Chris Tobolski

When the bids are on the line during the final day of competition, we all know what that does to the intensity and competition. It all rises exponentially with teams knowing they are so close to qualifying. That’s the way it played out on Day 3 of the Salt Lake City Showdown. Below, we highlight the players who stood out the most to us with our Day 3 Show Stoppers. DAY 3 SHOW STOPPERS Bellamie Beus OH ID Crush 16 Bower: Beus and company took home another gold medal by capturing 16 Open. A 4-star recruit from the Class of 2026, she’s a handful at the net with a powerful arm and the way she can move the ball around. Tenesyn Frye S ID Crush 16 Bower: Frye – a 4-star recruit – is a long setter with clean hands and a smooth delivery. She’s accurate too with the ability to spread the ball around and getting everyone involved. Maija Howse OH ID Crush 16 Bower: Howse – a 3-star recruit – was the most consistent attacker on Day 3 as she carried the offense at times. She’s another front row player with height and was scoring with a variety of shots, from tools, to rolls to sending balls straight down. Elizabeth Bower L/DS ID Crush 16 Bower: Bower – a 4-star recruit from the Class of 2026 – is a passionate defender who covers a wide range of court. She reads and reacts well and isn’t someone to challenge in serve receive. Brooklyn Hardy MB ID Crush 16 Bower: Hardy – also a 4-star recruit from the Class of 2026 – is a wirey middle who moves and jumps well. Defenses need to be ready when ID Crush is in system because she’ll get the ball and is a tough cover. Layli Ostovar OH Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar: A 5-star recruit from the Class of 2026, Ostovar is a six-rotation mainstay in the lineup. She has a cannon for an arm and is the go-to hitter who carried the offense in stretches as Beach finished with the silver medal. Lalelei Hall RS Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar: Hall did a great job on the right side contributing on both sides. She came through with valuable offense and also timely blocks to help boost Beach. Ayva Ostovar S Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar: Ostovar was another key factor in Beach’s run to the championship match. She did well guiding the attack and putting her hitters in good spots to score. Kayla Ostovar L/DS Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar: Beach’s defense took a step forward on the final day, with Ostovar part of the overall effort. She did well both covering and defending. Rachel Purser RS Vegas Aces 16 UA: Purser was providing just what Vegas Aces needed on the right side. She was scoring well enough to help open up the attack and she was finding gaps in the block and going for it. She also did well blocking and giving her team points that way too. *** Ayanna Watson OH Vegas Aces 16 UA: Watson – a 5-star recruit from the Class of 2026 – showed why she has such incredible upside. She’s a lanky, high-flying outside who can go over the block and blast balls from corner to corner as well as score at ridiculous angles. Trinity Thompson L/DS Vegas Aces 16 UA: Thompson – part of the Class of 2026 as well – did well in the back row facing off against strong offenses. She held her own with plenty of hustle plays. Amina N’diaye OH OT 16 Roberto: N’diaye – a 5-star recruit – helped OT earn its bid. She’s another long attacker who can hit from a high contact point and make defenses pay with her arm. Kierstin Bevelle OH OT 16 Roberto: Bevelle – a 3-star recruit – is a high-octane outside who brings it on the attack. She was a key cog in OT’s success with her front and back row play. Lucy Chertock OH NorCal 16-1 Black: A 3-star recruit, Chertock was another six-rotation outside who was taking care of business. She was taking big swings at the net in tight situations as NorCal was fighting for its bid. Olivia Guzman RS MVA 16 Pedro: We caught Guzman on MVA’s way to winning 16 Liberty as they competed next to the 17 Open courts. She’s an under-the-radar prospect with nice height and a lively arm. She jumps well and was putting away impressive kills. Taylor Yu S SG Elite 17 Rosh: Yu – a 5-star recruit – led SG to its bid and the silver medal. She’s a smooth-dishing setter who has all the intangibles. She keeps the offense going and does a great job keeping defenses guessing. Lauren Lynch L/DS SG Elite 17 Rosh: A 4-star recruit from the Class of 2025, Lynch owns the back row. She’s a feisty defender who rarely gets served and makes up ground in a hurry when covering. Gabriella Destler OH SG Elite 17 Rosh: Destler – a 3-star recruit – did well in her role as a six-rotation outside. She brought her length to the net and added a different element to the attack as she provided reliable offense. Taylor Williams OH Vision 17 Gold: Williams – a 4-star Duke commit – was an integral piece as Vision added another qualifier victory to its collection. She’s a solid attacker who extends and swings well as she tools and hits around blocks. *** Maya Baker S Vision 17 Gold: A 4-star recruit from the Class of 2025, Baker runs the offense with precision. She’s rarely off target and knows how to keep defenses on their toes with her ability to move the ball around. Erin Curtis OH/RS Vision 17 Gold: Curtis showed her value by playing on both pins this weekend. She spent time on the right on Day 3 while still passing in serve receive and held it down in both roles.

