September 27, 2023

The final weekend of September promises to be a huge one, at least in terms of high school tournaments. Both the Asics Challenge and the Nike TOC Southwest events are on tap this Friday and Saturday. vballrecruiter.com will have coverage from both. You can read about what to expect in Chicago here. As for the action in the Phoenix area, a total of 76 teams are set to compete across three divisions (National, Premier and Elite). Below, we check out the top-ranked teams in the field, the 3, 4 and 5-star athletes to know, as well as offer our outlook and predictions as how it’ll all play out. Number of Teams: 76 vballrecruiter.com’s Nationally-Ranked Teams (5):   5-Star Athletes to Know:   4-Star Athletes to Know:   3-Star Athletes to Know:   Outlook: The four highest-ranked teams in Cornerstone Christian, Sierra Canyon, Xavier Prep and St. Francis/Mountain View all participated in last week’s Durango Fall Classic. Sierra Canyon finished the highest among them, tying for third place. Part of the Trailblazers’ run included defeating Cornerstone in the quarterfinals. It was the second time the two schools faced off this season. The first came in pool play at the Ann Kang Invitational in Hawaii in August, with Cornerstone winning that contest. Should the schools hold seed this weekend, they’ll meet for a third time in the championship match. Cornerstone is the defending champion, and also captured the Nike TOC Southeast tourney earlier this month. Xavier Prep and St. Francis also met up at Durango, with Xavier winning that encounter. All four are serious contenders to bring home the title this weekend. Sacred Heart Academy is another nationally-ranked team which is talented enough to make its way to the top of the podium. SHA has victories over both Assumption KY and Mother McAuley IL, which shows they are more than capable of beating the top teams in the country when on. Lake Highland Prep FL is another out-of-state school to watch out for. The Highlanders have a skilled enough roster to make a deep, deep run and contend this weekend. La Cueva NM hasn’t played very many matches so far, but will bring a 7-0 mark into this weekend’s event. Then there are the other Arizona schools joining Xavier Prep in hopes of keeping the title home. While the Gators have been the best so far in the state, teams like Corona del Sol, Liberty, Queen Creek and Millennium are capable of making waves and pulling upsets. Prediction: When it comes to the National Division, there’s no doubt Cornerstone and Sierra Canyon are the top favorites but there’s no guarantee of anything at tournaments like this. Still, we are going with a trilogy to take place, with Cornerstone taking the season matchup, earning another Nike TOC title this season and defending its crown from last year.

We are nearing the end of tournament season but not before a couple more major ones take place this coming weekend. It includes the Asics Challenge hosted by Mother McAuley IL on Friday and Saturday in Chicago. Compared to last weekend’s Durango Fall Classic made up of 64 teams, the Asics Challenge is smaller with 24 schools. However, with five programs ranked in the Top 30 of vballrecruiter.com’s National HS Rankings it packs a punch. Below, we highlight the ranked teams in the field, the 3, 4 and 5-star athletes to know, as well as offer a preview and our predictions for the weekend. Number of Teams: 24 vballrecruiter.com’s Nationally-Ranked Teams (5):   5-Star Athletes to Know:   4-Star Athletes to Know:   3-Star Athletes to Know:   Outlook: Before getting to the actual tournament, there are a pair of heavyweight contests Thursday before the event even gets underway. One of them features Assumption taking on Mother McAuley. The other is Notre Dame Academy facing Marist. Assumption and Mother McAuley have a long history. The most recent meeting took place earlier this month when Assumption defeated the Macs in three sets in the semifinals of the Louisville Invitational Volleyball Tournament. Assumption went on to beat Notre Dame Academy in the final. That loss remains NDA’s lone setback. That leads us to NDA facing Marist. Marist also has only one loss to date, having fell to Benet Academy, which is not in the field. Marist picked up a huge victory over Mother McAuley last week. There’s no doubt all four teams in Assumption, Mother McAuley, NDA and Marist will be in contention for the tournament title. However, none enter as the top seed. That honor goes to Divine Savior Holy Angels. DSHA is entering the tournament riding a 42-match winning streak dating back to last season. The last team to defeat DSHA? That would be Marist at last year’s Asics Challenge. DSHA barely kept its winning streak intact by downing Hamilton WI in a five-set thriller earlier this week, taking the final set 15-13. Hamilton is also in the field and could be a dark horse. Another team of note is North Branch MI. The Broncos entered the week with a 28-1 record, with their only loss to Hudsonville in early August. With DHSA coming in undefeated, either Notre Dame Academy or Marist sitting on one loss along with North Branch, something will have to give this weekend. DHSA and North Branch have not faced the strength of schedule like Assumption, Mother McAuley or NDA has. As for Assumption, the Rockets are coming off a seventh-place showing at the Durango Fall Classic and are traveling for the second consecutive weekend. Meanwhile, Mother McAuley is aiming to go back-to-back at its own tournament. Prediction: Even as the top seed, DHSA is facing a challenging task to finish on top. The winner of the NDA-Marist match is going to be coming in riding high and feeling confident. Mother McAuley is out to defend its home court. However, in the end Assumption and NDA will have a LIVT rematch in the final, with NDA getting revenge and leaving town victorious.