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We wrap up our May rankings release with the 14s Top 50 National Club Rankings. If you missed any of the prior age groups you can find them by clicking these links: 18s Top 50 17s Top 50 16s Top 50 15s Top 50 At the conclusion of the national championships we will release our final rankings in July. There are lots of factors to take into consideration when formulating a list like this. It leaves plenty of room for debate as these rankings are ultimately subjective. The Top 25 teams have comments to hopefully give some insight as to why they are ranked where they are. A select few from 26-50 have comments as well but not all. 1. MADFROG 14 GREEN Comment: Madfrog went undefeated in winning the Salt Lake City Showdown, PNQ and Lone Star qualifiers. It also finished first at Triple Crown, where it lost its only match of the season – to Elevation 14 Molly – on a national stage. Madfrog has 23 wins against the Open field in those four events. 2. MKE STING 14 GOLD Comment: MKE Sting has some strong victories that includes Boiler Jrs 14 Gold (twice), Wave 14 Brennan and TAV 14 Black. It finished seventh at Triple Crown, first at MEQ and second at Windy City. It helped MKE Sting compile a 17-6 record against the Open field. One of those losses is to Madfrog. It is also 2-2 against Boiler Jrs and 2-2 against Mintonette m.41, with its final loss to Flyers 14 Bill. 3. TAV 14 BLACK Comment: TAV – which qualified by winning NEQ – is 15-7 against the Open field. Among its results are going 2-2 against Alamo 15 Premier, 1-1 against Boiler Jrs, 1-1 against Skyline 14 Royal, while collecting victories over Drive Nation 14 Red (three), Dynasty 14 Black and GP 14 Rox. Among its losses are to Madfrog, MKE Sting and Flyers. 4. WAVE 14 BRENNAN Comment: Wave has been busy playing Open opponents, going 25-9 in such matches. It has benefitted from its So Cal schedule, going 4-1 against Tstreet 14 Carson, 5-0 against both SCVC 14 Roxy and SG Elite 14 Rosh and 3-4 against Forza1 North 14 UA. Other victories include downing AZ Storm 14 Thunder and Elevation twice each, as well as Flyers and Pohaku 14-1. Wave has also lost to Flyers, as well as MKE Sting. 5. FLYERS 14 BILL Comment: Flyers has put up a solid 15-9 record facing the Open field. Among its victories are beating MKE Sting and Wave, which it is 1-1 against. Flyers has also topped GP and NKYVC 14-1 Tsunami. Other results feature going 1-1 against Hou Skyline 14 Royal, 2-1 against AZ Storm, as well as 0-3 against Madfrog. Flyers has also fallen to AZ Rev 14 Premier, SCVC and Drive Nation. 6. MINTONETTE M.41 Comment: The Ohio Valley Region club has posted an identical 15-9 mark against the Open field as Flyers. The two sides have not played head-to-head. Among the better wins for Mintonette is Boiler Jrs, Pohaku, Elevation (three times) and going 2-2 against MKE Sting. It has lost twice to Madfrog as well. Others setbacks have come against AZ Storm, GP and AZ Sky 14 Gold. It has also lost twice to non-Open teams in HJV 14 Elite and Lions 14-1. 7. POHAKU 14-1 Comment: Helping Pohaku grab No. 7 in the rankings is beating Boiler Jrs in their lone meeting. Pohaku, which is 11-6 when facing Open competition, has two victories each over Elevation, A5 Mizuno 14 Helen and Dynasty. Its losses are to Wave, SCVC, Dynasty, Mintonette, MKE Sting and Premier Nebraska 14 Gold. 8. BOILER JRS 14 GOLD Comment: The Hoosier Region club has fared well when playing Open teams, as Boiler Jrs is 18-8 in those contests. Five of those eight losses are to teams ranked ahead of Boiler Jrs, including TAV, MKE Sting (twice), Mintonette and Pokahu. It also owns two victories over MKE Sting, three over Elevation and one each over TAV and NKYVC. 