March 14, 2023

With qualifying on the line during the last day of competition of the Red Rock Rave at Las Vegas, players came out determined to help their teams finish positioned for a bid. While only a few clubs could leave town with their tickets punched, plenty of athletes caught our attention during the process. Below, we bring you our Day 3 Show Stoppers. DAY 3 SHOW STOPPERS Ayden Ames MB Drive Nation 17 Red: The 5-star Nebraska commit is a legit game-changer in the middle with her ability to impact both sides of the ball. She moves well and takes away space in a hurry blocking while also being able to torment defenses with her scoring. Lolo Lambert OH Drive Nation 17 Red: Lambert – a 4-star recruit – is a high-flying outside capable of delivering highlight worthy kills. She takes a lot of important swings for Drive Nation and was key in its success. Grace Carroll RS Drive Nation 17 Red: Carroll – a 4-star recruit committed to Baylor – shined at the net. With Drive Nation forced to run a 5-1 this weekend due to injury, Carroll was invaluable to the attack. The lefty’s big swing brought instant offense to the court and Drive Nation made sure to feed her the ball. Brianna Watson OH Drive Nation 17 Red: A 3-star outside committed to LSU, Watson was another piece of the team’s success. She came through with plenty of clutch swings as she helped keep the offense powering along when she was in front. Caleigh King L/DS Drive Nation 17 Red: King – a 3-star recruit committed to UNLV – did a sound job in the back row. She covered well and was helping extend rallies. Jaidyn Jager OH Coast 17-1: A 5-star outside from the Class of 2025, Jager is a six-rotation player Coast relies on a lot. She’s a smart hitter who can hurt defenses with a variety of shots. She’s also a strong backrow defender and passer. Mackenzie Parsons MB Coast 17-1: A 3-star recruit, Parsons brings some physicality to the net. She puts up a big block and is definitely an offensive threat defenses need to be prepared for. Kiki Remensperger S Wave 17 Juliana: Remensperger did a nice job directing Wave’s attack as it ended Day 3 with a bid. The 3-star recruit is quick with nice hands and a consistent delivery. She did well connecting with her middles too. Jenna Hanes MB Wave 17 Juliana: Hanes – a 4-star Michigan commit – was lights out in the middle once more. She changes the dynamic when she’s in, both with her blocking and attacking. In system, Wave goes to Hanes a bunch and still defenses struggle to slow her down at all. Maya Evens L/DS Wave 17 Juliana: Evens – a 4-star recruit from the Class of 2025 – faced big-time hitters on the final day and didn’t blink. She more than held her own defensively with accurate passing and doing a great job digging balls. *** Camden Bolane RS Wave 17 Juliana: Bolane, a Yale commit, brought versatility to the lineup throughout the weekend as she played outside, middle and right side at times. On Day 3, she was mostly tasked with anchoring the right side across the front and she did great in her role. She came up with timely blocks and kills. Blaykli Bobik OH Arizona Storm 17 Thunder: A 4-star recruit committed to BYU, Bobik was a big part of Storm’s run to the semis as they knocked on the door for a bid. She has a whippy arm and carries a large portion of the attack on the left. Skyler Gartin MB Arizona Storm 17 Thunder: Gartin – a 3-star recruit – is someone defenses need to keep track of. Storm will get her the ball when in system because she knows how to end the point. Taylor Deckert L/DS SCVC 17 Roxy: Deckert – a 4-star recruit from the Class of 2025 – had her hands full facing both Wave and Hou Skyline in gold pool action. Both her passing and defending were on point as she owned the back row. Taylor Yu S SG Elite 17 Rosh: Yu – a 5-star recruit – is an effortless setter who is rarely off her mark. She puts her hitters in great situations consistently and is a big reason SG was in the hunt for a bid on Day 3. Sophia Wolfson MB SG Elite 17 Rosh: Wolfson was scoring well out of the middle for SG and giving Wu a reliable option she took advantage of. She gets up quickly and was putting balls down to the floor. Cleo Hardin RS Vision 17 Gold: A 3-star recruit committed to Yale, Hardin was bringing it on the attack. She’s an aggressive swinger who isn’t afraid of challenging blockers and seeing what happens, leading to big kills at times. Jaden Hendrickson RS Absolute 17 Black: Hendrickson is a solid pin hitter with a nice arm. She gives Absolute versatility and was swinging well from the right. Caelyn Emmerling OH TAV Houston 17 Adidas: A six-rotation outside, Emmerling is a featured part of the attack. She swings well and knows how to keep pressure on defenses. Kirra Musgrove S/RS Hou Skyline 17 Royal: Musgrove – a 5-star recruit from the Class of 2025 – was on it once again. She’s a smooth setter and locates well. Offensively, she’s long and has a very good arm to go at defenses with. *** Quinn Loper OH Wave 16 Kevin: Loper was a vital part of Wave’s run to the 16 Open gold medal. The 4-star outside has a fluid swing and hits with plenty of pace as she keeps coming at defenses. Ruby Hill S/RS Wave 16 Kevin: Hill – a 4-star recruit – brings her height to the front row as well as gives Wave another option on the right. Her versatility to remain in and set back row is also a

