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Which 18s teams are next in line to join the group of Open qualifiers so far? With three national qualifiers on the slate for this weekend, eight more bids are going to be handed out. That will take the number of awarded bids from eight to 16. Here are the clubs which have earned their Open bids to date: Sunshine 18 LA (Windy City) Wave 18 Juliana (Windy City) Mintonette Sports m.81 (Windy City) MAVS KC 17-1 (KC MLK) Premier Nebraska 18 Gold (KC MLK) Drive Nation 18 Red (Lone Star) A5 18 Marc (Lone Star) Skyline 18 Royal (Lone Star)   The Florida Fest, Northern Lights and Salt Lake City Showdown qualifiers will add to those numbers after those Friday-Sunday tournaments wrap up. Below, we take a look at each qualifier and what to expect. FLORIDA FEST Number of Teams: 26 Available Bids: 3 Qualified Teams (3): Drive Nation 18 Red; MAVS KC 18-1; Mintonette Sports m.81 vballrecruiter.com Nationally-Ranked Clubs (12):  2. 1st Alliance 18 Gold 5. Drive Nation 18 Red 8. OT 18 John 9. Metro 18 Travel 11. MAVS KC 18-1 13. Madfrog 18 Green 29. Mich Elite 18 Mizuno 33. Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite 35. Mintonette Sports m.81 43. Paramount VBC 18s 46. Triangle 18 Black 47. Gainesville Jrs 18 Black *** 5 Star Athletes Reese Robins MB Drive Nation 18 Red (Louisville) Leah Ford MB Drive Nation 18 Red (USC) Eloise Brandewie MB Mintonette Sports m.81 (Ohio State) Blaire Bayless OH Madfrog 18 Green (Pitt)   4 Star Athletes Allison Cavanaugh RS OT 18 John (Georgia) Kamryn Lee-Caracci MB 1st Alliance 18 Gold (Georgetown) Safi Hampton OH Metro 18 Travel (North Carolina) Reagan Fox OH MAVS KC 18-1 (Rutgers) Milan Rex S/OH Metro 18 Travel (UCSB) Lauryn Bowie RS Mintonette Sports m.81 (Virginia) Zeta Washington MB OT 18 John (Cincinnati) Samantha Hoppes OH/RS Drive Nation 18 Red (Boston College) Betsy Goodenow RS MAVS KC 18-1 (Yale) Gigi Navarrete L/DS 1st Alliance 18 Gold (Northwestern) Jordyn Dailey RS/MB Triangle 18 Black (Kentucky) Brielle Kemavor MB Metro 18 Travel (BYU) Juliette Myrick S Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite (Army) Lily Nicholson S Drive Nation 18 Red (TCU) Kennedy Wagner OH 1st Alliance 18 Gold (Clemson) Ava Sarafa S Mich Elite 18 Mizuno (Kentucky) Callie Kieffer S Drive Nation 18 Red (Alabama) Sydney Breon OH Drive Nation 18 Red (UCLA) Halle Schroder OH Drive Nation 18 Red (Boston College)   Outlook/Prediction: This is the biggest qualifier of the weekend, both in total number of teams in 18 Open and the depth of the field as 12 of the 26 clubs appear in vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50 National Rankings. However, this could also be the ‘easiest’ qualifier of the weekend to gain a bid simply because there are three teams already with bids and that could push trickle down to sixth place. 1st Alliance 18 Gold didn’t play in the Windy City Qualifier earlier this month and is making its first appearance at a qualifier. 1st Alliance, the defending 17 Open national champions from Indy, are the top seed and are big favorites to grab one of the three bids. Mintonette Sports m.81, MAVS KC 18-1 and Drive Nation 18 Red follow as the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds but all three already have their spots clinched for Columbus. The teams to pay close attention to in terms of earning bids this weekend is OT 18 John, Metro 18 Travel, Mich Elite 18 Mizuno, Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite and Gainesville Jrs 18 Black. The prediction is the three bids are going to that group of five teams, with Metro and Gainesville taking them home. As for the tournament winner, 1st Alliance defeats MAVS for first place. *** SALT LAKE CITY SHOWDOWN Number of Teams: 25 Available Bids: 3 Qualified Teams (1): Sunshine 18 LA vballrecruiter.com Nationally-Ranked Clubs (8):  7. AZ Rev 18 Premier 10. Sunshine 18 LA 14. Club V 18 Ren Reed 21. Mizuno Long Beach 18 Rockstar 30. NPJ 18 Forefront 32. Arizona Storm 18 Thunder 38. Absolute 18 Black 44. ID Crush 18 Bower *** 5 Star Athletes Alex Acevedo OH NPJ 18 Forefront (Oregon) Olivia Babcock RS Sunshine 18 LA (Pitt) Torrey