Below, we get down to some of the nuts and bolts of Day 2 of the Red Rock Rave in Las Vegas. We’ll have our substantial standout individual players write up after the three-day tournament is complete. Some names from Day 2 that are sure to land on there includes San Gabriel Elite 16 Rosh setter Taylor Yu, Wave 16 Brennan libero Maya Evens and Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar middle Jade Dudley-Epps. A few from 17 Open that are likely to be featured as well includes Tstreet 17 Naseri outside Eva Travis, Legacy Girls 17 Pyramid middle blocker Victoria Davis and Hive 17 Gold middle blocker Maggie Mendelson. From 15 Open, Coast 15-1 pin hitter Ava Poinsett, Wave 15 Scott outside Mae Kordes and Vision 15 Gold outside Ella Duong are also strong candidates to be written about. For now, here are some thoughts on the happenings of Day 2.
17 Open
All the expected top teams are still in contention in 17 Open but it didn’t go down as expected. Drive Nation 17 Red and Sunshine 17 LA each suffered setbacks in their respective pools in the most surprising results of the day.
Sunshine was down three starters in Salt Lake City last month but did get outside Grace Thrower back for Red Rock and was using her at opposite. However, Sunshine fell to Hive 17 Gold in the 1 v 4 match in Pool 6. Sunshine still controlled its own fate though and took advantage. It needed to beat ID Crush 17 Bower to create a three-way tie with Crush and Hive. And in doing so Sunshine would take first. Sunshine pulled through to advance but Hive was the unfortunate tiebreaker recipient as it finished third. Crush taking second is big from the possible trickle-down standpoint, as Crush is in the final eight along with Drive Nation, Club V 17 Ren Reed and AZ Rev 17 Premier – the other previously qualified clubs.
Drive Nation, meanwhile, was already assured a spot in the gold pools when it met Tstreet 17 Naseri in the 1 v 2 match. Both were 2-0, but still Tstreet coming through is a big upset and no doubt a confidence booster for the So Cal club as it looks to gain its Open bid.
Club V, AZ Rev, Coast 17-1 and Wave 17 Juliana were the other pool winners. OJVA 17-1 Gold, OMNI 17 Rick, Excel 17 National Red and Legacy Girls 17 Pyramid also advance as second-place teams from their respective pools. Legacy was the only No. 4 team from a pool to move forward. Legacy topped Tx Performance 17s and Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar to remain alive.
OMNI and Excel remained in the hunt as No. 3 teams from their pools. Excel took down short-handed Aspire 17 Premier – which was playing with 5-6 L/DS Rachel Reed at a middle spot out of need – on its way to taking second. OMNI was able to upend A4 Volley 17 Joaco in the 2 v 3 match to help its cause of making the gold pools.
As a result of Sunshine and Drive Nation both losing, they wound up in the same gold pool for Day 3. Along with AZ Rev. AZ Rev and Drive Nation having bids don’t need to fret, but that’s a difficult pool suddenly for Sunshine.
With four, three-team pools, the pools winners, if unqualified, will almost certainly qualify. But with trickle down not going past seventh place, teams must get second to have any shot. One of the bigger pool matches is in Pool 4 with Coast and Wave. The pool also features OJVA but it figures Coast or Wave will win the pool. The other might find itself having to play out for a bid.
It would be shocking for Club V, in a pool with Legacy and Excel, not to come out ahead and at least create trickle down to fourth place.
It’s possible ID Crush can beat both Tstreet and OMNI and run trickle down to at least fifth. And it’s likely Drive Nation or AZ Rev emerges into the top four from their pool, so I foresee trickle down going to sixth at least.
But in that scenario, the four second-place teams would at least need to play one more match to help decide which clubs get the final two bids. Get your popcorn ready!