9. ELEVATION 14 MOLLY Comment: Elevation is an interesting team. It doesn’t have the best mark against the field at 13-12. But of those defeats, 11 have come to fellow Top 10 opponents in Mintonette (three times), Boiler Jrs (three times), Pohaku (twice), Wave (twice) and MKE Sting. The only team outside the Top 10 to get past Elevation is AZ Storm. Plus, Elevation owns a victory over Madfrog and NKYVC. 10. NKYVC 14-1 TSUNAMI Comment: NKYVC showed what it is capable of when it went undefeated in winning the Sunshine Classic. It is part of a 14-8 mark against the Open field. Part of that is going 2-1 against GP. It has also lost to Flyers and Elevation and is 1-1 against Alamo. NKYVC has lost twice to AVC Cle Rox 14 Red and once to HPSTL 14 Royal. 11. GP 14 ROX Comment: GP – like many of the teams at this age division – is a tough one to rank. It has fared very well against the Open field with an 18-8 record. It has victories over Boiler Jrs and Mintonette, but is 1-2 against NKYVC. It has quality losses to Flyers and TAV, and is 2-1 against Alamo. It does carry one loss against a non-Open opponent in Team Pineapple 14 Black. 12. AZ SKY 14 GOLD Comment: At 13-9, AZ Sky has a good mark playing fellow Open teams. Its best victory is one over Mintonette. AZ Sky has done well against So Cal teams, beating SG Elite, Tstreet, Forza North and SCVC (twice) while losing to Wave. Other quality losses along with Wave include falling to Flyers (twice), Madfrog, Elevation and MKE Sting. 13. FORZA1 NORTH 14 UA Comment: Forza North has piled up 13 of its 18 wins against the Open field against playing fellow So Cal squads. Forza North is 2-2 against SCVC, 4-3 against Wave, 3-1 versus SG Elite and 4-0 facing Tstreet. Other victories against

We began releasing our National Rankings this month. We have already put out the 18s, 17s and 16s divisions. We now release our 15s Top 50 National Rankings. At the conclusion of the national championships we will release our final rankings. There are lots of factors to take into consideration when formulating a list like this. It leaves plenty of room for debate as these rankings are ultimately subjective. The Top 25 teams have comments to hopefully give some insight as to why they are ranked where they are. A select few from 26-50 have comments as well but not all. 1. ARIZONA STORM 15 THUNDER Comment: Storm’s only loss this season on a national stage was to Dynasty 15 Black at Triple Crown, where Storm placed ninth. Storm’s results to date also include winning two qualifiers – the Salt Lake City Showdown and Red Rock Rave. The team has posted an 18-1 overall mark against the field. 2. HOU SKYLINE 15 ROYAL Comment: Hou Skyline is 13-4 against the Open field. Seven of those victories have come against teams ranked in the Top 10, including HJV 15 Elite (twice), Dynasty, 1st Alliance 15 Gold, OT 15 Randy, Legacy 15-1 Adidas, TAV 15 Black and Surfside 15 PV Legends. It has also lost to 1st Alliance and HJV, as well as Austin Skyline 15 Royal and Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar. 3. TAV 15 BLACK Comment: Two of TAV’s five losses against the Open field have come against AZ Storm and Hou Skyline. The other teams to beat TAV are HJV, AJV 15 Adidas and Wave 15 Scott. TAV owns victories over all three of those squads, as well as Surfside and Drive Nation 15 Red (three times). In all, TAV has 18 wins against the field. 4. DYNASTY 15 BLACK Comment: Playing at Triple Crown, MEQ, Show Me and Windy City, Dynasty has gone 12-8 against the Open field. While that record isn’t as standout as some others in the Top 10, Dynasty’s worst finish in those four tournaments was fifth at Triple Crown. It took runner-up at Windy City and Show Me and gold at MEQ. Some of its top victories include beating No. 1 AZ Storm, 1st Alliance, Circle City 15 Purple (twice), OT Randy, HJV and Legacy. Among its losses are Absolute Black 15-1, Hou Skyline, HJV, Skyline 15 Royal, Austin Skyline, MAVS KC 15-1, Nebraska One 15 Synergy and Circle City. 5. CIRCLE CITY 15 PURPLE Comment: The early part of the season saw