Qualifying season concludes this weekend with Far Western in Reno. Below, we give a quick rundown, including our predictions of who wins and who gets Open bids.
17 Open
Number of Teams: 22
Number of Bids: 3
Teams With Bids (3): Club V 17 Ren Reed; Club V 17 Ren Matthew; Hou Skyline 17 Royal
Outlook: Though there are only 22 teams in the field all three bids are set to be awarded since there were more than 24 teams originally registered to participate. If less than 24 teams are registered, then only two bids would go. It’s significant in the fact that with only three teams in the division here with bids, all three bids are going to be handed out and that means there are going to be zero at-large bids in 17 Open. Hou Skyline 17 Royal, which qualified two weekends ago at Lone Star, starts off as the top seed. Club V 17 Ren Reed, Academy 17 Diamond, Club V 17 Ren Matthew, NorCal 17-1 Black, OJVA 17-1 Gold, Co Jrs 17 Kevin and Nebraska Elite 17 Vici follow – in order – as the remaining top eight seeds. Many of the teams here also participated in the Red Rock Rave in Las Vegas. It’s a great opportunity for teams to cash in and collect bids. OJVA and OMNI 17 Rick were both in the gold pools in Vegas. Co Jrs was in the gold pools earlier this season in Salt Lake City. Academy tied for fifth at MEQ. SynergyForce 17 Jeff and Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar are two more to keep watch for.
Prediction: We’re going with Club V Reed beating Hou Skyline in the final. The three teams taking home bids are Co Jrs, Academy and OJVA.
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16 Open
Number of Teams: 29
Number of Bids: 3
Teams With Bids (3): Club V 16 Ren Wayne; Skyline 16 Royal; Vision 16 Gold
Outlook: Top-seeded Skyline 16 Royal is among three teams with bids so we know all three bids available here are going to be awarded. Seeded behind Skyline is No. 2 Vision 16 Gold, No. 3 Club V 16 Ren Wayne, No. 4 Momentous 16 Dan, No. 5 SG Elite 16 Rosh, No. 6 Hou Skyline 16 Royal, No. 7 Absolute Black 16-1, and No. 8 City Volleyball 16 Gold. It’s likely the three bids go to three of the teams seeded 4-8. Momentous was knocking on the door for its bid at the Red Rock Rave. San Gabriel was within a victory of a bid at PNQ. Hou Skyline tied for ninth two weekends ago at Lone Star.
Prediction: The choice is Skyline topping Momentous in the final. Momentous gets its bid. The other two qualifying are Hou Skyline and SG.
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15 Open
Number of Teams: 21
Number of Bids: 3
Teams With Bids (4): Absolute Black 15-1; Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar; NE Elite 15 Matrix; NorCal 15-1 Black
Outlook: Like 17 Open, even though there are less than 24 teams in the field, all three bids are set to go out. That’s because at least 24 teams were registered before some pulled out. Absolute Black 15-1 – winners of PNQ – drew the top seed. Following are No. 2 NorCal 15-1 Black, No. 3 Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar, No. 4 NE Elite 15 Matrix, No. 5 Coast 15-1 Luis, No. 6 Vision 15 Gold, No. 7 Club V 15 Ren Adam and No. 8 Rage 15 Greg. Teams seeded 5-8 are definitely teams to watch out for when it comes to qualifying. ID Crush 15 Bower, seeded No. 9 is another. A possible sleeper could be No. 16 AZ Rev 15 Premier.
Prediction: The selection is Long Beach topping Absolute in the final. The bids go out to Coast, Club V and Vision.
