Premium Content

One of the best parts of covering volleyball tournaments is seeing how they play out and then getting to make sense of the results. Bluegrass had plenty to sift through and tales to tell. The 14 Open gold medal went to host Adidas KiVA 14 Red. If you read the Preview and Predictions out last Thursday you would have seen KiVA picked to win it all in 14 Open. KiVA entered ranked No. 13 in our latest 14s Top 50 National Rankings. That was one spot behind No. 12 Elevation 14 Molly, which opened as the top seed having won Central Zone in January. I called for a KiVA-Elevation final, but that matchup came in the semifinals with KiVA sweeping, 25-19, 25-19. Instead, it was KiVA getting past a streaking HPSTL 14 Royal in the final, winning in three, 25-15, 25-27, 15-8. I say streaking in regards to HPSTL because HPSTL didn’t start off very strong but has come on as of late. Three weeks ago HPSTL fell twice to Mintonette Sports m.42 at the President Day’s Classic in St. Louis. However, just a week later HPSTL took second in 14 Open at the Sunshine Classic to earn its Open bid. There was no letdown either, as HPSTL navigated its way to the final in Louisville after clipping a sound Munciana 14 Chipmunks squad in the semis, 25-21, 10-25, 15-13. Munciana is ranked No. 18 nationally while HPSTL currently sits at No. 21. KiVA, meanwhile, lost just one match over the two days, falling to Munciana in Power Pool 2 action on Day 1. Another predicted result happened in 17 Open, where No. 9 and Triple Crown winner NKYVC 17-1 Tsunami downed No. 21 and Central Zone champ Academy 17 Tsunami in the final, 21-25, 25-23, 15-12. In the preview I wrote, I speculated that NKYVC would avenge its Central Zone loss to Academy by beating Academy in the final in Louisville. Beating Academy in three was the only set NKYVC lost at Bluegrass, including beating No. 40 Adidas KiVA 17 Red and No. 41 Boiler Jrs 17 Gold in Power Pool 2 as well as No. 23 Tri-State Elite 17 Blue in the semifinals. The 15 Open final came down to the two highest nationally-ranked clubs in the field in No. 3 Boiler Jrs 15 Gold and No. 8 NKYVC 15-1 Tsunami. NKYVC pulled off the modest upset, downing Boiler Jrs in straight sets, 25-19, 25-23. NKYVC struggled on Day 1 during Power Pool 2, losing to both No. 48 TVC 15 Black and No. 35 Team Pineapple 15 Black before coming on during Day 2. It proved to be another hometown victory in 16 Open, as host Adidas KiVA 16 Red outlasted SPVB 16 Elite in the final, 18-25, 25-21, 15-9. KiVA entered as the third-highest ranked team in the field, sitting at No. 23 behind No. 11 Circle City 16 Purple and No. 19 AVC Cle 16 Red. Sports Performance entered unranked as it hadn’t played a travel tournament yet but certainly will be ranked in the Top 20 come the next update. KiVA, which lost a tough three-setter in Power Pool 2 to No. 24 Tri-State Elite 16 Blue on Day 1, was the only club to top SPVB in Louisville. There was a surprise in 18 Open when No. 30 Elevation 18 Spinney upset No. 3 Munciana 18 Samurai in the final, 25-23, 26-24. Elevation lost its first match of the weekend to No. 15 Circle City 18 Purple in Power Pool 2 play before winning six matches in a row and winning gold. Stay tuned for more coverage from Bluegrass as we still have the Day 2 Show Stoppers and All-Tournament teams to announce.

