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The intensity went through the roof as teams chased bids on the final day of the opening weekend of the Mideast Qualifier. With the competition elevated, players were stepping up their games too and putting on incredible displays everywhere we looked. Below, we bring you our Day 3 Show Stoppers featuring the players who caught our attention the most. DAY 3 SHOW STOPPERS Kristen Simon L/DS Adidas KiVA 16 Red: A 4-star recruit, Simon was a huge part of the defensive play that helped KiVA to the 16 Open championship. She’s an on-point passer out of serve receive and has great range in the back row defending. Bridget Egan OH Adidas KiVA 16 Red: Egan – a 3-star recruit – was unleashing massive kills at times. She has a whippy arm and when it’s set up in front of her watch out. It’s coming in hot. Emilee Fuller S Adidas KiVA 16 Red: Fuller – a 3-star recruit – is a back row setter who puts up a nice ball. She was locating and connecting well with her hitters. Ava Hunter S Circle City 16 Purple: A 3-star recruit, Hunter is a competitive setter who does a fine job of running the offense. She has great hands and locates consistently while putting her hitters in favorable matchups. Logan Bell OH Circle City 16 Purple: Bell – a 4-star recruit – has a lively arm and jumps well. She was helping power along the Circle City attack on the left by providing a reliable scoring threat. Avery Freeman L/DS Circle City 16 Purple: Freeman – a 3-star recruit – is unflappable in the back row. She’s a no-nonsense libero with a sound platform and strong first-contact skills. Reese Dunkle MB Circle City 16 Purple: Dunkle – a 4-star recruit – brings a net presence to the lineup when she checks in. She’s a legit scoring threat who defenses need to track and she’s also one of the team’s best blockers. Madison Quest OH MKE Sting 16 Gold: Quest – a 5-star recruit – helped MKE Sting earn its bid on Day 3. She’s a real offensive force capable of scoring equally well from the front and back row with her long extension and high contact point. Alicia Beers RS MKE Sting 16 Gold: Beers was a valuable part of the lineup. With Sting running a 6-2, Beers held down one of the right side spots across the front row. Her blocking and scoring were both impactful pieces of Sting’s success. Charlotte Glass S Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal: A 5-star setter, Glass commands the offense like few in the division. She has a great location and puts up a clean, consistent ball while being able to move the ball around and get her various hitters involved. *** Kelly Kinney OH Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal: Another 5-star recruit, Kinney’s a new addition to the lineup this year and has fit in precisely as hoped. She’s a big-hitting, free-swinging outside who has no problem banging down balls. Zoey Matias L/DS Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal: Matias – a 4-star recruit – was part of a strong group of defenders in her age division. She holds down the back row as well as anyone, passing sharply and defending with a fury. Tekoa Barnes OH Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal: Barnes – a 3-star recruit – is instant offense across the front row. She’s a hard-hitting, high-flying outside who bangs balls straight down with electrifying kills. Addison Gaido RS Austin Skyline 16 Royal: Gaido – a 4-star recruit – is a game-changer with her length and reach. At 6-4, she can shut down outsides with her blocking. Offensively, she’s just as difficult to deal with as she can easily go over blocks and finds holes to exploit. Lily Dee Davis OH Austin Skyline 16 Royal: A six-rotation outside and 4-star recruit, Davis is a mainstay on the court. She does a bit of everything for her team, including providing a big arm to be relied on plenty offensively. Campbell Flynn S Legacy 16-1 Adidas: A 5-star recruit, Flynn is an aggressive setter in the front row and even though teams have the scouting report still struggle stopping her from scoring on two. She also puts her hitters in great spots and can help keep the team in system even on off balls with her strong dishing. Devin Dzienny L/DS Legacy 16-1 Adidas: Dzienny – a 3-star recruit – is a scrappy libero willing to make the hustle plays and lay out doing so. Izzy