While we headed into the final day of action at the Red Rock Rave knowing the lone bid winner in 18 Open, there were plenty of unknowns and with it loads of anticipation for how the 15-17 Open divisions would play out. True to form, none of those bid races disappointed in the very least. So much so it’s hard determining which one carried the most drama. In 17 Open, four of the eight gold-pool representatives held bids, meaning one of the remaining four would be left out. In 16 Open, none of the eight gold-pool clubs held bids, so only the top three would secure one. And in 15 Open, it was a four-team gold pool with none of those teams qualified yet, so they needed to finish in the top two to qualify. I’ll start with 17 Open, where eventually Wave 17 Juliana finished off a perfect 9-0 weekend by beating previously-qualified Skyline 17 Royal in the championship match. Wave was recently in the mix on the final day at MEQ two weekends ago but a loss to Legacy 17-1 Adidas kept Wave from reaching the final four and qualifying. However, there was no denying the SCVA region club in Las Vegas. Wave – ranked No. 22 in the nation in our Top 50 rankings – beat fourth-ranked Skyline on Sunday in pool play to take over the top seed then once more in the final to punctuate its performance. With Wave going 3-0 in its pool, there was tons of drama between the other three teams as Coast 17 Rodrigo, Excel 17 National Red and Club V 17 Ren Reed all tied at 1-2. Coast earned second based on the tiebreaker, with Excel taking third and Club V fourth. The other gold pool wrapped up with Skyline at 3-0, followed by Surfside 17 Legends (2-1), ID Crush 17 Bower (1-2) and Tx Performance 17-1 (0-3). Surfside and ID Crush held bids already, as did Coast, so that allowed Excel to qualify by tying for fifth. The last bid came down to a showdown between Club V and Tx Performance. It was unranked Club V prevailing in three, 25-22, 15-25, 15-10, to leave town happy. Club V picked up a clutch victory on Day 2 by topping previously-qualified AVA TX 17 Adidas to stay alive and reach the gold pools or else it would have lights out instead. The gold pools in 16 Open opened with a bang Sunday evening before playing out in full Monday. Unranked Sunshine 16 LA upset Wave 16 Scott to throw the pool in flux. However, after a dramatic Day 3 outing, Wave managed to secure its bid after finishing runner-up to SCVC 16 Roxy in the final. Wave was faced with a daunting task in its last gold pool contest, needing to beat No. 10 Hou Skyline 16 Royal in straight sets to advance. All Hou Skyline needed was to win one set and it would have been Sunshine advancing to the final four instead of Wave. The clutch performance not only assured Wave of a bid, it forced Hou Skyline into the third-place match against AZ Rev 16 Premier. AZ Rev had its own drama, needing to beat AZ Sky 16G to play for a bid. The all-Arizona clash went Rev’s way, 27-25, 28-26. However, Rev’s fortune ran out there, as Hou Skyline swept to earn the final bid. Meanwhile, SCVC overcame a slow start Monday, dropping the first set to AZ Rev before prevailing in three. SCVC then swept 1United 16 Blue to reach the final, gaining its bid in the process. SCVC came into the weekend the highest-ranked team in the field at No. 6, followed by No. 10 Hou Skyline and No. 12 Wave. There was only one gold pool in 15 Open, but it didn’t mean half the drama. With the lone qualified team in the field in Hou Skyline 15 Royal out of the top four, it was a race between Wave 15 Brennan, Tstreet 15 Asics, AZ Rev 15 Premier and Forza1 15 One. It started off with AZ Rev, ranked No. 13 nationally, downing No. 9 Wave in two tight sets, 25-22, 29-27. It only heated up from there, with No. 8 Tstreet edging No. 34 Forza, 25-23, 19-25, 18-16. Wave followed by sweeping Forza, then Tstreet snuck out another one, this time clipping AZ Rev, 25-22, 21-25, 15-13. Once AZ Rev swept Forza, it set up an incredible finale between Wave and Tstreet. It was a must-win contest for both sides. Wave would finish 1-2 and in third place with a loss. But, with a win, Wave would force a three-way tie and the way the math was set up, Tstreet would finish third based on tiebreakers no matter what. The one given was AZ Rev was assured a top-two finish and a bid regardless the outcome. Of course, the outing went the distance, with Wave surviving, 28-26, 28-30, 15-9, in dramatic fashion. In 18 Open, TAV 18 Black went a perfect 10-0 to capture the title. It was TAV’s third qualifier victory of the season, to go along with winning Lone Star and Music City. Tstreet 18 Chandler, meanwhile, tied for seventh with SCVC 18 Roxy. Tstreet was the only team in the top eight without a bid and thus qualified through trickle down. AZ Rev 18 Premier took second, with A5 18 Marc beating out Hou Skyline 18 Royal for third.