The highest-seeded clubs spent the opening day of the Bluegrass Tournament in power pools, their spots in Sunday’s challenge rounds guaranteed. For the rest, it was business as usual, aiming to break pool to remain in contention. Those that managed to stay in the hunt will get their shot at pulling off upsets of the power pool participants on Day 2 when the gold medals will be awarded. In 14 Open, Elevation 14 Molly – the top seed and winner of Central Zone – looked good in going 3-0 by sweeping Far Out 14 Black, HPSTL 14 Royal – which has already qualified for 14 Open – and Munciana Indy 14 Otters. Munciana 14 Chipmunks was the only other power-pool squad to go 3-0 in the 14s as Muncie took care of Adidas KiVA 14 Red, AVC Cle 14 Red and Lex United 14 Adidas all in straight sets. For seeding purposes, it was NKYVC 14-1 Tsunami gaining first place in Power Pool 3 after finishing tied with Tri-State Elite 14 Blue at 2-1. NKYVC swept the head-to-head against Tri-State to get first. Of the non-power pool teams, Alliance 14 Ren, Maverick 14 Elite and Circle City 14 Purple all went 3-0 in winning their pools. However, it was EliteVBTC 14 Black which arguably had the best day of any 14 Open team. Elite went 3-0 as the No. 3 team in Pool 5 to drastically improve its seeding. Another age group going off in the morning was 16 Open, which featured two power pools. SPVB 16 Elite shined in one of them while the other pool featured mixed results. SPVB took down a solid group of teams in Circle City 16 Purple, Munciana 16 Blaze and NKYVC 16-1 Tsunami. In the other pool, AVC Cle 16 Red, Adidas KiVA 16 Red and Tri-State Elite 16 Blue all finished at 2-1 overall and 5-3 in sets. KiVA took first based on points percentage, followed by AVC and Tri-State. OPVC 16 Robinson was the fourth team in the pool and went 3-0 against the stiff competition. It started with AVC outlasting Tri-State in three games. Tri-State then clipped KiVA in three before KiVA closed out the pool by edging AVC in three. The top teams in 17 Open all finished 3-0 in their respective pools. Triple Crown champ NKYVC 17-1 Tsunami fared the best of the trio. NKYVC was the only one not to lose a set, sweeping Boiler Jrs 17 Gold, Adidas KiVA 17 Red and Hurricanes Category 7 in Power Pool 2. Tri-State Elite 17 Blue was part of a perfect Power Pool 3. And by perfect I mean every match in the pool went to three sets! That’s a long day for everyone involved, but it was Tri-State prevailing in all three it played. Union 17-1 UA finished 2-1 followed by Elevation 17 Ulland at 1-2 and Illini Elite 17 Cardinal at 0-3. The same thing was close to happening in Power Pool 1. Central Zone champ Academy 17 Tsunami sweeping Team Pineapple 17 Black in the opening match was the only one of the six not to go the distance. Academy eventually took the pool by fending off Memphis Academy 17 Red and Maverick 17 Elite. The biggest result in 15 Open came with AVC Cle 15 Red knocking off top-seeded Boiler Jrs 15 Gold in Power Pool A. That’ll shake up the seedings for Sunday’s challenge pools and beyond. AVC finished on top at 3-0, having also downed Tri-State Elite 15 Blue and SPVB 15 Elite. Both second-seeded NKYVC 15-1 Tsunami and third-seeded Elevation 15 Tony lost as well in their pools. That’s only going to shake up the seedings further. In Power Pool B, it was Team Pineapple 15 Black at 3-0 which wound up in first place. TVC 15 Black also picked up a big victory over NKYVC to finish at 2-1, ahead of NKYVC at 1-2. Far Out 15 Black topped Elevation in the last match of Power Pool C to finish 3-0. Elevation came in second at 2-1. DAY 1 SHOW STOPPERS Melina Schrader S Munciana 16 Blaze: Schrader does a great job moving the ball around and mixing it up for an undersized offensive group overall. She has precise location and puts the ball in a hittable window very consistently. Shanese Williams MB/RS Munciana 16 Blaze: I’m glad I caught Williams again. There was simply too many players to write about from Triple Crown and Williams certainly could have been mentioned for her play on Day 2 against Drive Nation 16 Red. Williams was doing her thing again, banging away from the right side and adding pop to the Munciana attack. Lilly Howell MB Munciana 16 Blaze: Howell is the tallest player for Munciana and she made an impact across the front row. She has a big arm and Munciana likes to take advantage of that, setting her as often as they can when she’s lined up on the left. Aubrey Anders MB AVC Cle 16 Red: Anders is a quick jumper. She gets up quick and is tough for defenses to time. She also showed off a nice arm putting balls down to the ground. Bella Bullington OH SPVB 16 Elite: There’s no questioning that Bullington – a 4-star recruit – has a massive arm. She was blasting balls repeatedly. She’s another quick jumper who just gets off the floor and lets it rip! Audrey Asleson S SPVB 16 Elite: Asleson is currently a 3-star recruit who’ll be moving up to 4 stars in the next update. She’s a smoother disher with a clean, consistent release and she locates well. Isabela Haggard S/RS Adidas KiVA 16 Red: If I was handing out a personal pick for Day 1 MVP, it would go to Haggard. She was a key ingredient to KiVA’s lineup. She was playing with lots of energy and spirit, was setting well and was swinging with a purpose in helping her team in many ways. Bailey Blair