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,

While we still don’t know which teams are going home with bids, we definitely know the small group they are going to come from after play concluded on Day 2 of the Salt Lake City Showdown. Gold pool play actually kicked off Sunday night in 17 Open, featuring two, four-team pools. Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar, NorCal 17-1 Black, Vision 17 Gold and City 17 Gold are in Pool 1 together. Pool 2 contains Seal Beach17 Black, SG Elite 17 Rosh, DaKine Warriors 17 Surf and Tx Performance 17s. Only Vision has a bid among them, so trickle down can’t go past fourth place and we know all three bids are going out. Both Long Beach and NorCal prevailed in Pool 1 Sunday evening while Seal Beach and SG Elite started off with big victories in Pool 2. Long Beach topped Vision, which is great for Long Beach but could cause problems for others who are wanting trickle down by Vision finishing in the top four. NorCal started off by beating City. Long Beach and City open against each other Monday morning that is going to set the tone for the rest of the day in that pool. Seal Beach rallied past DaKine Warriors to open Pool 2. Seal Beach let a 24-21 advantage slip away in the opening frame but managed to fight back and win in three. SG Elite swept Tx Performance. The only other team in the 17 Open field with an Open bid at the start of Day 2 was Club V 17 Ren Matthew. However, Club V did not break pool during morning action. A week after winning the Big South Qualifier, Club V lost to both City and Seal Beach and was eliminated in its local qualifier. In 16 Open, the field was trimmed down to six teams. ID Crush 16 Bower, NorCal 16-1 Black and Vegas Aces 16 UA are in Pool 1. In Pool 2, it is OT 16 Roberto, Norco 16 Black and Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar. Only ID Crush has a bid, so like 17 Open, trickle down can only reach fourth place. We also know three of the five remaining teams are going home with bids. Like I keep saying, this is a great weekend for teams to qualify. The craziest action on Day 2 went down in Pool 1, where ID Crush went 3-0 followed by Long Beach, NPJ Salem 16 National and Forza1 16 One all tying at 1-2. All three finished tied in set percentage as well so the only fix was one-game playoffs. NPJ clipped Forza, 19-17, before Long Beach edged NPJ, 15-13. So Long Beach took second and remains alive. It was a strong outing for Vegas Aces, which finished 2-1 in Pool 2 and advanced behind 3-0 OT Roberto. Vegas Aces scored a key victory over AVA TX 16 Adidas to break pool. In Pool 3, Norco 16 Black came out on top at 3-0. Norco beat No. 3 seed NorCal in the 1 v 2 contest. That came after downing both Temecula Viper 16 Costa and Seal Beach 16 Black. DAY 2 SHOW STOPPERS Tenesyn Frye S ID Crush 16 Bower: Frye – a 4-star recruit – helped guide ID Crush to another 3-0 mark to reach the gold pools. Frye has a soft touch and clean release. She locates well and does a nice job moving the ball around. Brooklyn Hardy MB ID Crush 16 Bower: Hardy – a 4-star recruit from the Class of 2026 – is a wirey middle with tons of upside. She gets up well and has a great arm and was providing plenty of offense. Kate Hayhurst RS ID Crush 16 Bower: A 3-star recruit, Hayhurst is a long lefty who can play all six rotations. She’s effective at the net attacking with a high contact point and ability to hit with pace. Paige Thies OH NPJ Salem 16 National: Thies – a 3-star recruit – is a physical, hard-hitting outside who was powering balls down with authority. Evie Morrissette S NPJ Salem 16 National: Morrissette did well running the offense. She’s a solid setter with nice location and a consistent release. Emily Forness RS OT 16 Roberto: Forness was giving her team a reliable option on the right side with the way she was swinging and scoring. She was taking strong swings, not holding back and letting it rip. Addison Worley OH OK Charge 16 UA: Worley – who we also wrote about on Day 1 – was back at it. She’s a bit undersized but she’s a gamer who takes big, aggressive swings and doesn’t back down. Avalon Heintz L/DS Temecula Viper 16 Costa: Heintz is a hard-working libero is goes all out. She covers well and makes up lots of ground. Melanie Hewlett S Temecula Viper 16 Costa: Hewlett is a bit undersized at the position but she dishes well. She has a clean release and spots well. Maren O’Farrell L/DS NorCal 16-1 Black: O’Farrell was solid in the back row with her passing and defending. She has a calm demeanor and doesn’t seem to rattle easily. *** Charlotte Kelly MB NorCal 16-1 Black: Kelly – a 3-star recruit – was making her presence felt in the middle. She’s a powerful attacker who can bring the boom. She runs the slide effectively and can send down huge kills off of it. Kennedi Rogers OH AVA TX 16 Adidas: Rogers – a 4-star recruit – was showing off her mighty arm. She takes massive swings front or back row and hammers as hard as anyone in the division. Annabelle DeJager OH Norco 16 Black: DeJager and her Norco teammates had a great day going 3-0. DeJager is a six-rotation outside and played a key role. She has a lively arm and bringing it on the attack. Karsyn Fetzer OH Norco 16 Black: Fetzer delivered in a similar manner as DeJager. She was the other half of the outside duo that was doing

