March 22, 2023

The final weekend of the Northern Lights Qualifier is happening this Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Minneapolis. We take a look at 15 and 16 Open and offer thoughts on how it might play out. 16 OPEN Number of Teams: 24 Number of Bids Available: 3 Previously-Qualified Teams (3): Hou Skyline 16 Royal; Drive Nation 16 Red; MKE Sting 16 Gold vballrecruiter.com Nationally-Ranked Teams (9): 2. Nebraska One 16 Synergy 3. Drive Nation 16 Red 4. 1st Alliance 16 Gold 5. Hou Skyline 16 Royal 14. MKE Sting 16 Gold 22. OT 16 Roberto 34. Excel 16 National 16 Red 36. Northern Lights 16-1 45. Premier Nebraska 16 Gold 5-Star Athletes To Know Suli Davis OH Drive Nation 16 Red Zoe Gillen-Malveaux MB Drive Nation 16 Red Natalie Wardlow MB Nebraska One 16 Synergy Kassidy O’Brien S Hou Skyline 16 Royal Bayleigh Minor MB Hou Skyline 16 Royal Bailey Warren OH Hou Skyline 16 Royal Madison Quest OH MKE Sting 16 Gold Abby Vander Wal OH 1st Alliance 16 Gold 4-Star Athletes To Know Addison Horner S/RS 1st Alliance 16 Gold Rebekah Pfefferkorn MB Hou Skyline 16 Royal Taylor Porter OH/RS Hou Skyline 16 Royal Morgan Madison L/DS Hou Skyline 16 Royal Ella Lewis OH Hou Skyline 16 Royal Mesaiya Bettis OH/RS Northern Lights 16-1 Carly Gilk RS MN Select 16-1 Emma Koceja OH MKE Sting 16 Gold Ashlyn Paymal RS NE Elite 16 Maverick Alex Richter OH/RS Drive Nation 16 Red Taryn Morris RS Drive Nation 16 Red Sophia Thornburg OH Drive Nation 16 Red Sarah Mendoza L/DS Drive Nation 16 Red Outlook/Prediction: The field isn’t as large as recent qualifiers like Red Rock or MEQ, but the depth is strong. As we are getting later into qualifying season, trickle down is going to play more and more a factor. That should be the case this weekend with this division. A few of the top teams already have bids in No. 3 Drive Nation 16 Red, No. 5 Hou Skyline 16 Royal and No. 14 MKE Sting 14 Gold, which qualified this past weekend in Indy and is going back-to-back. That trio having bids makes a big difference and opens the door for others instead of having to compete with them. The two top bid favorites are second-ranked Nebraska One 16 Synergy and No. 4 1st Alliance 16 Gold. Both are strong enough to qualify without the benefit of trickle down. It’s wide open after that for the final bid. And with trickle down possibly extending down to sixth place, there are many paths to qualifying and thus with it plenty of opportunity for drama. The pick to win it all is Hou Skyline, which beats 1st Alliance in the final. Joining 1st Alliance in qualifying are Nebraska One and Northern Lights 16-1.   *** 15 OPEN Number of Teams: 40 Number of Bids Available: 3 Previously-Qualified Teams (1): Tribe 15 Elite Cardinal vballrecruiter.com Nationally-Ranked Teams (15): 8. NKYVC 15-1 Tsunami 9. Legacy 15-1 Adidas 11. Pohaku 15-1 14. Hou Skyline 15 Royal 16. AP 15 Adidas 18. Dynasty 15 Black 23. Drive Nation 15 Red 26. Tribe 15 Elite Cardinal 28. A5 15 Bob 31. WPVC 15 Armour Black 40. MKE Sting 15 Gold 44. Michio 15 National 45. Triangle 15 Black 47. Excel 15 National Red 50. Northern Lights 15-1   5-Star Athletes To Know Henley Anderson OH AP 15 Adidas Rayna Christianson S/RS Northern Lights 15-1 Kayla Nwabueze MB Legacy 15-1 Adidas Gabby Divita OH Legacy 15-1 Adidas 4-Star Athletes To Know Gigi Artiles OH Tribe 15 Elite Cardinal Mia Gold OH Tribe 15 Elite Cardinal Nadi’ya Shelby MB Hou Skyline 15 Royal Halle Thompson OH Hou Skyline 15 Royal Madeline Kraft L/DS Northern Lights 15-1 Margaret Czajka MB MKE Sting 15 Gold Sofia Guerrero-Wilson MB A5 15 Bob Eva Swenson S/RS MN Select 15-1 Willow Weninger RS Pohaku 15-1 Natalie Surges OH MKE Sting 15 Gold Marlee Sivak OH MKE Sting 15 Gold Meredith Martin L/DS Legacy 15-1 Adidas Ella Andrews MB Legacy 15-1 Adidas Audrey Dyas MB NKYVC 15-1 Tsunami Addison Haberthy S Circle City 15 Purple Kalyssa Taggart S/RS A5 15 Bob Outlook/Prediction: With No. 26 Tribe 15 Elite Cardinal the only qualified team participating in 15 Open, it’s a much different scenario than 16 Open. For starters, trickle down can only go to fourth place at most, and that’s if Tribe finishes in the top three. It’s a much more likely scenario that in order to qualifying teams are going to have to finish in the top three. It’s also a much larger field than 16 Open, including eight teams ranked in the Top 30 of vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50 National Rankings. Legacy 15-1 Adidas finished fourth at Sunshine in its first attempt to get its bid and is among the teams to the top of the list to watch for. Pohaku 15-1 hasn’t played on a national stage since Triple Crown, but enters as the No. 1 overall seed. NKYVC 15-1 Tsunami – which at No. 8 is the highest-ranked team in our Top 50 – is coming off a victory at Bluegrass earlier this month and is also another bid favorite. Keep eyes on the Texas trio of Hou Skyline 15 Royal, AP 15 Adidas and Drive Nation 15 Red, as well as Dynasty 15 Black and A5 15 Bob. Yet, as we keep seeing the lower-ranked teams can’t be counted out. Last week, it was No. 42 Boiler Jrs 17 Gold coming through and earning a bid in 17 Open at MEQ. Either MKE Sting 15 Gold or Michio 15 National could be this week’s surprises. It comes down to Pohaku beating Legacy in the final as both earn bids. The final bid goes to NKYVC beating AP in the third-place contest.