With qualifying season over the schedule now turns to gearing up for the USAV and AAU national championships. Among the events aimed at helping that cause is the JVA West Coast Cup over Memorial Day weekend in Long Beach. Below, we take a look at 14-17 Open and offer our thoughts and predictions on the three-day event.
17 OPEN
Number of Teams: 40
Teams With Open Bids (7):
- Drive Nation 17 Red
- Wave 17 Juliana
- Club V 17 Ren Reed
- Coast 17-1
- Tstreet 17 Naseri
- Sunshine 17 LA
- Absolute Black 17-1
vballrecruiter.com Nationally-Ranked Clubs (9):
- No. 4 Coast 17-1
- No. 5 Drive Nation 17 Red
- No. 6 Wave 17 Juliana
- No. 8 Club V 17 Ren Reed
- No. 20 Sunshine 17 LA
- No. 26 Tstreet 17 Naseri
- No. 40 Arizona Storm 17 Thunder
- No. 42 Absolute Black 17-1
- No. 45 Legacy Girls 17 Pyramid
Outlook: The field is a strong one, featuring four teams ranked in vballrecruiter.com’s Top 10. Most of them are familiar with each other. Coast 17-1 and Wave 17 Juliana have met four times this season. Coast and Club V 17 Ren Reed are 1-1 against each other so far. Wave is 1-1 against Club V. As for Drive Nation 17 Red, it is 0-2 against Coast and 1-0 versus Club V. Drive Nation and Wave have not played to date. They are among seven teams in the field qualified for 17 Open in Indy. The seeding is close to our rankings with one big exception. Legacy 17 Girls Pyramid opens as the No. 2 seed behind top-seeded Drive Nation. Wave follows at No. 3, with No. 4 Club V, No. 5 Coast, No. 6 Tstreet 17 Naseri and No. 7 Sunshine 18 LA and No. 8 Absolute Black 17-1 following. Legacy went 1-1 against Club V at the Red Rock Rave. Legacy actually qualified for Open in Las Vegas but declined the bid. Legacy has also defeated Coast and Tstreet this year, so it’s certainly capable of playing with the top teams. Among some other out-of-area clubs making the trek are Arizona Storm 17 Thunder, Rage 17 Greg, Co Jrs 17 Kevin, Vision 17 Gold, K2 17 Adidas, OT 17 Felix, VA Elite 17s and OMNI 17 Rick. AZ Storm is another team that qualified for Open too, but used an ineligible player at Far Western in doing so and had to forfeit its bid. Storm starts off as the No. 11 seed. With only pride at stake and no concerns of qualifying, it’ll be interesting to see how each team treats this tournament. Which ones are going for it all as opposed to perhaps playing a variety of lineups? The final day also features a different format from qualifying season, as there are no pools on Day 3. Rather, it’s a modified 10-team bracket. With a strong field, it’s going to make for terrific conclusion to the event. The question is can someone other than Drive Nation, Coast, Wave or Club V finish on top? All four have won qualifiers this season. Drive Nation captured Lone Star. Coast took first at Red Rock. Wave finished on top at Big South and Club V was the best in Salt Lake City and Reno.
Prediction: Since Drive Nation and Wave haven’t played this season, that’s one match we would really like to see take place. Why not in the final? Therefore, the pick is Drive Nation over Wave for gold.
***
16 OPEN
Number of Teams: 36
Teams With Open Bids (11):
- Wave 16 Brennan
- Co Jrs 16 Sherri
- Vision 16 Gold
- OT 16 Roberto
- Coast 16-1
- AZ Storm 16 Thunder
- SG Elite 16 Rosh
- Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar
- Seal Beach 16 Black
- Drive Nation 16 Red
- Surfside 15 PV Legends*
*Has 15 Open Bid
vballrecruiter.com Nationally-Ranked Clubs (14):
- No. 4 Co Jrs 16 Sherri
- No. 5 Wave 16 Brennan
- No. 15 Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar
- No. 16 Coast 16-1
- No. 17 Arizona Storm 16 Thunder
- No. 19 Vision 16 Gold
- No. 23 SG Elite 16 Rosh
- No. 24 OT 16 Roberto
- No. 26 Drive Nation 16 Red
- No. 33 Momentous 16 Dan
- No. 36 Absolute Black 16-1
- No. 38 Seal Beach 16 Black
- No. 39 SCVC 16 Roxy
- No. 10 Surfside 15 PV Legends*
*15s National Ranking
Outlook: The 16s don’t have as many top-ranked teams as the 17s, but it’s a deeper division overall with 13 teams ranked in our Top 50. Of them, 10 hold Open bids, plus Surfside 15 PV Legends is playing up and also owns an Open bid. While Day 1 might be a little slow like most events, Days 2 and 3 should be very competitive. Wave 16 Brennan starts off as the top seed. Co Jrs 16 Sherri, which owns a victory over Wave this year, is No. 2. After that it is No. 3 Vision 16 Gold, No. 4 OT 16 Roberto, No. 5 K2 16 Adidas, No. 6 Coast 16-1, No. 7 Arizona Storm 16 Thunder and No. 8 SG Elite 16 Rosh. It’s the toughest tournament to date for K2, which is going to have its hands full at No. 5. Other teams that are going to factor into the mix are Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar, Momentous 16 Dan and Drive Nation 16 Red. Like 17 Open, four teams in 16s have won qualifiers. Wave was tops at Red Rock. Vision won recently at Far Western. Long Beach was the best at PNQ, while Co Jrs beat the field in Salt Lake City. One of the main things to watch for is Wave and Co Jrs have proven themselves the most and could be on a collision course in the final. That is, unless someone else can spring an upset or two and shake it up?