Busignani OH Mich Elite 16 Mizuno: Busignani – a 4-star recruit – is the go-to hitter on the left and gets plenty of swings. She has a strong, fluid swing and generates lots of pace while pressuring defenses. Hailey Campagna OH EliteVBTC 16 Black: Campagna is a physical attacker who doesn’t hold back. She’s a bit undersized but goes right at bigger blockers with aggressive, strong swings. Mia Stahler L/DS EliteVBTC 16 Black: Stahler was another bright spot as EliteVBTC challenged for an Open bid. She is a sound defender and covers the court well. *** Mattea Casale L/DS No Name 16 Sarah: If you like defense, add Casale to the list of liberos who were defensive standouts. She owns the back row and was making plays all over the place. Izzy Starck S/RS Co Jrs 17 Shannon: Starck – a 5-star Penn State commit – and company captured 17 Open. Starck is a flat-out baller who is as competitive as anyone in the gym. She’s a high-level setter and attacker and brings all her dynamic play to the court. Paityn Chapman OH Co Jrs 17 Shannon: Chapman – a 4-star Tennessee commit – was a key factor on Day 3. She was providing a scoring punch and taking bigger, more aggressive swings than the first two days. It led to her scoring a bunch of points. Addie Kanouff RS Co Jrs 17 Shannon: Kanouff – a 3-star Texas Tech commit – was

The Bluegrass Tournament was one of many during the opening weekend of March. A KiVA team winning there is a regular and frequent occurrence. It certainly doesn’t shake up the volleyball world the way a KiVA team winning a national qualifier does! When a team like Adidas KiVA 16 Red – ranked No. 23 in vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50 National Rankings – finished first at its home event earlier this month, it was a sign the team could be finding its groove. But coming to Indy presented not only much stiffer competition but a scenario where what would KiVA do should it be in position to accept a bid? KiVA hasn’t participated in a USAV national championship since 2005. Yet, with KiVA in contention on the final day a decision would need to be made should KiVA keep advancing. After beating both No. 16 Legacy 16-1 Adidas and No. 43 No Name 16 Sarah, KiVA made the four-team gold bracket. Not long after, so did No. 18 Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal. With Tribe already owning a bid, KiVA – along with No. 11 Circle City 16 Purple and No. 14 MKE Sting 16 Gold – already knew their fates. All three were assured of bids before playing another match. When KiVA coaches confirmed they were accepting the Open bid, a bit of history was made! KiVA is back in a USAV national championship. But, it gets even better. Not only did KiVA qualify, KiVA wasn’t done yet, downing both Tribe and Circle City to finish in first place. KiVA lost on Day 1 to unranked Boiler Jrs 16 Gold and then started Day 2 with a setback to No. 12 Mich Elite 16 Mizuno. KiVA was facing possible elimination in its next match but upset No. 8 A5 16 Gabe and eventually moved on when Mich Elite beat A5. KiVA didn’t lose again, riding its Bluegrass victory to an even bigger triumph in Indy! KiVA open the gold bracket by fending off Tribe in three, 23-25, 25-18, 15-9, before tackling Circle City in the final, 25-23, 28-26. Circle City held off MKE Sting in three, 25-22, 22-25, 15-8, in the other semifinal. Much credit goes to KiVA for turning it on since finishing 58th at Triple Crown last month. It was a tough ending in Kansas City after a promising Day 1 started with victories over Austin Skyline 16 Royal and Madfrog 16 Green. But KiVA was upset by unranked SA Magic 16 Elite to start Day 2 then lost to both AVA TX 16 Adidas and Tulsa Power 16-1 in succession to tumble down the standings. KiVA did lose on Day 1 at Bluegrass to Tri-State Elite 16 Blue in three and picked up key victories over AVC Cle 16 Red and SPVB 16 Elite there as well. While a strong showing, expecting KiVA to make a leap in such a short time like it did at MEQ wouldn’t be fair but what an accomplishment nonetheless. Sting’s qualifying chances hinged on a showdown with Mich Elite for first in their gold pool. Both were 1-0 and needed to win to have any shot at qualifying. Circle City took care of its business, sweeping both Adrenaline 16 Doug and Co Jrs 16 Shannon in its gold pool to advance. As for 17 