Circle City struggle some, as the Hoosier Region club took losses to Adidas KiVA 15 Red, ECJ 15-1 and A5 Mizuno 15 Bob. The latter two didn’t qualify for Open while KIVA doesn’t play national qualifiers. All three losses were before qualifying season began. Circle City also owns two victories over ECJ and is 1-1 against A5. Qualifying season is when Circle City started taking off. Circle City finished first at Windy City, and took third at both Show Me and MEQ. It has a 15-4 record against the field, including wins over Legacy (three times), 1st Alliance and Dynasty, which Circle City is 1-2 against. Circle City is also 2-2 against HPSTL 15 Royal. 6. 1ST ALLIANCE 15 GOLD Comment: 1st Alliance has proven itself among the best in the country. The Great Lakes Region club is 13-4 against the field playing at Triple Crown (first place), MEQ (second), Sunshine (fifth) and Windy City (third). It has just one loss to a non-Open team in Union 15-1 UA, which 1st Alliance is 1-1 against. The four losses against the field are all to teams ranked in the Top 10 in Dynasty, Hou Skyline, OT Randy – which 1st Alliance is 2-1 against – and Circle City. 7. OT 15 RANDY Comment: The Big South champs are 14-5 against the Open field. Of those five losses, four are to teams ranked higher in 1st Alliance (twice), Dynasty and Hou Skyline. The other loss is to Surfside, a team OT has also beaten. OT also owns a victory over 1st Alliance, as well as Long Beach. 8. LEGACY 15-1 ADIDAS Comment: Legacy – which is 13-10 against the Open field – hasn’t found a way to get past the top teams. Nine of those 10 losses are to teams ranked ahead of Legacy, including 1st Alliance (three times), AZ Storm, Circle City (three times), Hou Skyline and Dynasty. The only Open team outside the Top 10 to beat Legacy is Six Pack 15. KiVA, as well as MKE Sting 15 Gold, also own victories over Legacy, though Legacy has also defeated MKE Sting. 9. HJV 15 ELITE Comment: With a 12-12 mark against the Open field, HJV hasn’t put up the best record. Still, it has a couple of impressive wins over TAV and Hou Skyline, as well as Dynasty and Long Beach. Most of the losses have been quality ones as well, falling to Hou Skyline (twice), TAV, Circle City, Legacy, Dynasty and 1st Alliance. It has also gone 1-1 against AJV, GP 15 Rox and Alamo 15 Premier. It has two losses to teams not qualified for Open in AVA TX 15 Rox – which HJV has beaten twice – and SCVC 15 Roxy. 10. SURFSIDE 15 PV LEGENDS Comment: Surfside took seventh at Triple Crown and second at NEQ. It stumbled at PNQ, taking ninth. In part, it helped Surfside build a 15-6 record when facing Open opponents. Four of those losses are to Top 10 teams in Hou Skyline, Legacy, OT Randy and TAV. The other two came against ID Crush 15 Bower and Madfrog 15 Green. Surfside also has two defeats to non-Open clubs in Vision 15 Gold and Tribe 15 Dean. Some of its Open victories are over OT Randy, Long Beach (twice) and Coast 15-1 (three times). 11. MIZUNO LONG BEACH 15 ROCKSTAR Comment: There’s been plenty of action against the rest of the Open field for Long Beach, which has gone 17-13 in

We have already released our 18s National Rankings. As well as our 17s National Rankings. Now vballrecruiter.com presents its 16s Top 50 National Rankings. At the conclusion of the national championships we will release our final rankings. There are lots of factors to take into consideration when formulating a list like this. It leaves plenty of room for debate as these rankings are ultimately subjective. The Top 25 teams have comments to hopefully give some insight as to why they are ranked where they are. A select few from 26-50 have comments as well but not all. 1. DYNASTY 16 BLACK Comment: In our 17s National Rankings, picking a No. 1 left room for plenty of debate. That’s not the case in the 16s division. Dynasty is a clear-cut No. 1 after compiling 16 victories against the field compared