This week’s edition of WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!? is brought to us courtesy of Wave 16 Kevin. At No. 26 in vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50, Wave was the eighth highest-ranked team in 16 Open at the Red Rock Rave national qualifier in Las Vegas. Six teams ranked higher all finished above Wave at last month’s Triple Crown NIT. None of that would make Wave a favorite this past weekend to bid let alone earn the gold medal. But after going 7-3 and finishing on top of the 16 Open standings, the question had to be asked. What just happened? Las Vegas is becoming the place where this Wave group has breakthroughs. Last year as 15s, the team qualified for Open for the first time after finishing a surprise fourth. This year, Wave broke through and took it all. The field this go around featured top contenders like No. 1 Surfside 16 PV Legends, No. 3 Drive Nation 16 Red, No. 6 HJV 16 Elite and No. 7 Arizona Storm 16 Thunder, not to mention No. 10 TAV 16 Black and No. 13 Coast 16-1. It’s the reason why Wave retooled its roster though, in hopes of being able to take a step forward like it accomplished this past weekend. Outside Quinn Loper, setter/right side Ruby Hill and setter Emily Page were new additions who all played key roles in helping Wave win 16 Open. With returning players like outsides Nia Thompson and Mae Kordas and right side Keila Gabriel it’s given Wave more depth and roster flexibility. Wave needed to beat Rage 16 Garren in a crossover match on Day 1 to remain in contention. Wave lost to HJV and unranked A4 Volley 16 Cassie on Day 2 but managed to advance based on having the best set percentage in a three-way tie at 1-2 with A4 and AZ Rev 16 Premier. All that mattered though was Wave was positioned to take advantage of its luck and landed in a three-team pool with Surfside and Coast. For others, that might have doomed them. However, Wave was actually 2-1 on the year against Surfside before meeting in Monday’s gold pool and 0-1 against Coast, so there was familiarity. Wave pulled off two dramatic upsets, first edging Surfside 17-15 in the third before tackling Coast 15-10 in another Game 3. The feel-good story seemed to be in its last chapter though, with TAV on the horizon in the semifinals. Not only was TAV favored, but should Wave lose it would have to face the loser between Drive Nation and Arizona Storm in the third-place contest. Yet, Wave was not ready for the ride to end, first upsetting TAV in another wild conclusion, 16-14 in the third. That clinched the bid for Wave, so the pressure was off so to speak. But Wave wasn’t letting up and recorded another big upset in taking down Drive Nation in the final, 26-24, 26-24. That overshadowed what was an intense showdown for third place and the last remaining bid between TAV and Storm. Storm was able to survive, winning Game 3, 15-12. The qualifying action in 17 Open was a different type of thrilling. As highlighted on Day 2, with national No. 14 AZ Sky 17G and No. 15 Momentous 17 Dan out of contention and No. 13 Hou Skyline 17 Royal owning a bid, there was opportunity for others to capitalize. At the top of the list to do so was third-ranked Drive Nation 17 Red. The rest of the contenders included No. 16 Wave 17 Juliana, No. 18 Vision 17 Gold, No. 20 Coast 17-1, No. 22 SCVC 17 Roxy, No. 35 SG Elite 17 Rosh and No. 49 Arizona Storm 17 Thunder. Arizona Storm did its best to deliver another upset story, but it wasn’t meant to be. Storm advanced to the four-team gold bracket but lost to Coast in the semis. Drive Nation defeated Wave in the other semi before sweeping Coast in the final. Wave swept Storm for third place and the final bid. Wave had a tough gold pool with Hou Skyline and SCVC. Meanwhile, Storm beat both Vision and A4 Volley 17 Tyler in its gold pool. The bid chase in 18 Open ultimately boiled down to one three-team gold pool. Nine of the previously 11 qualified clubs advanced to the gold pools. As fate would have it, all nine were matched together in Pools 2-4. That left Pool 1 with three unqualified clubs in No. 2 Coast 18-1, No. 6 HJV 18 Elite and unranked TAV 18 Black. The first and second-place finishers in that pool were guaranteed bids through trickle down. Coast downed both HJV and TAV while TAV slipped past HJV to take second place and earn its bid. The final Open bid will go into the at-large pool.