Stafford OH Sunshine 18 LA (Pitt) Jordyn Harvey OH Club V 18 Ren Reed (Stanford) Taylor Harvey MB Club V 18 Ren Reed Alex Bower S ID Crush 18 Bower   4 Star Athletes Tehani Ulufatu L/DS Absolute 18 Black (Baylor) Ava-Marie Lange OH/RS Sunshine 18 LA (Harvard) Makena Lim L/DS A4 Volley 18 Joaco (Georgia) Mele Corral-Blagojevich OH Mizuno Long Beach 18 Rockstar (Oklahoma) Kendal Murphy OH AZ Rev 18 Premier (Baylor)   Outlook/Prediction: The bad news for teams hoping to qualify is Sunshine 18 LA – the top seed – is the only club with an Open bid and thus trickle down can’t go past fourth place. It’s going to take a legit finish to qualify at this event. The good news though is the field isn’t quite as deep as it was last season and there’s a great opportunity for three teams to take advantage of that. So Cal clubs like Wave 18 Juliana (already qualified) and Coast 18 Ozhan (not qualified) did not make the trip and that should help in the case of Coast, though teams wouldn’t mind Wave being here considering Wave already has a bid. In terms of Open bids going out, I think there is one lock here with Club V 18 Ren Reed. Playing at its local qualifier, I expect Club V to play well and secure one of the three bids. Club V opens as the No. 2 overall seed. Other clubs expected to compete for bids include Mizuno Long Beach 18 Rockstar, AZ Rev 18 Premier, NPJ 18 Forefront and Arizona Storm 18 Thunder. If you want a few underdogs to create havoc and root for them, OJVA 18 Gold, ID Crush 18 Bower, Hive 18 Gold and A4 Volley 18 Joaco are teams to watch in that sense. Any one of

The second weekend of the 18s qualifier season was a light one, with just the Lone Star Classic 18s on the schedule. The 20-team field produced three 18 Open bids, which went to tournament champion Drive Nation 18 Red, A5 18-Marc and Skyline 18 Royal. They joined Sunshine 18 LA, Wave 18 Juliana, Mintonette Sports m.81, MAVS KC 18-1 and Premier Nebraska 18 Gold as clubs holding 18 Open bids after two weeks of qualifying. With three 18s qualifiers set for this coming weekend the field will double in size by next week. With nationally-ranked No. 5 Drive Nation and No. 6 A5 gaining their bids this past weekend, half of our initial Top 10 from the 18s National Rankings have secured bids so far, including No. 3 Wave, No. 4 Premier Nebraska and No. 10 Sunshine. Skyline opened up at No. 25. Drive Nation dropped just one match over the three days, with No. 18 AJV 18 Adidas taking down the eventual champs in three during Day 2 pool play. It was part of three consecutive three-setters for Drive Nation, which had defeated SA Magic 18 Elite in three to end Day 1 and opened Day 2 with a three-set victory over No. 23 Hou Skyline 18 Royal. Drive Nation swept No. 13 Madfrog 18 Green to make the gold pools. Once there, Drive Nation beat No. 17 HJV 18 Elite in three before sweeping both Skyline and A5. A5 had an interesting path to a bid. The Georgia club came out hot, winning its first five matches. However, A5 lost three of its final four contests but still managed to get its bid. A5 was already guaranteed a spot in gold pools before losing to Skyline to end Day 2. Unranked Actyve 18 Black then delivered an upset in three to start Day 3. A5 recovered to sweep Hou Skyline. That created a three-way tie with A5, Actyve and Hou Skyline as all were 1-1. A5 was fortunate to gain the first-place slot based on the best set percentage. Actyve was second and Hou Skyline was third. Skyline opened its weekend with a setback against unranked AZ EVJ 18 Elite but was able to steady itself quickly. Skyline didn’t lose against until facing Drive Nation on Day 3. That loss pitted Skyline against upstart Actyve for the final bid. Skyline swept, 25-13, 25-11, to earn the last Open spot. Actyve was one of the stories of the weekend. The So Cal club didn’t figure to be in the mix for a bid on Day 3 and yet it was a victory short of pulling off the shocker. Actyve picked up key victories over No. 20 TAV 18 Black, No. 17 HJV and No. 6 A5. Actyve came close to winning its gold pool and clinching a bid outright, but fell to No. 23 Hou Skyline 15-13 in the third. You never know!

