April 30, 2022

You never know how the opening day of a qualifier is going to play out. A lot of times, only a few items of note take place. But every once in a while we get a whirlwind Day 1 where things are happening everywhere. The latter was how Friday played out at Far Western in Reno. Before getting to the action of the day, vballrecruiter.com will also have post-tournament coverage that will include our substantial top standouts list by position. Among the standouts Friday you’ll see featured include Rocky 16 National freshman setter Ashlyn Tafoya, City Volleyball 16 Gold outside hitter Jenna Garner, Absolute Black 16-1 setter Logan Tusher, SG Elite 16 Rosh freshman libero Lauren Lynch and Nebraska Elite 16 Lohaki right side Nora Wurtz. Here’s a rundown. 16 OPEN TOP SEEDS UPSET Volleyball is secondary this weekend for Skyline 16 Royal. The club was dealt a tragic blow earlier in the week when Sawyer Mulkey – a member of Skyline 16 Black – passed away after being in a car accident. Skyline 16 Royal – which is the top seed in 16 Open and is already qualified – honored Mulkey by wearing yellow ribbons and writing the No. 3 on their left shoulders Friday. It’s going to be a difficult weekend for the players regardless of the results. The team then learned its first opponent of the weekend in Paramount VBC 16s was no longer in the tournament. That created a three-team Pool 1 and a later than expected start for Skyline as tournament officials worked on the new format. Skyline beat both OMNI 16 John and NNJ 16 Nate in pool play but was upended by NE Elite 16 Lohaki in its crossover match. While Skyline was guaranteed to advance no matter what, it did make things more interesting for Day 2 as Skyline landed in Pool 4 with Momentous 16 Dan, Absolute 16 Black and Club V 16 Matt. NE Elite took over the top seed and went to a presumably easier Pool 1 with Spike and Serve 16-1, Rocky 16 National and SF Elite 16 Saga. To borrow the word, the saga of the day caught up to No. 3 overall seed Club V 16 Wayne. Club V Wayne owned a bid already and could’ve been part of trickle down but won’t be now. Not after ending in a three-way tie at 1-2 and taking fourth. Club V Wayne was upset by Rage 16 Garren in the opening match and also fell to Temecula Viper 16 Mauro, which won the pool at 3-0 as the No. 2 team. That’s how SF Elite escaped, as it was the No. 4 team in the pool but earned the second-place tiebreaker. That right there is normally plenty of excitement for a Day 1, but we aren’t done! Lots more happened if you can believe it? Two three-team pools in Pool 6 and Pool 7 both finished with three-way ties at 1-1. Sixth-seed Hou Skyline 16 Royal actually took third in Pool 6 but since it was a three-team pool there were still crossovers waiting. While the first-place teams were safe, the second and third-place teams needed to win the crossover to remain alive. Hou Skyline downed NNJ 16 Nate to stay in the hunt. A4 Volley 16 Purple and SynergyForce 16 James were in the same pool as Hou Skyline. A4 grabbed first on tiebreakers. SynergyForce meanwhile beat OMNI in its crossover to move on. Absolute Black 16-1, NE Elite and Spike and Serve finished in the three-way tie in Pool 7. Spike and Serve took first. NE Elite was the second-place team and went on to beat Skyline but only after getting past NCVC 16-1 Blue in its first crossover. Absolute rebounded to eliminate City Volleyball 16 Gold in its first challenge then downed A4. Another note was Rocky 16 National advancing as the No. 4 team from Pool 5. It pushed No. 5 overall seed SG Elite 16 Rosh to three on its way to finishing 2-1. With Club V Wayne getting knocked out it means we head to Day 2 with only two teams still in contention with bids in Skyline and Vision 16 Gold. That means the lowest trickle down can go now is to fifth place. *** TOP SEED UPSET IN 15 OPEN We didn’t exactly call this one but we did mention No. 16 AZ Rev 15 Premier as a potential sleeper in 15 Open in our Preview and Predictions released Thursday. All AZ Rev did Friday was upset top-seeded and previously-qualified Absolute Black 15-1 in the final match of Pool 1. That gives AZ Rev the top seed to begin Day 2. It wasn’t the first time this season we’ve seen Absolute struggle on Day 1 as the top seed. Absolute also lost on Day 1 as the No. 1 seed at the Salt Lake City Showdown in early March. There, Absolute was knocked out on Day 2. But the Nor Cal club responded by winning PNQ and getting its bid. We’ll see how Absolute bounces back Saturday. It certainly shook up the pools, that’s for sure! Absolute is now the No. 4 team in Pool 2. That’s not exactly what you wanted to see if you are the other three teams in NorCal 15-1 Black, Coast 15-1 Luis and Rage 15 Greg. At least NorCal already has its bid. But that now means Coast and Rage have their work cut out for them, because they are going to need to beat at least one team that’s already qualified. AZ Rev is in Pool 1 now with Vision 15 Gold, NE Elite 15 Matrix and Rage Westside 15 Jen. NE Elite is already qualified but the No. 4 seed to begin was upset by No. 9 ID Crush 15 Bower on Friday. NE Elite then needed to beat NCVC 15-1 Blue to remain in the top half. It’s interesting how that worked out, because had Absolute held seed Pool 1