Prediction: It’s really hard to pick against a Wave-Co Jrs final. As nice as it would be to predict something different happening, the call is Wave beating Co Jrs for the title.
***
15 OPEN
Number of Teams: 32
Teams With Open Bids (8):
- Arizona Storm 15 Thunder
- Dynasty 15 Black
- Tstreet 15 Curtis
- Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar
- Absolute Black 15-1
- Drive Nation 15 Red
- Coast 15-1
- Wave 15 Scott
vballrecruiter.com Nationally-Ranked Clubs (9):
- No. 1 Arizona Storm 15 Thunder
- No. 4 Dynasty 15 Black
- No. 11 Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar
- No. 14 Coast 15-1
- No. 15 Absolute Black 15-1
- No. 20 Tstreet 15 Curtis
- No. 21 Drive Nation 15 Red
- No. 23 Wave 15 Scott
- No. 46 OT 15 Meg
Outlook: The top storyline in 15s is whether or not top-seeded and national No. 1 Arizona Storm 15 Thunder will face second-seeded Dynasty 15 Black. Dynasty is the only team to defeat Storm at a national tournament this season, doing so at Triple Crown. Storm went on to finish first at both Salt Lake City and Red Rock Rave. Dynasty, meanwhile, won MEQ and finished second at both Windy City and Show Me. The rest of the field is playing to keep that final from happening. It features third-seeded Tstreet 15 Curtis, which is followed by No. 4 Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar, No. 5 Absolute Black 15-1, No. 6 Drive Nation 15 Red, No. 7 Coast 15-1 and Wave 15 Scott. Absolute took first at PNQ. Long Beach has done well, taking second at both Salt Lake City and Far Western, and third at PNQ. The highest-seeded team we haven’t seen in action yet this season is No. 9 Co Jrs 15 Shannon. Others out-of-area team to make the trip are OT 15 Meg which is seeded No. 10, and Vision 15 Gold.
Prediction: We get going with the easy pick can be boring, but we are really trying to make a correct prediction. Therefore, the choice is Storm getting revenge by beating Dynasty in the final.
***
14 OPEN
Number of Teams: 23
Teams With Open Bids (5):
- Wave 14 Brennan
- Forza1 North 14 UA
- SG Elite 14 Rosh
- Tstreet 14 Carson
- Arizona Storm 14 Thunder
vballrecruiter.com Nationally-Ranked Clubs (5):
- No. 4 Wave 14 Brennan
- No. 13 Forza1 North 14 UA
- No. 17 Arizona Storm 14 Thunder
- No. 20 SG Elite 14 Rosh
- No. 21 Tstreet 14 Carson
Outlook: Obviously, the 14s division isn’t as big as the other three divisions above. And it has a mostly locally flavor, with Arizona Storm 14 Thunder the only out-of-area ranked team making the trip. Arizona Storm 13 Thunder is also in the field, seeded No. 12 overall. Wave 14 Brennan, the highest-ranked team in the division, is the top seed. Wave is followed by No. 2 Forza1 North 14 UA, No. 3 SG Elite 14 Rosh, No. 4 Tstreet 14 Carson, No. 5 Storm and No. 6 Coast 14-1. The top teams in So Cal have played against one another plenty of times. Anything can happen between them. We’ll be watching to see if Storm can break through and keep an all So Cal final from happening.
Prediction: The pick to win it all is Forza North, which beats Wave in the final.