to just two losses (TAV 16 Black and NKYVC 16-1 Tsunami.) Dynasty owns victories over both teams it has lost to, and has beaten 1st Alliance 16 Gold three times, KC Power 16-1 twice, as well as Wave 16 Brennan and A5 Mizuno 16 Gabe. 2. NKYVC 16-1 TSUNAMI Comment: One of only two teams to have a victory over top-ranked Dynasty, NKYVC lands at No. 2. Along with beating Dynasty, NKYVC has an impressive lineup of wins that include A5, 1st Alliance, TAV, Circle City 16 Purple and Triangle 16 Black. Overall, NKYVC has 12 victories against Open qualifiers. It has quality losses to Dynasty, Wave, 1st Alliance and Circle City (twice). NKYVC does have two losses to a non-qualified Open team. One is to a strong Munciana 16 Moana team. The other is to HPSTL 16 Royal. 3. A5 MIZUNO 16 GABE Comment: Losses to Dynasty and NKYVC place A5 at No. 3. But the Georgia club has clearly proven itself as one of the best with 19 victories against Open qualified teams. Two of the best ones came against TAV and Wave. It also has beaten Munciana twice. The only questionable loss for A5 came to AVC Cle Rox 16 Red, which is not qualified for Open. A5 has also lost to OT 16 Jason and Triangle, both of which are ranked in the Top 15. 4. CO JRS 16 SHERRI Comment: Co Jrs is a good illustration of the challenge ranking teams can bring about. Co Jrs carries a modest 8-5 against the Open field, yet it has beaten both TAV and Wave, as well as Circle City. TAV and Wave are clear-cut Top 10 teams, and Circle City is borderline Top 10. Co Jrs does have a couple tough losses, one of them coming to Seal Beach 16 Black. Co Jrs has also lost to Metro 16 Travel, but we count that as a quality loss. Tri-State Elite 16 Blue also owns a victory over Co Jrs, as does Triangle and Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar (twice). 5. WAVE 16 BRENNAN Comment: At the time of these rankings, Wave is 18-6 against the Open field. Two of those losses are to A5 and Dynasty. Another came against Triangle. Wave also lost to Coast 16-1 and Co Jrs 16 Sherri in PVL action. Among Wave’s victories are wins over NKYVC, TAV, OT Jason, Coast (three times) and Long Beach (three times). 6. TAV 16 BLACK Comment: The rankings again are presenting difficulties. TAV has an argument to be higher than No. 6. TAV is one of only two teams to have defeated Dynasty to date. It’s one of 10 victories against the Open field. TAV has lost to Pohaku 16-1, a non-Open qualified team. Among its quality losses are setbacks to A5, NKYVC, Wave, Dynasty and Co Jrs. 7. 1ST ALLIANCE 16 GOLD Comment: It’s been an interesting season for 1st Alliance, which has seen both sides of it often. The Illinois club is 10-11 against the Open field. Among its victories are KC Power (twice), Circle City, NKYVC and OT Jason. It has also lost to NKYVC, A5 (twice) and Dynasty (three times). It also has one setback against TVC 16 Black, which is not qualified for Open. 8. OT 16 JASON Comment: Of the five losses against the Open field suffered by OT Jason, only one – to Triangle – has come to a team ranked outside the Top 10. The other four defeats are against NKYVC, 1st Alliance, A5 and Wave. OT also owns a victory over A5, as well as Coast, Metro and Long Beach. It has a mark of 10-5 against the Open field. 9. KC POWER 16-1 Comment: KC Power grabs one of the last spots in the Top 10 on strength of victories over clubs like TAV, Wave, Triangle and Munciana. Excluding Muncie, those are part of 10 victories against the Open qualified field. It also has eight losses against the Open field, with two each to 1st Alliance, Dynasty and Premier Nebraska 16 Gold, and one each to Circle City and A5. 