Sunshine Classic: Preview and Predictions
Though we’ve seen the qualifying season open for the 17s and 15s at Northern Lights at the end of January, the Sunshine Classic kicks off the full-fledge sprint over the next two months to earn one of the coveted Open bids in the 14-17s divisions. Below, we preview the 16 and 17 Open divisions for this coming Saturday-Monday as well as offer our predictions for the tournament and bid winners. 17 OPEN Number of Teams: 48 Number of Bids Available: 3 Previously-Qualified Teams: n/a Vballrecruiter Nationally-Ranked Teams (21): 2. Arizona Storm 17 Thunder 7. Excel 17 National Red 8. Skyline 17 Royal 9. Legacy 17-1 Adidas 10. Tribe 17 Elite Cardinal FL 15. TAV 17 Black Jon 17. Circle City 17 Purple 21. Madfrog 17 Green 23. OT 17 Aaron 25. HJV 17 Elite 28. Sky High Adidas 17 Elite 30. HPSTL 17 Royal 33. Triangle 17 Black 35. Vision 17 Gold 37. GP 17 Rox 38. Alamo 17 Premier 40. Metro 17 Travel 41. AZ Sky 17G 43. Top Select 17 Elite 46. OT 17 Felix 47. AVA TX 17 Adidas 5-Star Players To Know Kelly Kinney OH Tribe 17 Elite Cardinal (Minnesota) Charlotte Glass S Tribe 17 Elite Cardinal (Duke) Amina N’diaye OH OT 17 Felix (Miami) Jordan Taylor MB HJV 17 Elite (Minnesota) Campbell Flynn S Legacy 17-1 Adidas (Nebraska) Asia Harvey OH 575 17-1 PCVC (Missouri) Zoe Gillen-Malveaux MB Skyline 17 Royal (Duke) Teraya Sigler OH Arizona Storm 17 Thunder (Nebraska) Megan Fitch OH Alamo 17 Premier (Texas AM) Lydia Chinchar OH No Name 17 Sarah (2027) 4-Star Players To Know Gabby Nichols MB Triangle 17 Black (Penn State) Olivia Guzman MB Tribe 17 Elite Cardinal Mija Bendziute OH Tribe 17 Elite Cardinal (UCLA) Chichi Nnaji RS Skyline 17 Royal (Notre Dame) Taylor Cook S Skyline 17 Royal (Kansas) Naya Salfiti RS Skyline 17 Royal Sophia Thornburg OH Skyline 17 Royal (Notre Dame) Isabella Ocampo OH Skyline 17 Royal (LMU) Elena Maynulet OH GP 17 Rox (Columbia) KK Green S/RS GP 17 Rox (Holy Cross) Zoey Matias L/DS Tribe 17 Elite Cardinal (Missouri) Izzy Mahaffey L/DS Arizona Storm 17 Thunder (Long Beach State) Kenna Cogill MB Arizona Storm 17 Thunder (Oregon) Devyn Wiest OH Arizona Storm 17 Thunder (Utah) Leni Stanton-Parker OH Metro 17 Travel (Michigan) Sydney Bryant OH HJV 17 Elite (Vanderbilt) Aaliyah Smith OH HJV 17 Elite (Rice) Lauryn Mack OH TAV 17 Black Taryn Morris RS TAV 17 Black (Texas AM) Alex Richter OH TAV 17 Black (Georgia) Sarah Pfiffner S TAV 17 Black Madison Winkler L/DS TAV 17 Black Sarah Mendoza L/DS TAV 17 Black Shelby Burris MB TAV 17 Black (Princeton) Reese Dunkle MB Circle City 17 Purple (Northwestern) Logan Bell OH Circle City 17 Purple (Oregon) Kennedi Rogers OH AVA TX 17 Adidas (SMU) Izzy Mogridge S OT 17 Aaron (Oregon) Outlook: The field for 17 Open is loaded! None of the qualifiers from Northern Lights are here, however, so that means no trickle down. Teams are going to have to finish in the top three and with the caliber of competition it’s going to lead to real fireworks. All the ranked teams participating were also at Triple Crown two weekends ago, except for Circle City and Metro. The seeding for Sunshine doesn’t necessarily follow how teams finished at Triple Crown and we’re not saying it should. Arizona Storm grabs the No. 1 seed here, coming off its fifth-place showing in Kansas City. Meanwhile, Skyline, which came in 19th in KC, is the No. 2 overall seed. Neither Triple Crown champion MKE Sting – which is already qualified – nor runner-up 1st Alliance is here, but third-place finishers Madfrog and Legacy are and they as the No. 6 and No. 9 overall seeds respectively. Tribe had a great showing at Triple Crown, finishing seventh, but begins as the No. 12 overall seed. That’s the type of tournament Sunshine offers. There is plenty of depth and talent. Toss in Texas clubs like TAV, HJV and Excel, as well as a local club in OT plus previously-mentioned Circle City and we are in for a guaranteed ride. Prediction: It’s a very difficult call to make, but we are going with Skyline to beat Storm in the final. We like Tribe beating TAV and securing the final bid. *** 16 OPEN Number of Teams: 48 Number of Bids Available: 3 Previously-Qualified Teams: n/a Vballrecruiter Nationally-Ranked Teams (18): 1. Legacy 16-1 Adidas 2. Skyline 16 Royal 3. Mintonette Sports m.61 10. Arizona Storm 16 Thunder 13. WPVC 16 Armour Black 14. A5 16-1 Gabe 22. AZ Sky 16G 24. GP 16 Rox 25. Vision 16 Gold 26. Academy 16 Diamond 30. HJV 16 Elite 32. Metro 16 Travel 34. TAV Houston 16 Adidas 35. TVC 16 Black 41. Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal 44. Alamo 16 Premier 46. Top Select 16 Elite 47. Team Indiana 16 Elite 5-Star Players To Know Gigi Artiles OH Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal Brooke Harwood MB Arizona Storm 16 Thunder Genevieve Harris S Academy 16 Diamond Kayla Nwabueze MB Legacy 16-1 Adidas Gabby Divita OH Legacy 16-1 Adidas Ella Andrews MB Legacy 16-1 Adidas Keoni Williams MB Skyline 16 Royal Emma Cugino L/DS Mintonette Sports m.61 Bennett Raterman MB HPSTL 16 Royal 4-Star Players To Know Taylor Clarke RS Skyline 16 Royal (2025) Levariya Pinder OH Skyline 16 Royal Ryan Sadler OH A5 16-1 Gabe Sofia Guerrero-Wilson MB/RS A5 16-1 Gabe Kalyssa Taggart S/RS A5 16-1 Gabe Nadiya Johnson RS Metro 16 Travel Morgan Williams OH Metro 16 Travel Ryea Jackson MB IMG 16 Erin Clark S/L/DS Arizona Storm 16 Thunder Leilani Lawrence OH OT 16 JP Sarah Hickman RS HJV 16 Elite Katherine Byergo MB HPSTL 16 Royal Lydia Stahley OH Team Indiana 16 Elite Elle Mottola S WPVC 16 Armour Black Paisley Pavliska OH STVA 16 Mizuno Layla Hoying OH Mintonette Sports m.61 Sara Snowbarger OH Mintonette Sports m.61 Mallory Matheny S Mintonette Sports m.61 Meredith Martin L/DS Legacy 16-1 Adidas Rylan