Open, Co Jrs 17 Kevin’s time in Indy could have hardly gone any better. Ranked No. 8 nationally, Co Jrs is proving itself as a Top-10 team with another impressive performance on a big stage. After tying for fifth at last month’s Triple Crown NIT, Co Jrs’ next national act featured going 10-0 and claiming gold at MEQ. There was not much resistance as Co Jrs swept its way through the first two days of competition before a thrilling Day 3 concluded with gold-medalist Co Jrs being one of three teams to earn bids. The way the drama was playing out offered two paths to qualifying. The straight forward and guaranteed one was reaching the gold bracket. The much riskier one with nothing assured was through the fifth-place bracket. This is what both Co Jrs and No. 37 Elevation 17 Ulland faced as they were going toe-to-toe for first place in Gold Pool 2. The winner was assured a bid because previously-qualified and second-ranked Dynasty 17 Black had already captured first place in its gold pool. But it was not an elimination match as Elevation and Co Jrs would still have another shot at qualifying should they finish second in the pool. That route came courtesy of No. 5 Triangle 17 Black, which even though was entering a third set of its own against No. 21 Academy 17 Tsunami had already clinched first place based on tiebreakers should Triangle lose. More on why this result still mattered in a moment. With both Dynasty and Triangle reaching the gold bracket, the final remaining bid would go to the team finishing fifth and the only way to determine that was to a have a four-team playoff between the second-place gold-pool finishers. Co Jrs squeaked out its victory over Elevation, 23-25, 25-17, 15-13, and joined 1st Alliance 17 Gold in bidding. 1st Alliance was actually the first team to learn its fate after downing both No. 9 NKYVC 17-1 Tsunami and No. 48 Pohaku 17-1 in its gold pool and thus earning its bid once Dynasty won its pool. Once Triangle advanced to the gold bracket with Dynasty, it made every other result relevant as it gave life to the second-place teams. That meant Pohaku beating NKYVC was huge, as Pohaku was still in it. So was Elevation. But unfortunately for Academy it was not. That’s because Academy needed to sweep Triangle in order to advance. Instead, No. 41 Boiler Jrs 17 Gold beating Academy the match prior was huge because Boiler Jrs was part of the fifth-place bracket, which also included No. 17 KC Power 17 Black. Back to Co Jrs for a moment. The only teams to beat Co

It’s not unusual to see disparity in pools on the second day of a national qualifier, as was the case Saturday at MEQ in Indianapolis. The luck of draw played a factor as teams competed for spots in gold pools on the final day. Let’s look at 16 Open, where Pool 1 was gnarly. Circle City 16 Purple, the top seed overall and ranked No. 11 in vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50, went 3-0 on Day 1 and was “rewarded” by drawing both No. 17 Austin Skyline 16 Royal and No. 19 AVC Cle 16 Red. With only room for two, someone was going to be left out. After all three finished tied at 2-1, it was Circle City advancing in first place followed by Austin Skyline in second. Austin Skyline opened the pool with a clutch victory over Circle City but lost control of the pool when it fell to AVC before downing USA South 16 Purple. Circle City earned first by sweeping AVC in the 1 v 2 contest and thus eliminating AVC. Pools 4 and 5 were two more pools that were tougher than others. Pool 4 featured No. 8 A5 16 Gabe, No. 12 Mich Elite 16 Mizuno and No. 23 Adidas KiVA 16 Red. It was another case of one must go and it turned out to be the highest-ranked of the trio in A5, which finished 1-2 after losing to both Mich Elite and KiVA. Mich Elite made it out on top at 3-0, followed by KiVA at 2-1. Somewhat surprisingly, Mich Elite beating KiVA in three sets was the only match of the six from the pool to go the distance. It was No. 14 MKE Sting 16 Gold, No. 16 Legacy 16-1 Adidas and No. 44 GP 16 Rox together in Pool 5. GP had a safety net known as already having a bid which it earned at the Sunshine Classic. It was Sting coming out ahead, grabbing first at 3-0. Legacy followed at 2-1, leaving GP at 1-2 and now out of contention for creating any trickle down. With GP and HPSTL 16 Royal – which went 1-2 on