNDER 16 ELITE (T-SEVENTH, 4-5)   The first goal at Big South for Rockwood Thunder was surviving Day 1. That hadn’t been the case at the team’s first two qualifiers in Salt Lake City and at MEQ, where both times RT was knocked from contention after the first round of pool play. When RT opened up Big South winning its first two matches, at the very least it guaranteed itself meaningful matches on Day 2. It was Saturday that really proved

Watching 17 Open play out at Big South was the latest reminder of why predicting results can be so difficult. Who would have guessed that Wave 17 Juliana would have gone on a perfect streak and left Atlanta without a set loss after sweeping past A5 Mizuno 17 Jing in the final? While a team like OT 17 John – which finished third – was expected to do well, all the eventual Open qualifiers surprised in their own way too. Neither CUVC 17 Premier nor Mich Elite 17 Mizuno had reached a gold pool yet in any previous qualifier but busted through at Big South. Then there was CHAVC 17 Black, which is perhaps the smallest team to qualify for Open so far this season, coming up clutch and getting the job done. Below, we tell the tales of the weekend from the top six finishers. WAVE 17 JULIANA (FIRST, 10-0) Day 1: d Triangle 17 Black 25-14, 25-20; d GP 17 Rox 25-19, 25-9; d High Tide 17 Elite 25-23, 25-16 Day 2: d TCVA 17 HKH 25-14, 25-7; d OT 17 Aaron 25-13, 25-13; d OT 17 John 25-22, 30-28; d CUVC 17 Premier 25-12, 27-25 Day 3: d Mich Elite 17 Mizuno 25-23, 25-17; d No Name 17-1 25-21, 25-22; d A5 Mizuno 17 Jing 25-17, 25-16   Earlier this month Wave was rolling through its competition at the Red Rock Rave in Las Vegas, producing all sweeps – including in the first round of gold pool play. Yet, its tournament ended with consecutive losses to Coast 17-1 and Club V 17 Ren Reed. Wave finished with its bid through an unusual process when Legacy Girls 17 Pyramid declined its Open bid and it wound up trickling down to Wave. At Big South this past weekend, Wave once more was on a roll. It delivered nothing but sweeps through the first two days, once again winning its opening round of gold pool play. As Day 3 kicked off Wave was seeking a stronger finish to close out its second and final qualifier of the season. After securing victories over Mich Elite and No Name 17-1, Wave was flawless in sweeping A5 in the final and completing a perfect weekend in which it went 10-0 and 20-0 in sets. “We hadn’t seen A5 but we didn’t want to change anything,” Wave coach Juliana Conn said. “It was another good team we were playing. It was super fun to watch. We blocked and served them really well. We served well the whole weekend. Teams have served us well but we hadn’t been able to turn it around and do it back to other teams. Everything was clicking.” Even though Wave had its bid prior to Big South, it did appear the So Cal club came to Atlanta with an edge. In Vegas, Wave received a fortunate break but wanted to take matters into its own hands this time around. “We didn’t get the bid the way we wanted to in Vegas,” Conn said. “It wasn’t just luck. There were a lot of good teams there and it’s really hard to get a bid. We put ourselves in a good position and it trickled down. I told the girls they earned it. Every team had a shot at it. Knowing the girls though they wanted to get it themselves.” When on, Wave can come at opponents from all over. Of course, there is five-star recruit Julia Blyashov and her talents that Wave can always rely on on the outside. Lily Dwinell is another lanky outside who has the smarts to score on a regular basis. Wave also has another long hitter in right side Auburn Tomkinson. Still, Wave doesn’t get to unleash its full potential without its middles getting involved. Setter Shanelle Puetz has a trio to work with in Cayla Payne, Eva Rohrbach and Ryleigh Patterson. Then there’s the strong defensive play of a back row featuring libero Koko Kirsch and Katerina Lutz. “Every tournament in the 17s is good,” Conn said. “We went there knowing we would find really good competition and that was the case. Every day we faced really good teams. We couldn’t really take a break. Our mindset was just to go hard and just play hard every time.” *** A5 MIZUNO 17 JING (SECOND, 9-1) Day 1: d Emerald Coast 17 National 25-20, 25-21; d Wizard 17-1 25-14, 25-15; d TCVA 17 HKH 25-10, 25-18 Day 2: d Mich Elite 17 Mizuno 25-13, 25-21; d IVBA 17 Open 25-17, 25-15; d High Tide 17 Elite 25-16, 25-22; d Top Select 17 Elite 25-14, 25-20 Day 3: d OT 17 John 25-18, 26-24; d CHAVC 17 Black 25-15, 25-9; l Wave 25-17, 25-16   Something had to give when A5 and Wave clashed in the 17 Open final. Neither had dropped a set let alone a match and it had all the makings of a classic encounter. Yet, Wave came out hot and A5 was never able to cool the So Cal club off and therefore settled for second at its home qualifier. There were some moments of gratitude though. A5 was able to defeat OT and Top Select, clubs that had beat A5 at previous qualifiers. A5 has certainly faced some challenges since putting a target on its back by going undefeated at Triple Crown in February. Earning an Open bid seemed like a mere formality after that but A5 actually came up short during its first attempt at NEQ where it finished tied for fifth. There, A5 fell to Dynasty 17 Black on Day 2 and then OT in gold pool to miss out on the bid. A5 did wrap up its bid at its next qualifier – the Sunshine Classic earlier this month. But it was not without some bumps along the way. A5 was upset by PVA 17 Elite on Day 2, then lost its opening gold pool match to Top Select. A5 still managed to make the final, where