Red Rock Rave: Day 2 Show Stoppers
Easter Sunday at the Red Rock Rave shaped the bid races for the final day of competition on Monday. In fact, we already know one bid winner. It came in 18 Open. Seven qualified teams occupy eight of the gold-pool spots. The lone team without a bid is Tstreet 18 Chandler, which is guaranteed to qualify no matter what happens the rest of the way. The 16, 17 and 18 Open divisions kicked off their two, four-team gold pools Sunday evening. So Tstreet went into that knowing it has its bid secured. It also means that the two remaining bids won’t be handed out as trickle-down can’t extend past eighth-place, so they’ll be added to the at-large pool. The bid chase in 17 Open is intriguing. Four teams – Coast 17 Rodrigo, ID Crush 17 Bower, Surfside 17 Legends and Skyline 17 Royal – have bids. Three of them – ID Crush, Surfside, Skyline – are in Pool 2 together. Wave 17 Juliana, Excel 17 National Red, Club V 17 Ren Reed and Tx Performance 17-1 are seeking bids. Three of them will get it. One will not. Wave opened gold action beating Excel, while Club V took down Coast in Pool 1. In Pool 2, ID Crush beat Tx Performance, while Skyline defeated Surfside in Sunday evening play. In 16 Open, there are no teams with bids in the gold pool so it’s straight forward. The winners of the two gold pools will qualify. The two teams taking second place will play off for the last bid. In Pool 1, 1United 16 Blue opened Sunday evening by topping AZ Rev 16 Premier. SCVC 16 Roxy swept AZ Sky 16 Gold. In Pool 2, Hou Skyline 16 Royal started off sweeping Club V 16 Ren Matt while Sunshine 16 LA upset Wave 16 Scott. In the morning action, a big storyline came out of 17 Open. It involved Pool 2, which featured a three-way tie at 2-1 between ID Crush, Club V and AVA TX 17 Adidas. ID Crush finished first, Club V second and AVA TX third. That’s huge, because AVA TX is already qualified and with not advancing it made for four qualified teams in the final eight instead of five. Had AVA TX advanced along with ID Crush, the three remaining teams in the gold pools would already have bids wrapped up before the gold pools started. Instead, one unlucky team won’t qualify. Wave picked up a victory over previously-qualified Skyline to win Pool 1 and take over the No. 1 seed for the gold pools. Tx Performance picked up a key victory over ARVC 17-1 Adidas in Pool 4 to take second place and advance, keeping its bid hopes alive. The action in 16 Open was wild, as three of the four morning pools ended with three-way ties. In Pool 1, AZ Rev went 3-0 but second place went to Sunshine after ending tied with both Surfside 16 Legends and SynergyForce 16 James at 1-2 and earning the tiebreaker. In Pool 2, Hou Skyline, SCVC and STVA 16 Mizuno all finished 2-1. Hou Skyline took first, while SCVC ended second. While it was dramatic on paper, Hou Skyline actually had the pool clinched based on tiebreakers before playing STVA in the last match, with SCVC also guaranteed to move on regardless the result. Pool 3 was a three-team pool, with AZ Sky, Club V and 1United all going 1-1. AZ Sky took first. Club V and 1United actually both ended up advancing, as both clubs were victorious in their crossover matches with their opponents from Pool 4. Wave 16 Scott went 2-0 to win Pool 4, then beat AZ Sky in the crossover for seeding. The 15 Open division was playing to get into one, four-team gold pool for Monday’s competition. Wave 15 Brennan, Tstreet 15 Asics, Forza1 15 One and AZ Rev 15 Premier ended up making it. Wave went 3-0 in Pool 1. Behind Wave, Forza, Aspire 15 Premier and Club V 15 Ren Kalee tied at 1-2. It was Forza, though, earning the second-place tiebreaker. Club V came into the tournament as the top seed but wound up in fourth place in Sunday’s pool. The bigger news came out of Pool 2, where previously-qualified Hou Skyline 15 Royal finished third and won’t be a part of Monday’s four-team gold pool. Instead, Tstreet went 3-0, with AZ Rev right behind at 2-1. With Hou Skyline not moving on, it means the two bids will go to the teams which finish first and second in the gold pool. *** DAY 2 SHOW STOPPERS Ariel Chime MB Coast 17 Rodrigo: Chime – a 4-star Vanderbilt commit – has tremendous upside. Her length and size at the net takes up a lot of space on the block. She gets way up too on the attack and can go right over blockers. Piper Mickenheim L/DS Excel 17 National Red: Mickenheim – a 3-star recruit – is a gamer. She has the ability to make big-time digs and keep her side in the rally. Anna Barr RS Excel 17 National Red: A 3-star recruit, Barr brings size to the right side. She has a strong arm and can hammer balls at times. Simone Roslon OH Surfside 17 Legends: Roslon – a 3-star recruit from the Class of 2026 – is a smart hitter. She sees the court and block well, finding open seams and exploiting holes in the defense. Olivia Foye L/DS Surfside 17 Legends: A 3-star Princeton commit, Foye covers the backcourt very well. She’s hardly ever out of position and can make tough digs look easy. Tenesyn Frye S ID Crush 17 Bower: A 4-star Houston commit, Frye is a lanky setter. She’s active, always moving with the ability to move the ball around and vary her sets on the move. Bellamie Beus OH ID Crush 17 Bower: Beus – a 4-star Class of 2026 recruit – is so physical. She was crushing shots at times