10. TRI-STATE ELITE 16 BLUE Comment: Tri-State Elite isn’t part of the Open bid chase and is focused on playing JVA events and AAUs at the end of the year. Still, it has been able to produce some big wins that earned the club a spot at No. 10. Among them are beating Munciana (three times), Co Jrs and Circle City. Other victories over Open qualified teams include beating MKE Sting 16 Gold and OT 16 Roberto. Some of the losses have included ones to NKYVC, Wave and Vision 16 Gold, as well as splitting a pair of matches with both Elevation 16 Butcher and Team Indiana Elite 16.1. 11. MUNCIANA 16 MOANA Comment: There’s been some solid victories so far for Muncie, including owning six victories over Open qualified teams in OT 16 Will, MKE Sting, Drive Nation 16 Red, Top Select 16 Elite, Circle City and NKYVC. It has also lost to Top Select, KC Power, Adidas KiVA 16 Red, and A5 (twice). 12. CIRCLE CITY 16 PURPLE Comment: Circle City has posted an

vballrecruiter.com presents its 17s Top 50 National Rankings. At the conclusion of the national championships we will release our final rankings. There are lots of factors to take into consideration when formulating a list like this. It leaves plenty of room for debate as these rankings are ultimately subjective. The Top 25 teams have comments to hopefully give some insight as to why they are ranked where they are. A select few from 26-50 have comments as well but not all. 1. 1ST ALLIANCE 17 GOLD Comment: There’s no clear-cut No. 1 but 1st Alliance takes it based on a couple of factors. All three losses – two to Drive Nation 17 Red and one to A5 Mizuno 17 Jing – are to top-tier teams. On top of that, 1st Alliance owns a victory over Circle City 17 Purple, plus 17 more victories against qualified teams. Some of those are over TAV 17 Black, Premier Nebraska 17 Gold (three times) and Legacy 17-1 Adidas. 2. CIRCLE CITY 17 PURPLE Comment: Had it not been for Circle City’s loss to 1st Alliance, the Hoosier Region club would have been the choice for No. 1. Circle City has some impressive victories under its belt, including A5, Legacy (three times), Dynasty 17 Black and Hou Skyline 17 Royal. It’s part of 16 victories when facing Open qualified opponents. The other losses were to TAV 17 Black and Rev Raptors 17-1, an unqualified team but one Circle City has also beaten. 3. A5 MIZUNO 17 JING Comment: A5 has a couple of tough losses to unqualified teams in PVA 17 Elite and Top Select 17 Elite that could have caused A5 to be ranked lower. But, A5 did also beat both PVA and Top Select as well. It has A5 coming in at No. 3 on the strength of victories over Coast 17-1, Drive Nation and 1st Alliance. Overall, it has 14 victories over the qualified field. 4. COAST 17-1 Comment: Coast makes the Top 5 in part by owning 15 victories against the qualified field. Some of its biggest ones include beating Drive Nation (twice), Hou Skyline, Legacy, TAV, Club V 17 Ren Reed and Wave 17 Juliana (three times). Coast has lost five times, all to qualified teams. Those setbacks were to Wave, A5, OT 17 John, AZ Rev 17 Premier and Club V. 5. DRIVE NATION 17 RED Comment: There’s an argument to be made for Drive Nation being No. 1. For one, Drive Nation has produced 21 victories against the qualified field. That’s a big number. Victories include 1st Alliance (twice), TAV (twice) and Club V. Keeping Drive Nation from being ranked higher are losses to Coast (twice) and TAV (twice), plus A5 and Tstreet 17 Naseri. Though Drive Nation did also beat Tstreet. 6. WAVE 17 JULIANA Comment: With victories over Coast, A5 an Club V, as well as OT John, Wave has earned its placement inside the Top 10. It’s part of 13 triumphs over qualified teams. It has six losses against the field, including three to Coast, and one each to Sunshine 17 LA, ID Crush and Club V. Wave also owns two victories over Sunshine. Wave’s only questionable loss is to unqualified Elevation 17 Goller. 7. HOU SKYLINE 17 ROYAL Comment: Hou Skyline has racked up 15 victories against Open qualified clubs. Some of its best to date feature ones over Club V (twice), Dynasty and Legacy. It does have eight losses against the field, including to Coast, Circle City, OT John, Club V and Drive Nation, as well as Metro 17 Travel, Skyline 17 Royal and KC Power 17-1. 