With the Windy City Qualifier the largest event taking place this weekend in sheer numbers and given the fact many of vballrecruiter.com’s top-ranked teams are in Chicago, this year’s version of the Salt Lake City Showdown offers a great opportunity for clubs to punch their tickets to Junior Nationals. Of course, the only way to make that happen is to survive Day 1! While the top seeds did their part and advanced, which unexpected teams kept their dream alive for Day 2? There was a lot of shaking up in 17 Open, where top-seeded Vision 17 Gold lost to Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar. Vision and Club V 17 Ren Matthew are the only qualified teams in the field so there results impact everything. Club V – fresh off winning the Big South Qualifier – was upset by Tx Performance 17-1 though it technically wasn’t an upset. Tx Performance was the No. 1 team in Pool 7, but considering Club V is ranked No. 23 in our Top 50 and just won Big South, that has to be viewed as an upset. NPJ Salem 17 National – the No. 4 team in Pool 2 – moved on with a 2-1 mark, topping both Hive 17 Gold and Norco 17 Black. However, RRHVB 17-1 Robyn had an even better day. RRHVB was also a No. 4 team, but won Pool 6 by going 3-0. The No. 1 team in the pool in Abq Juniors 17-1 finished in a three-way tie at 1-2 and managed to grab second to stay alive. DaKine Warriors 17 Surf went 2-1 and stayed in contention as the No. 3 team in Pool 3. As for 16 Open, NPJ Salem 16 National was one of the lower-seeded teams to rise up and remain in the bid chase. The Oregon club – as the No. 3 team in Pool 4 – was the lowest-seeded team to break ranks and remain in bid contention. NPJ finished in a three-way tie at 1-2 with A4 Volley 16 Cassie and Club V 16 Ren Matt and earned second place based on tiebreakers. Only one other No. 3 team advanced along NPJ. It was Vegas Aces 16 UA. Vegas Aces went 2-1 as the No. 3 team in Pool 1, picking up victories against Tx Performance 16 Black and Elevate Athletics 16 Nike to move on. It wasn’t all easy sailing for the top seeds, however. While ID Crush 16 Bower, NorCal 16-1 Black, Norco 16 Black, AVA TX 16 Adidas and Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar all went undefeated as No. 1 teams in their respective pools on the opening day, No. 2 overall seed Temecula Viper 16 Costa was upended by OT 16 Roberto. This wasn’t a surprise though, as I think it was more mis-seeding than anything else. OT Roberto is actually the highest-ranked team in the field from our Top 50, coming in at No. 28. ID Crush is next at No. 29 and already has a bid. So to me, OT Roberto really should’ve been seeded No. 1 or No. 2 overall anyway. DAY 1 SHOW STOPPERS Sunni Skipps RS Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar: Skipps was effective at the net and helped boost the attack. She’s a smooth-swinging lefty who generates lots of pace. In addition, the she stayed in across the back row and helped in serve receive. Layli Ostovar OH Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar: Ostovar – a 5-star recruit from the Class of 2026 – is an athletic, quick outside with springs for legs. She elevates well and has a whippy arm that can blast balls all over the court. Anna Rice OH OK Charge 16 UA: Rice is a big-hitting outside who held down the offense across the front row. She used her size to her advantage and either overpowered blockers or went right over them for kills. Gia McGrew RS OK Charge 16 UA: McGrew is a strong, physical hitter who gave her team a reliable right-side option to open the attack. She jumps well and swings hard and made defenses have to pay attention to her. Addison Worley OH OK Charge 16 UA: Worley is a bit undersized on the pin but she doesn’t back down from a challenge. She has a strong arm and was getting after it on the attack and going at defenders. Mylee Blake OH NPJ Salem 16 National: Blake was a consistent scoring option and did well showing a variety of shots. She exploited holes in the block and sent balls down when it was there or went off-speed and found the gaps in the defense. Melissa Jin S NorCal 16-1 Black: Jin sets a consistently clean and accurate ball. She did a great job connecting with both her middles and using her full range of options. Lilliana Montes MB Temecula Viper 16 Costa: Montes – 3-star recruit from the Class of 2024 – is 6-4 and has a huge impact at the net, especially against smaller front-row players. She was owning the net on tight balls and was doing well scoring when set. Ryleigh Short OH Temecula Viper 16 Costa: Short is another outside who is a bit undersized but she has a strong arm and hits hard. She’s also a solid serve, with a really nice hard, flat ball that was eating passers up. Klea Tarja OH Forza1 16 One: Tarja – a 3-star recruit – caught our eye last month in Las Vegas and she was back showing off her arm in Salt Lake. She has a loose swing and can really connect when she catches one. *** Ayanna Watson OH Vegas Aces 16 UA: Watson – a 5-star recruit from the Class of 2026 – is a high-flying, hard-hitting outside who can bring the wow factor. The crazy thing is she’s still figuring it all out and has tremendous upside. Macey Smith L/DS Tstreet 16 Naseri: Smith was holding down the back row nicely. She was passing soundly out of