The past weekend was one of the busier of the season and should have been even busier than it was. With the opening weekends of the Red Rock Rave and Northeast qualifiers, the second weekend of the Sunshine Classic, Bluegrass and the Boston Festival, something was happening just about everywhere – except for Reno. The Sierra 18s National Qualifier was snowed out and rescheduled two weeks later in Sacramento.
It was simply one of those weekends. The schedule exhales and slows down this coming weekend, with Part 2 of the Red Rock Rave featuring the older age groups the only major tournament slated. Let’s check out what went down across the country over the weekend.
RED ROCK RAVE WEEKEND 1
Skyline 15 Royal continues on! The Triple Crown champions showed why they are currently the No. 1 ranked team in the country after going 10-0 and winning 15 Open at the Red Rock Rave last weekend. Skyline qualified in the process as well.
The latest update to vballrecruiter.com’s 15s National Rankings on March 2 featured Skyline as the top-ranked club. That’s because after winning Triple Crown Skyline boasted an impressive win-loss sheet. The only three teams to top Skyline so far are Madfrog 15 Green, Hou Skyline 15 Royal and Boiler Jrs 15 Gold. That’s to go with victories over Austin Skyline 15 Royal (three times), TAV 15 Black (twice), Madfrog (twice), Alamo 15 Premier, Hou Skyline, Drive Nation 15 Red and AP 15 Adidas. To me, it’s clear Skyline deserved the top spot.
The main question is what would happen once Skyline was there? Would there be a letdown after winning Triple Crown? Would teams be able to catch up after themselves improving in the last few weeks? Skyline dropped just one set in Las Vegas, in a victory over No. 33 GP 15 Rox on the last day. Other victories came against national No. 4 Madfrog, No. 15 Wave 15 Brennan and No. 19 Forza1 North 14 One.
Joining Skyline in bidding was runner-up Madfrog and third-place TAV, which defeated Wave for the last bid. As I noted in the preview, it was a deep field with 22 of the 38 teams appearing in our Top 50. It was also interesting to note that the three highest-ranked teams in our Top 50 all qualified in No. 1 Skyline, No. 4 Madfrog and No. 5 TAV.
Triple Crown runner-up and national No. 10 SCVC 15 Roxy finished tied for fifth after suffering its only loss of the weekend in gold pool play to Madfrog. AZ Sky 15G – ranked No. 13 nationally – backed up its strong performance at Triple Crown by also tying for fifth. TAV was the only opponent to beat AZ Sky, with that result also coming in gold pool. AZ Sky did pick up big victories over both Drive Nation and Madfrog on Day 2.
Aspire 15 Premier had a solid weekend. Ranked No. 41 in our Top 50, Aspire upset No. 14 Hou Skyline 15 Royal on Day 2 and finished in a three-way tie at 2-1 with Hou Skyline and Wave. Aspire took second based on tiebreakers while Hou Skyline was third and eliminated from bid contention.
While we all missed wanting to see Arizona Storm 14 Thunder and Tstreet 14 Carson meet up at Triple Crown, the two found themselves on the same court in the 14 Open final in Las Vegas. Storm completed its perfect 10-0 weekend by downing Tstreet in three, 23-25, 25-15, 15-8. Both earned their bids, as did Mizuno Long Beach 14 Rockstar. Long Beach held off Madfrog 14 Green, 15-25, 28-26, 15-10, in the third-place match to earn the final bid. That victory felt great for Long Beach for two reasons. Not only did Long Beach qualify, but it lost twice to Madfrog in Kansas City so it got one back.
Arizona Storm and Tstreet were the two highest-ranked teams, with Storm No. 1 in our Top 50 and Tstreet No. 3. Madfrog followed at No. 4, while Long Beach is currently No. 11. Skyline 14 Royal – ranked No. 5 – tied for fifth with No. 15 Wave 14 Tammy. National No. 11 Forza1 14 One and No. 19 Forza1 North 14 One – neither of which were at Triple Crown – both tied for seventh. The Hawaiian club and ninth-place finisher Mauloa 14-1 was another team not at Triple Crown but managed to crack the Top 10.
With 26 teams competing, 14 Open wasn’t as big as 15 Open but was another competitive field. Of those 26, 14 are ranked in our Top 50. That includes 10 inside the Top 20. I thought with Arizona Storm and Tstreet in the field, they were the obvious favorites to bid. A lot of it came down to which would be the third team joining the bid party and we got an answer with Long Beach. That’s a well-earned bid.
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SUNSHINE CLASSIC WEEKEND 2
We finally have our first Open bids from the 16s age group. Every other age group already had Open qualifiers but it took the 16s until this past weekend to get on the board. And what a beginning it was!
Talk about the unexpected, that’s exactly what happened in Orlando. Whereas our national rankings held up at the Red Rock Rave in 14 and 15 Open, 16 Open at Sunshine shattered them. None of our top seven ranked teams qualified there. In fact, national No. 30 HPSTL 16 Royal took home the gold medal and one of the three bids.
HPSTL finished 25th at Triple Crown and that didn’t inspire hopes of HPSTL coming to Orlando and taking care of business. But that’s how it played out, with HPSTL coming on strong on the final day. HPSTL upset No. 8 A5 16 Gabe and beat No. 42 Rockwood Thunder 16 Elite in gold pool action to make the four-team gold bracket. HPSTL then topped No. 44 GP 16 Rox in the semis and No. 18 Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal in the final. GP then upset No. 5 Hou Skyline 16 Royal in the third-place match to clinch the last bid.
