April 11, 2023

Until three weekends ago, a club from Idaho had never captured a gold medal in Open at a national qualifier. ID Crush 16 Bower broke that barrier when it went 9-0 and finished first in 16 Open at the Pacific Northwest Qualifier at the end of March. While the accomplishment was years in the making, it didn’t take nearly that long for ID Crush to repeat the feat after finding itself standing on top of another podium after claiming the 16 Open gold medal Monday at the Salt Lake City Showdown. Most of the drama on the final day of competition in the division centered around ID Crush. As the only team in the field with a bid, ID Crush would greatly impact qualifying. Here’s what was on the line as ID Crush entered its match against NorCal 16-1 Black in its final outing of the three-team pool. First off, the two sides met at PNQ in a three-team gold pool. ID Crush swept NorCal to win the pool before going on to qualify, so there was that recent memory. There were also two other interested parties in their latest clash. ID Crush was 1-0 after beating Vegas Aces 16 UA and would clinch the pool and a spot in the final by beating NorCal or by winning a set. Along with it, both OT 16 Roberto and Vegas Aces would earn bids. Meanwhile, Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar had already clinched its bid by winning its three-team pool and reaching the final, but more on that in a moment. The other scenario was ID Crush losing to NorCal in two – which seemed like a real possibility after NorCal took the first set – and finishing in third place. That would have given Vegas Aces a spot in the final and showdown with Long Beach. It also would have made the third-place match relevant as OT and NorCal would have to square off for the last qualifying spot. It all became clear once ID Crush fought back and captured the second set against NorCal. ID Crush trailed 9-6 in the third before rallying and winning in three, 30-32, 25-17, 15-11. At that stage, OT and Vegas were done for the day, with no need to play the third-place contest and both coming through with bids. ID Crush capped its weekend by sweeping Long Beach, 25-19, 25-13, in the final and finishing 9-0. ID Crush qualified last year as a 15s team and obviously took a big step forward this spring in not only winning one but two national qualifiers. But not only did ID Crush capture two gold medals, it didn’t drop a match at either event. ID Crush started off rocky at PNQ, beating Vision 16 Gold and City 16 Gold in three in its first two matches and then didn’t drop a set the rest of the way. In Salt Lake City, ID Crush dropped a set on Day 1 to Vegas Aces then another set to Vegas Aces in their Day 3 encounter and the one to NorCal. ID Crush also finished tied for fifth at the Red Rock Rave, where it lost to Arizona Storm 16 Thunder in gold pool to miss out on the gold bracket. At No. 29 in vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50 National Rankings, ID Crush was the second-highest ranked team in 16 Open, one spot behind No. 28 OT 16 Roberto. OT opened the weekend as the No. 2 team in Pool 2 but took over the No. 2 seed and held it through the start of Monday’s gold pools. It was a rough start, however, as Long Beach swept OT handily to open pool play. Long Beach followed by sweeping Norco 16 Black to clinch the bid outright. It left OT and Norco in a must-win contest, as the only known at that point is finishing in third meant no bid. OT rebounded from earlier and handled business against Norco, sweeping and putting itself in great position to qualify. OT fared well in its first shot at qualifying at the Sunshine Classic. There, OT lost to both Hou Skyline 16 Royal and Legacy 16-1 Adidas to finish tied for fifth. Northern Lights was a different tale, where OT stumbled a bit and finished 11th after going 3-4. OT’s only loss this past weekend was to Long Beach in gold pool play. OT pulled out a pair of tough contests on Day 2, first beating Vegas Aces in three before holding off AVA TX 16 Adidas, 16-25, 25-21, 18-16. Both Vegas Aces and Long Beach came in unranked behind No. 32 AVA and No. 40 NorCal. It could have been lights out for Long Beach on Day 2. The So Cal club finished in a three-way tie at 1-2 with Forza1 16 One and NPJ Salem 16 National and it led to a one-game playoffs after all were equal in set percentage. Long Beach ended up advancing after narrowly downing NPJ, 15-13. There were no such close calls on Day 3, as Long Beach was sharp in pool play and didn’t allow opponents much of an opportunity to apply any pressure of their own. It was a stark contrast to Long Beach’s time in Spokane, where the squad went 2-5 and finished tied for 11th. As for Vegas Aces, it already had secured its USA division bid and took advantage of its time in SLC to upgrade to an Open one. Vegas Aces opened the weekend by pushing ID Crush to three before finishing 2-1 and moving on. Day 2 began with a critical victory over AVA TX. Vegas Aces barely lost to OT in the next outing, falling 15-12 in Game 3, before securing a spot in the gold pool by beating OK Charge 16 UA. Vegas Aces had another shot at ID Crush on Day 3, once again going the distance but not quite able to come out ahead. But Vegas Aces responded with a resounding sweep of NorCal,