Day 1 and was eliminated – not among Day 3’s gold pools, it leaves No. 18 Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal as the lone previously-qualified team. That’s big in that we now know trickle down in 16 Open can’t exceed fourth place, so teams must win their gold pools at the very least to have a chance at qualifying. Tribe went 3-0 in Pool 6 on Day 3. Some of the other pools in 16 Open opened the door and allowed teams to take advantage. One such case was Pool 3, which was composed of unranked Boiler Jrs 16 Gold, No. 38 Co Jrs 16 Shannon, unranked Adversity 16 Adidas and unranked EliteVBTC 16 Black. It was the No. 4 team in EliteVBTC rising up and going 3-0. Co Jrs was second at 2-1 as both advanced. In Pool 2, No. 15 Dynasty 15 Black and No. 43 No Name 16 Sarah were with unranked foes in CUVC 16 Beast and KC Power 16 Black. While it seemed like Dynasty’s pool to win, it was actually No Name (at 3-0) and CUVC (at 2-1) advancing while Dynasty was knocked out after going 1-2 with losses to both. In 17 Open, it was a different story as the top five seeds combined to go 15-0. Only Pohaku 17-1 lost as the No. 1 team in a pool, but managed to advance still after taking second in a three-way tie at 2-1. Pohaku tied with both No. 11 Rockwood Thunder 16 Elite and No. 21 Academy 17 Tsunami. Rockwood Thunder was the odd team out based on tiebreakers and took third. It makes Rockwood Thunder the highest-ranked team from our Top 50 missing out on gold pools. Both Pools 2 and 5 came down to three-way ties at 1-2 behind the first-place finishers. While No. 8 Co Jrs 17 Kevin went 3-0 in Pool 2, No. 40 Adidas KiVA 17 Red and unranked teams in Michio 17 National and Mintonette Sports m.71 tied at 1-2. KiVA earned second based on the best set percentage of the trio. Second-ranked Dynasty 17 Black went 3-0 in Pool 5, where No. 19 Metro 17 Travel, No. 37 Elevation 17 Ulland and No. 38 Circle City 17 Purple all finished at 1-2 behind Dynasty. Elevation took second on tiebreakers, leaving Metro eliminated. Metro – along with Dynasty and No. 5 Triangle 17 Black – owned a bid prior to MEQ. While Metro being bumped won’t impact Metro it does eliminate another possible trickle-down spot. And with Dynasty and Triangle positioned to win their Day 3 pools, that would have trickle down extend to fifth place. *** DAY 2 SHOW STOPPERS Reese Messer S Dynasty 17 Black: A 5-star recruit from the Class of 2025, Messer is silky smooth with her delivery and sets at a high-level from her hands to her placement. She connects well with all her hitters and moves the ball around as well as any setter. Jada Ingram MB Dynasty 17 Black: A 4-star UNLV commit, Ingram was having a big day in the middle. She seemed close to unstoppable, beating defenders on 1s and slides while banging down balls. Ava Grevengoed OH Michio 17 National: Grevengoed is a bit undersized on the left but takes plenty of swings as one of the main attackers. She has a nice arm and did well helping her team compete against higher-ranked opponents. Gabriella Woltman RS Michio 17 National: Woltman held it down on the right. She adds some power to the lineup and was taking hard swings. Renee Jones RS Metro 17 Travel: Jones – a 3-star recruit – puts up a wall of a block and can be imposing for smaller attackers. She’s also part of the offensive plans, able to deliver points with her lefty swing. Izzy Starck S/RS Co Jrs 17 Kevin: Starck – a 5-star

With the Red Rock Rave national qualifier ending with Wave 16 Kevin finishing on top of 16 Open, it was one of those What Just Happened?!? moments we all love in volleyball. The latest edition of What Just Happened is on the other end of spectrum unfortunately. It features HPSTL 16 Royal, which started as the No. 2 overall seed in 16 Open at MEQ in Indianapolis. HPSTL is one of three teams already owning an Open bid after earning one at Sunshine Classic. However, after HPSTL was eliminated on Day 1 after going 1-2, the question must be asked, what just happened?!? In the preview I wrote I had a hunch we wouldn’t see any of the qualified teams – GP 16 Rox and Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal being the other two – factoring into any possible trickle down but I hardly thought we would see any of them gone after Day 1? Coming into Sunshine two weeks ago, HPSTL hadn’t taken