16 Open
Gold pools began competition Sunday evening. Pool 1 featured Wave, Vision 16 Gold, Momentous 16 Dan and Drive Nation 16 Red. Pool 2 consisted of Coast 16-1, Arizona Storm 16 Thunder, Long Beach and Seal Beach 16 Black. Coast and Long Beach have their bids and no one else. Beach defeated Coast in an exciting three-setter to open pool play. Seal Beach, which lost to AZ Storm in Salt Lake City, extracted some revenge in beating Storm in the 2 v 4 meeting.
Pool 1 held to seed, with Wave coming back to beat Momentous in three and Vision sweeping Drive Nation.
The furthest trickle down can go to is fifth place. But unless Coast or Beach can make the top four, only pool winners will be guaranteed of qualifying and it may come down to the third-place match. If either Beach or Coast can get into the top four then bracket play won’t impact who qualifies. If both Beach and Coast get into the top four, then it puts the fifth-place match into play for the last bid.
As for Day 2 pool play, Seal Beach had a big day in upsetting SG Elite to finish 2-1 and advance from Pool 1. Pool 2 held to form, with Coast and Drive Nation moving on.
Pool 3 was a bit more complicated. AZ Storm held seed as the top team in going 3-0. But Momentous, Tx Performance 16s and AZ Rev 16 Premier tied at 1-2. Momentous – which fell to AZ Rev after defeating Tx Performance – grabbed the tiebreaker edge for second and remains alive.
Vision turned in an impressive performance by going 3-0 as the No. 3 team in Pool 4. Vision beat Long Beach, City Volleyball 16 Gold and OP2 16-1. The other three teams finished tied at 1-2, with Beach gaining the tiebreaker advantage. Beach was 0-2 but took down City to force that three-way tie and keep City from advancing.
With both Seal Beach and Vision winning their opening gold pool matches, they would be surprise qualifiers if they can continue their run on Day 3.
15 Open
It was an eventful day in 15 Open, which like 16 Open started off gold pools Sunday evening. AZ Storm 15 Thunder, Excel 15 National Red, Coast and TAV 15 Black landed in Pool 1 together. Pool 2 has Wave, Club V 15 Ren Adam, Drive Nation 15 Red and Tstreet 15 Curtis. Storm was the only team to hold seed in the start of gold pools when it downed Coast in straight sets in the 1 v 3 outing. In the 2 v 4 contest, TAV swept Excel. In Pool 2, both matches went the other way when Wave lost to Drive Nation in the 1 v 3 match and Tstreet uprooted Club V in the 2 v 4 match to put the pool upside down so to speak.
Storm and Drive Nation are the only two of the eight with bids already, so trickle down can’t go past fifth place. Drive Nation looks poised to make it out of Pool 2 and should face the winner of Storm-TAV in the final. Either way, Storm and Drive Nation should both finish in the top four, so the fifth-place match is very likely to come into play for the final bid. That would feature the two third-place teams from the respective pools facing off for the last bid.
Getting to the gold pools was wild. Unexpectedly, both TAV and Drive Nation lost matches. Wave upset TAV, while Excel upended Drive Nation to throw some upheaval into the results. Wave went on to win Pool 2 after finishing 2-1 with a loss to AZ Rev 15 Premier. TAV was also 2-1 but Wave owned the head-to-head tiebreaker. Excel finished 3-0 after beating Drive Nation, which moved on at 2-1.
Storm took first at 3-0 in Pool 1. Yet, Aspire 15 Premier, Rage Westside 15 Jen and Tstreet all tied at 1-2. Tstreet started its day losing a heartbreaker to Aspire, 17-15 in the third. Tstreet had to beat Rage in its last outing and produced the sweep and earned the tiebreaker because of it for second place.
Pool 3 was just as crazy. Club V, Coast and ID Crush 15 Bower all tied at 2-1. Club V beat Coast in three after losing to Crush, which lost to Coast. Club V finished first based on having the best set percentage. Coast and Crush tied on set percentage but Coast earned the tiebreaker based on head-to-head I believe. Coast also had the better points ratio. Either way, Coast advanced in second.