The opening 18s national qualifiers of the season this past weekend not only produced the first bids for Columbus, but it also tested our national rankings for the first time. In Chicago at the Windy City Qualifier, 16 of the 30 teams in the field appeared in our initial Top 50 Rankings, including five teams from the Top 10. It was a smaller field in Kansas City for the MLK Tournament, with just 13 clubs vying for two bids as a result. Despite the size, eight of the teams were nationally ranked, including four from the Top 12. In the end, it was No. 11 MAVC KC 18-1 and No. 4 Premier Nebraska 18 Gold securing 18 Open bids after finishing 1-2 in a four-team pool that also featured No. 12 MN Select 18-1 and No. 40 KC Power 18-1. As for the three 18 Open bids in Chicago, they went to tournament champion and national No. 10 Sunshine 18 LA, No. 3 Wave 18 Juliana and No. 35 Mintonette Sports m.81. The field there was loaded, featuring national No. 1 Coast 18 Ozhan, No. 9 Metro 18 Travel, No. 14 Club V 18 Ren Reed and No. 16 Circle City 18 Purple. Coast’s hopes at earning a bid in its first try ended when it was eliminated with Day 2 losses to Club V and Sunshine. Day 3 came down to two, four-team pools between Sunshine, Mintonette, Adversity 18 Adidas and No. 36 FC Elite 18 Elite in one and Wave, No. 33 Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite, Circle City and Club V. The top-two teams from each pool would advance, with the pool winners earning bids and the second-place teams playing off for the final bid. Sunshine and Wave both went 3-0, with Sunshine beating Wave, 28-26, 25-22, for the championship. Mintonette wound up facing Circle City for third and swept, 25-20, 25-21, for the final bid. Here’s how the final standings looked compared to our rankings: 1. Sunshine (10) 2. Wave (3) 3. Mintonette (35) 4. Circle City (16) 5. Club V (14) 5. FC Elite (36) 7. Adversity (n/r) 7. Rockwood Thunder (33) 9. Coast (1) 10. AVC Cle (27) 11. Metro (9) 11. Mich Elite (29) 13. NPJ Forefront (30) 14. Paramount (43) 15. Legacy (26) 15. Union (49) 17. Top Select (n/r) 18. VC United (n/r) 19. Rev 18-1 (37) 19. MKE Sting (24) 22. Absolute (38) The final day in Kansas City came down to the four-team pool of MN Select, Premier Nebraska, KC Power and MAVS KC. MAVS came out strong, sweeping both Premier Nebraska and MN Select. With KC Power going 0-2, MAVS had first place secured before facing KC Power in the 3 v 4 match and with it one of the two Open bids. The real drama came in the pool’s last match, a clash between Premier Nebraska and MN Select. Both were 1-1, with the final bid going to the winner. Both needed three to get past KC Power, so it was anyone’s guess what would happen. It turned out Premier Nebraska swept, 27-25, 25-22, to take second and join MAVS in bidding. Here’s how the standings there stack up with our national rankings: 1. MAVS (11) 2. Premier Nebraska (4) 3. MN Select (12) 4. KC Power (40) 5. Topeka Impact (42) 6. Dynasty (31) 7. OT John (8)

Sunday in Austin proved to be a wild ride! A ton of great teams were squaring off right from the get go as the Invitational divisions started off the day with a crossover match for Gold.  The 17 Invitational final featured A5 17-Jing against HJV 17 Elite. HJV defeated TAV 17 Black in three the match before squaring off against Houston Skyline 17 Royal in the semis and winning another three-set match. A5 faced Skyline 17 Royal in the first round of the bracket, winning in three, followed by Madfrog 16 Green. A5 captured that match in straight sets. Two athletes that were the heart and soul of their teams in the finals were A5 libero Gabi Cornier and HJV libero Alice Volpe. Of course, we all love to see amazing defense but liberos who are also calm and can control the serve receive leads teams to massive success. A5 ended up winning in two, 25-20, 25-12.   The 16 Invitational division had HJV 16 Elite facing off against A5 16-Gabe. HJV’s path included a first round against Alamo 16 Premier which they won in three. Next was Drive Nation 16 Red, which HJV swept. A5 started off their bracket play against Houston Skyline 16 Royal, which A5 took in three before beating TAV 16 Black. In the final match, HJV ended up defeating A5 in straight sets. HJV was led by middle Jordan Taylor and outside Aaliyah Smith. A5 was led by setter Abigail Li and libero Francesca Popescu.  