8. CLUB V 17 REN REED Comment: Club V has turned in a strong season thus far. It has led to 18 victories against qualified teams. Beating Dynasty, Wave, TAV, Hou Skyline and Coast are among the best ones. Club V’s setbacks have come against Hou Skyline (twice), Coast, Wave, Drive Nation, HJV 17 Elite and SynergyForce 17 Jeff. Club V also owns a victory over SynergyForce. Club V has also split a pair of matches with Legacy Girls 17 Pyramid, which earned a bid at the Red Rock Rave but declined accepting it. 9. TAV 17 BLACK Comment: TAV has more losses – 11 – against the Open field than anyone else in the Top 10. 1st Alliance, Drive Nation, Club V and Coast are ones to teams ranked higher here. On the flip side, TAV owns some big victories as well. One of those is against Circle City. TAV also owns a pair of wins against Drive Nation as well. 10. LEGACY 17-1 ADIDAS Comment: Rounding out the Top 10 is Legacy based on the strength of its head-to-head victory over Premier Nebraska. Legacy’s only questionable loss is to MKE Sting 17 Gold, a club Legacy also owns a victory over too. Other setbacks have come to Circle City (three times), 1st Alliance, Coast, Sunshine, Dynasty and Hou Skyline. Legacy has also beaten Sunshine this season, as well as Metro, Skyline and KC Power. 11. PREMIER NEBRASKA 17 GOLD Comment: Almost half of Premier Nebraska’s losses are to 1st Alliance, which has beaten Premier Nebraska three times. The other setbacks have come to A5, Legacy, Skyline and MAVS KC 17-1. Premier Nebraska does own one victory against a team in the Top 10 in TAV. Some other victories against qualified opponents include MAVS, Dynasty and OT John. 12. AZ REV 17 PREMIER Comment: As we get deeper into the rankings, the results start getting more mixed as well. Some of the better victories for AZ Rev feature Dynasty, Coast and Sunshine (twice). Losses have come against Club V (three times), Sunshine, Drive Nation and Wave, as well as Tstreet, Mintonette m.71 and AZ Storm 17 Elite, a team AZ Rev has defeated as well.   13. MN SELECT 17-1 Comment: Among some of MN Select’s better victories are a pair of wins against Dynasty, plus ones over OT John and KC Power. MN

vballrecruiter.com presents its 18s Top 50 National Rankings. These rankings are not final, as there are still 18s teams competing at AAUs next month. At the conclusion of the national championships we will release our final rankings. There are lots of factors to take into consideration when formulating a list like this. It leaves plenty of room for debate as these rankings are ultimately subjective. There are power league results, qualifier results, national tournaments like Triple Crown and of course the USAV Girls Junior Nationals 18s championships. All these come into play. We put more weight on what happened in Phoenix than a qualifier in January because the whole season is built toward peaking at JN’s. We also had one steadfast rule we didn’t break no matter the circumstances. That rule was if Team A defeated Team B in a gold challenge match or gold bracket match at JN’s, Team A is always going to be ranked ahead of Team B. That’s because everyone comes to JN’s to win a gold medal and if Team A eliminates Team B from contention, it won at the absolute right time. It can make for some skewed overall rankings but what’s the point if the biggest head-to-head matches of the season aren’t the most important ones? The Top 25 teams have comments to hopefully give some insight as to why they are ranked where they are. A select few from 26-50 have comments as well but not all. 1. SUNSHINE 18 LA Comment: The USAV 18 Open gold medalist was the easy choice to be No. 1. For now. Should Munciana 18 Samurai take gold in 18 Open at AAUs it’ll rekindle the debate, as Muncie owns a head-to-head victory over Sunshine in the finals