It was a wild weekend to be sure, as none of the four highest-ranked teams in No. 5 Hou Skyline, No. 8 A5, No. 9 OT 16 JP and No. 12 Mich Elite 16 Mizuno qualified. At the same time, both Tribe and GP were expected to take steps forward this year with the roster additions they made. Tribe added 5-star outside Kelly Kinney while GP brought on 4-star S/RS Kayden Green and 4-star outside Elena Maynulet and it paid immediate dividends with both earning Open bids at the first qualifier.
I was expecting GP to do better last month at Triple Crown, where it came in 42nd. GP lost to A5 on Day 1 in Orlando and then to HPSTL in the semis. GP picked up key victories against No. 15 Dynasty 15 Black and No. 9 OT 16 JP along the way, but of course beating No. 5 Hou Skyline for the bid was everything.
Tribe went 5-4 overall, managing to win at the right times. Tribe lost to No. 16 Legacy 16-1 Adidas on Day 1 and to Hou Skyline on Day 2. Tribe lost to Legacy again on Day 3 but finished in a three-way tie at 1-1 with Legacy and No. 17 Austin Skyline 16 Royal. Tribe earned the first-place tiebreaker to advance.
In 17 Open, OT 17 Aaron continues to show it’s a top contender in the division. The club took second at Triple Crown and backed that by going 10-0 and winning 17 Open at Sunshine. The only set OT Aaron lost came to OT 17 Felix in the final, 24-26, 25-19, 15-4. Both those teams qualified, as did Triangle 17 Black after downing surprise Mintonette Sports m.71 in three, 22-25, 25-11, 15-6.
The top-two ranked teams in the field in No. 1 A5 17 Jing and No. 4 TAV 17 Black finished tied for fifth. A5 already had its bid after earning one at Northern Lights. A5 was upset by Mintonette in gold pool play. TAV also lost just once, falling to OT Felix in gold pool.
OT Aaron entered ranked No. 10 in the country after its showing at Triple Crown. Triangle is ranked No. 5 while No. 24 OT Felix was the fifth-highest ranked team in the field.
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NEQ WEEKEND 1
Part of the opening weekend of the Northeast Qualifier included 17 Open, a division where Metro 17 Travel, Rev 17-1 Raptors and Hou Skyline 17 Royal took home bids. While Metro and Hou Skyline were among the highest-ranked teams competing, Rev recently dropped out of our Top 50.
Led by 5-star Florida commit Lauren Harden, I was definitely expecting something from Rev this season but it’s been a rocky start. Before heading to Sunshine, Rev took losses against Mintonette, Elevation 17 Ulland, Rock City 17-1 and Tri-State Elite 17 Blue, as well as DaKine Warriors 17 Surf. While Rev has also beaten DaKine, it didn’t own a single victory over a Top-50 team prior to Day 3 in Philly.
At NEQ, Rev lost to unranked Adversity 17 Adidas on Day 1 and unranked Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar on Day 2 before surprising on the last day. Rev upset both No. 11 Rockwood Thunder 17 Elite – which was the highest-ranked team in the field – and No. 13 Hou Skyline to reach the final. Hou Skyline, the second-highest ranked team playing, went on to beat No. 34 AJV 17 Adidas for the final bid. AJV topped Hou Skyline on Day 2 in three sets, so that was payback for Hou Skyline.
Meanwhile, Metro came in sitting at No. 19 in the national rankings and was attempting to qualify for the second time this season after finishing in seventh at Northern Lights. Metro started off with a three-set victory over unranked VC United 17 Elite but didn’t lose a set the rest of the way in finishing 9-0.
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QUALIFYING NOTES
With the younger ages just getting under way for their Open qualifying runs, the 18s are winding down. There are just 12 bids left to be earned outright across four remaining qualifiers. There are also four at-large bids to be awarded, so in all 16 more teams are still left to be added.
As of now, Coast 18-1 is the highest-ranked team without a bid. Coast is currently ranked No. 2 in our 18s Top 50 and is headed to the Red Rock Rave this coming weekend in Las Vegas. At No. 6, HVJ 18 Elite is the only other Top-10 without an Open at the moment and is also at Red Rock.
Another team still without an Open bid is No. 30 Elevation 18 Spinney. Elevation upset No. 3 Munciana 18 Samurai this past weekend in the 18 Open final at Bluegrass.
Of the six 18s teams to earn Open bids this past weekend, four were ranked in the Top 50. They were No. 22 OT 18 John and No. 37 MKE Sting 18 Gold – which both qualified in Boston – and No. 47 VC United 18 Elite and No. 42 AJV 18 Adidas – which both qualified at NEQ. The other two in EC Power 18 Royal and Tribe 18 Elite Cardinal were unranked in our Top 50.
Red Rock Rave is up this weekend, followed by both MEQ and Sierra 18s next weekend. The Pacific Northwest Qualifier is in three weeks and will conclude the 18s qualifying schedule, with only the at-larges to be announced at that point.
The 17s qualifying is a bit further along the any other of the younger ages due to Northern Lights back in January, with nine already earning bids. Of that group, four are in the Top 10 in No. 1 A5, No. 2 Dynasty 17 Black, No. 5 Triangle and No. 10 OT Aaron. As mentioned above, currently unranked Rev just picked up its Open bid at NEQ.
