July 19, 2022

One way of wrapping up the latest club season is with the final set of national rankings. We released the final 18s rankings Monday and continue Tuesday with the final ones from the 17s division. There are lots of factors to take into consideration when formulating a list like this. It leaves plenty of room for debate as these rankings are ultimately subjective. There are power league results, qualifier results, national tournaments like Triple Crown and of course the USAV Girls Junior Nationals 18s and AAU national championships. All these come into play. We put more weight on what happened at Junior Nationals than a qualifier because the whole season is built toward peaking at JN’s. We also had one steadfast rule we didn’t break no matter the circumstances. That rule was if Team A defeated Team B in a gold challenge match or gold bracket match at JN’s, Team A is always going to be ranked ahead of Team B. That’s because everyone comes to JN’s to win a gold medal and if Team A eliminates Team B from contention, it won at the absolute right time. It can make for some skewed overall rankings as a team might be too high or low overall but what’s the point if the biggest head-to-head matches of the season aren’t the most important ones? The Top 25 teams have comments to hopefully give some insight as to why they are ranked where they are. A select few from 26-50 have comments as well but not all. 1. 1st ALLIANCE 17 GOLD (1 – previous national ranking) Given the depth and competitiveness of the 17s division it was a truly remarkable season for the Illinois club. 1st Alliance opened in impressive fashion by going undefeated at the early Northern Lights qualifier to secure its Open bid. The club then finished third at Triple Crown, where it lost twice to Drive Nation 17 Red. 1st Alliance went on to take fifth at the Sunshine Classic, falling only to A5 Mizuno 17 Jing before going undefeated in winning the Windy City qualifier. In Indy, 1st Alliance displayed the high-level consistency needed to capture a gold medal against such a difficult field. OT 17 John and AZ Rev 17 Premier joined Drive Nation and A5 as the only teams in the same age group to defeat 1st Alliance, which finished with a 26-5 mark against Open-qualified opponents. 2. MN SELECT 17-1 (13) When it came to MN Select – which finished the year 18-12 against Open teams – the potential of this group was obvious. It was only a matter of if the team could produce at a consistent level when it mattered most. That’s exactly what MN Select did in Indy by taking home the silver medal. It included an impressive victory in the semifinals over a hot Club V 17 Ren Reed squad that helped propel MN Select up the rankings. The team didn’t fare as well as it would’ve liked at AAU, where MN Select participated in a tune-up for Junior Nationals. In Orlando, MN Select finished tied for fifth after falling to OT John in the quarterfinals. In Indy however, MN Select lost just twice – to Tstreet 17 Naseri and to 1st Alliance in the final. The loss to Tstreet was not consequential however, as MN Select already had its pool wrapped up before facing Tstreet. MN Select moved up 11 positions in our final rankings, after being No. 13 heading in our May release. 3. CLUB V 17 REN REED (8) Club V had a monster season that ended with a bronze medal in Indy. After Triple Crown – where Club V finished 19th – is when the Utah club caught fire. It finished first at the Salt Lake City qualifier. Club V then finished fifth at Red Rock, third at Lone Star and grabbed another qualifier victory at Far Western. Club V picked up arguably its biggest victory of the season when it topped Circle City 17 Purple in three sets in the 17 Open quarterfinals in Indy to clinch a medal. For the season, Club V went 27-11 against Open opponents. The 27 victories ties Drive Nation for the most Open wins. 4. CIRCLE CITY 17 PURPLE (2) It was not the ending Circle City was hoping for but it shouldn’t take away from an amazing season. Circle City proved itself as one of the best and it showed with a 24-3 record against the Open field, including Indy. Open teams to beat Circle City included TAV 17 Black, 1st Alliance and Club V. Circle City’s only other losses came to Rev Raptors 17-1, which Circle City went 2-2 against. The only setback in Indy came against Club V in the quarterfinals. 5. COAST 17-1 (4) Coast capped a strong season with a bronze medal at Junior Nationals. Against Open opponents, Coast went 22-9. Its run in Indy was stopped by 1st Alliance in the quarterfinals. Some of the highlights for Coast this year beyond the bronze was going 3-0 against Drive Nation and 4-1 against rival Wave 17 Juliana. 6. LEGACY 17-1 ADIDAS (10) Legacy had perhaps the most heartbreaking performance at Junior Nationals of any 17 Open team. The Michigan club finished the four-day event 9-1 but its only loss to 1st Alliance kept Legacy from breaking the second round of pool play and participating in the challenge matches. Combined with Legacy earning the gold medal in 17 Open at AAU lands Legacy at No. 6 despite the lower finish in Indy. Legacy posted a 24-10 against Open opponents. 7. WAVE 17 JULIANA (6) Wave’s hopes of medaling in Indy ended with a loss to Coast in the challenge rounds. Still, it was a great year for the San Diego club, one that included winning the Big South qualifier as well as the JVA West Coast Cup. On the year, Wave was 22-10 against Open qualified teams. 8. PREMIER NEBRASKA 17 GOLD (11) Another