of Triple Crown. A5 Mizuno 18 Marc is the only other team to own a victory against Sunshine on the national stage. Coast 18-1 and Mizuno Long Beach 18 Rockstar each picked up a victory against Sunshine in local Premier Volleyball League action. Sunshine collected 38 victories against the Open field, including its time in Phoenix. That’s the most of any team. 2. MADFROG 18 GREEN Comment: Madfrog showed moments of vulnerability in losing pool matches to Adversity 18 Adidas and FC Elite 18 Elite at JN’s. Yet, it responded by upsetting A5 in its challenge match on its way to finishing with the silver medal. That propelled Madfrog to No. 2 in the rankings. Yes, A5 did defeat Madfrog in Nashville, but there’s no doubt that A5 would gladly trade that victory for the one in Phoenix that didn’t happen. Madfrog also owns some impressive victories outside of JN’s which includes beating Hou Skyline 18 Royal, Skyline 18 Royal, Coast and SASVBC 18-1. 3. A5 MIZUNO 18 MARC Comment: A5 had a tremendous overall season. It just lost one match at the wrong time when it fell to Madfrog in the challenge round at JN’s. That was only A5’s third loss in a national tournament. OT 18 Chad and AZ Rev 18 Premier join Madfrog as the only clubs to own a victory over A5. A5 finished the year 3-1 against OT and 1-1 against Madfrog. A5 earned 31 victories against the Open field, second only to Sunshine. 4. SPVB 18 ELITE Comment: It’s difficult ranking SPVB simply because it doesn’t have the same strength of schedule. Still, what it does have in terms of results has to be taken into consideration. SPVB owns a victory over Munciana and Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite, which finished tied for third at JN’s. SPVB only loss so far is to Team Indiana 18 Elite, which finished in the top half at JN’s. SPVB is set to play AAUs in June. 5. MUNCIANA 18 SAMURAI Comment: Compared to others in the rankings, Muncie has played a much lighter schedule but has proved itself to be among the top in the country regardless. Not only does the club own a victory over Sunshine in the final of Triple Crown, it owns 10 more victories against teams which qualified for 18 Open at JN’s. It’s only losses to date are to SPVB and Hou Skyline. 6. ROCKWOOD THUNDER 18 ELITE Comment: From here on out it starts getting interesting as the results get more and more mixed and mashed. There’s no denying Rockwood Thunder turned in a strong performance at JN’s by tying for the bronze medal. It’s only losses there were to Madfrog in the semis and to Vital in pool play. It upset Coast in challenge play. On the season, RT has just one loss to a non-qualified 18 Open squad and that was against CUVC 18 Premier. It also owns a victory over Skyline, which tied for fifth at JN’s. 7. SKYLINE 18 ROYAL Comment: Skyline’s run to a fifth-place tie at JN’s included just one loss, to Sunshine in the quarterfinals. Like Rockwood Thunder, Skyline lost just once to a non-qualified 18 Open team in SA Junior 18 Adidas. It did earn some strong victories leading up to JN’s by topping Coast, Hou Skyline and Madfrog. It also owns head-to-head victories over bronze medalist FC Elite and Adversity, which tied for fifth. 8. FC ELITE 18 ELITE Comment: Some could argue by virtue of finishing with a bronze medal at JN’s that FC Elite deserves to be ranked higher than No. 8. There’s certainly a case to be made. At the same time, FC Elite suffered setbacks to unqualified teams in Kairos 18 Elite and MKE Sting 18 Gold on the year, as well as falling to Gainesville Jrs 18/17 at JN’s. And it took a head-to-head loss against Skyline. FC Elite also owns a victory over MKE Sting to even that out, and does carry head-to-head wins over Rockwood Thunder during qualifying season and Madfrog in pool play at JN’s.   9. ADVERSITY 18 ADIDAS Comment: Adversity lost a pool play match at JN’s to FC Elite but picked up a pair of impressive victories along the