any poor losses. The main issue was it wasn’t picking up any quality victories either except for one over Austin Skyline 16 Royal and avenging a loss to Tri-State Elite 16 Blue. Both those results happened at Triple Crown. HP picked up big wins at Sunshine over A5 16 Gabe, GP, Tribe, Skyline 16 Royal and Mich Elite 16 Mizuno on its way to qualifying. That not only inspired hope of HPSTL finding its groove, but is what gave HPSTL the No. 2 overall seed here in Indy. It was so shocking I haven’t even mentioned the teams to beat HPSTL yet, which were unranked CUVC 16 Beast and USA South 16 Premier. CUVC went 3-0 as the No. 2 team in the pool to take over the overall No. 2 seed. USA South went 2-1 and grabbed second. Tons of credit to both those clubs for picking up such a quality victory! It was a wild day elsewhere in 16 Open as well, including No. 9 seed Team Pineapple 16 Black eliminated after going 1-2. I actually had Team Pineapple, at No. 29 nationally, ranked one spot ahead of No. 30 HPSTL in vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50. Both No. 38 Co Jrs 16 Shannon and unranked Union 16-1 UA upset Team Pineapple. Co Jrs was upset by unranked MOD Elite 16 Blue but still won the pool at 2-1 after finishing in a two-way tie with Union. Adidas KiVA 16 Red – seeded No. 3 overall and ranked No. 23 in the nation – was upset by unranked Boiler Jrs 16 Gold. Boiler Jrs won the pool at 3-0 while KiVA went 2-1. KiVA was not the highest-ranked team to lose from our Top 50 however. Dynasty 16 Black – ranked No. 15 – and No. 17 Austin Skyline 16 Royal were in the same pool on Day 1, so something had to give. Dynasty won the pool at 3-0 as the No. 2 team. Austin Skyline moved on at 2-1 as those two flip seeds. We’ll consider that a win for the national rankings over the seedings. The rest of the top-ranked teams all finished 3-0, including No. 8 A5, No. 11 Circle City 16 Purple, No. 12 Mich Elite, No. 14 MKE Sting 16 Gold, No. 16 Legacy 16-1 Adidas and No. 18 Tribe. The other big news from 16 Open was unranked Adrenaline 16 Doug going 3-0 as the No. 3 team in Pool 8. Adrenaline upset both No. 40 NKYVC 16-1 Tsunami and No. 44 GP. GP went 2-1 and finished second while NKYVC went 1-2 and was knocked out of contention. Also, unranked Adversity 16 Adidas upset No. 31 Alamo 16 Premier in Pool 10. That was key because Adversity advanced as the No. 3 team while Alamo finished 1-2 and was eliminated as the No. 2 team in the pool. The results from 17 Open were not as all over the place. The No. 11 overall seed and No. 1 team in Pool 11 in Alamo 17 Premier went 1-2 and finished in third. Both No. 41 Boiler Jrs 17 Gold and Michio 17 National uprooted Alamo. Boiler Jrs finished 3-0 to win the pool. Considering I don’t have Alamo ranked in the Top 50, it didn’t come as that much of a surprise to see Boiler Jrs win the pool. While Alamo was the only No. 1 team from a pool not to advance, a few No. 2 teams didn’t move on either. Team Pineapple 17 Black – ranked No. 50 – Union 17-1 UA, HPSTL 17 Royal and CHAVC 17 Black all finished at 1-2 as No. 2 teams in their respective pools and are out of contention. A couple of other upsets didn’t eliminate teams but will shake up the seedings for Day 2. Pohaku 17-1, ranked No. 48, took down No. 19 Metro 17 Travel. Metro is one of three teams already owning a bid in the field. Also, No. 37 Elevation 17 Ulland upset No. 21 Academy 17 Tsunami to win Pool 7. Beyond that, the top-ranked teams all fared well. Second-ranked Dynasty 17 Black, No. 5 Triangle 17 Black – both which have bids already – No. 7 1st Alliance 17 Gold, No. 8 Co Jrs 17 Kevin, No. 9 NKYVC 17-1 Tsunami, No. 11 Rockwood Thunder 17 Elite and No. 17 KC Power 17 Black all finished 3-0 and won their respective pools. *** DAY 1 SHOW STOPPERS Larsen Terrill S Mintonette Sports m.61: A 3-star recruit, Terrill is a smooth operator. She locates well on the regular and sets a consistent, clean ball. Callie Krueger L/DS Austin Skyline 16 Royal: Krueger – a 4-star recruit – commands the back row. She showed great range, covered well and was passing dimes. Makayla White MB Austin Skyline 16 Royal: White was making herself known in the middle. She was touching balls blocking and turning around and giving her team a scoring threat on the other side. Katie Gielas OH Elevation 16 Goller: Gielas –