The 15 Invitational featured Madfrog 15 Green meeting Skyline 15 Royal in the finals. Madfrog’s path to the final included a first-round in-bracket against Austin Skyline 15 Royal, which Madfrog won in three. Madfrog then swept Alamo 15 Premier. Skyline’s road included a first round win in two against TAV 15 Black followed by a sweep over Houston Skyline 15 Royal. The final match was definitely entertaining with a Skyline victory in three. Madfrog was paced by libero Gabi Rodriquez and outside Kennedy Crayton. Skyline was led by the outside duo of Layla Austin and Skylar Jackson and middle Keoni Williams.  In 14 Invitational TAV 14 Black captured the championship over Madfrog 14 Green in straight sets. Madfrog’s path to the championship match included sweeping Houston Skyline 14 Royal in the first round and doing the same to Excel 14 Red in the next round. TAV’s path included a first round win in two against Austin Skyline 14 Royal followed by another sweep over Skyline 14 Royal. The final match ended up with TAV defeating Madfrog, 25-13, 25-13. TAV’s S/OHs Sophee Peterson and Brynn Stephens anchored a loaded squad while Madfrog was led by setter Charlotte Cavin and outside hitter Vanessa Glenn. While the Invitational divisions get a lot of the focus we wanted to give a shout out to the National division winners. In 18 National, Alamo 18 Premier ended up winning the title over Mexico team NLJuvenil Mayo in two. In 17 National, Houston area clubs Houston Stellar 17 Elite faced off against Katy United 17 Adidas, winning in three. Roots 161 Green defeated SA Xtreme 16U in two in the 16 National division. In 15 National, Houston Skyline 15 Black defeated Texas Legacy 15 Elite in two. And in the 14 National division, Premier 14 Black (Texas) defeated SA Elite 141 Navy in straight sets.  Before we share the weekend’s Show Stoppers we must put out that there were many more athletes that could have been featured in this loaded tournament but with tons of divisions I am sharing the athletes who stood out this weekend in their respective age divisions.  Weekend Show Stoppers  Outside/Opposite Hitters Hannah Benjamin, OH, A5 17 Jing Macaria Spears, OH/Opp, TAV 17 Black Suli Davis, OH, Drive Nation 16 Red Taylor Porter, OH/Opp, Houston Skyline 16 Royal Sydnee Peterson, OH/Opp, TAV 16 Black Lauryn Mack, OH, TAV 16 Black Aaliyah Smith, OH, HJV 16 Elite Megan Fitch, OH, Alamo 16 Premier Henley Anderson, OH, AP 15 Adidas Kennedy Crayton, OH, Madfrog 15 Green Skylar Jackson, OH, Skyline 15  Royal Layla Austin, OH, Skyline 15  Royal Ryan Sadler, OH, A5 15-Bob  Arianna Muoneke, OH, HJV 15 Elite Gwenyth Koss, OH, HJV 15 Elite Mya Cheatum, OH, Austin Juniors 15 Adidas Halle Thompson, OH, Houston Skyline 15 Royal Vanessa Glenn, OH, Madfrog 14 Green Kaylie Davis, OH, Skyline 14 Royal Kate Cuppett, OH, Skyline 14 Royal Lexi Martin, OH, Drive Nation 14 Red Jordan Morrow, OH Houston Skyline 14 Royal Lucky Fasavalu, OH, Austin Skyline 14 Royal Riley Koshkin, OH, Excel 14 Red Liberos Gabriela Cornier, L, A5 17 Jing Alice Volpe, L, HJV 17 Elite Gillian Pitts, L, TAV 17  Black Callie Krueger, L, Austin Skyline 16 Royal Gabriella Rodriquez, L, Madfrog 15 Green Francesca Popescu, L, A5 16-Gabe Middle Blockers Logan Wiley, A5 17 Jing Zoe Humphrey, MB, HJV 17 Elite Favor Anyanwu, MB, TAV 17 Black Ayden Ames, MB,  Drive Nation 17 Red Jaela Auguste, MB, Houston Skyline 17 Royal Jordan Taylor, MB, HJV 16 Elite Zoe Gillen-Malveaux, MB, Drive Nation 16 Red Keoni Williams, MB, Skyline 15  Royal Nyla Livings, MB, TAV 14 Black Setters Grace Agolli, S, A5 17-Jing Savannah Skopal, S, Austin Juniors 17 Adidas  Kirra Musgrove, S Houston Skyline 17 Royal Abigail Li, S, A5 16-Gabe Blair Thiebaud, S, Houston Skyline 15 Royal Sophee Peterson, S/OH, TAV 14 Black Brynn Stephens, S/OH, TAV 14 Black Charlotte Cavin, S, Madfrog 14 Green Nafanua Alofipo, S/Opp, Austin Skyline 14 Royal