Until three weekends ago, a club from Idaho had never captured a gold medal in Open at a national qualifier. ID Crush 16 Bower broke that barrier when it went 9-0 and finished first in 16 Open at the Pacific Northwest Qualifier at the end of March.
While the accomplishment was years in the making, it didn’t take nearly that long for ID Crush to repeat the feat after finding itself standing on top of another podium after claiming the 16 Open gold medal Monday at the Salt Lake City Showdown. Most of the drama on the final day of competition in the division centered around ID Crush. As the only team in the field with a bid, ID Crush would greatly impact qualifying.
Here’s what was on the line as ID Crush entered its match against NorCal 16-1 Black in its final outing of the three-team pool. First off, the two sides met at PNQ in a three-team gold pool. ID Crush swept NorCal to win the pool before going on to qualify, so there was that recent memory.
There were also two other interested parties in their latest clash. ID Crush was 1-0 after beating Vegas Aces 16 UA and would clinch the pool and a spot in the final by beating NorCal or by winning a set. Along with it, both OT 16 Roberto and Vegas Aces would earn bids. Meanwhile, Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar had already clinched its bid by winning its three-team pool and reaching the final, but more on that in a moment.
The other scenario was ID Crush losing to NorCal in two – which seemed like a real possibility after NorCal took the first set – and finishing in third place. That would have given Vegas Aces a spot in the final and showdown with Long Beach. It also would have made the third-place match relevant as OT and NorCal would have to square off for the last qualifying spot.
It all became clear once ID Crush fought back and captured the second set against NorCal. ID Crush trailed 9-6 in the third before rallying and winning in three, 30-32, 25-17, 15-11. At that stage, OT and Vegas were done for the day, with no need to play the third-place contest and both coming through with bids. ID Crush capped its weekend by sweeping Long Beach, 25-19, 25-13, in the final and finishing 9-0.
ID Crush qualified last year as a 15s team and obviously took a big step forward this spring in not only winning one but two national qualifiers. But not only did ID Crush capture two gold medals, it didn’t drop a match at either event.
ID Crush started off rocky at PNQ, beating Vision 16 Gold and City 16 Gold in three in its first two matches and then didn’t drop a set the rest of the way. In Salt Lake City, ID Crush dropped a set on Day 1 to Vegas Aces then another set to Vegas Aces in their Day 3 encounter and the one to NorCal. ID Crush also finished tied for fifth at the Red Rock Rave, where it lost to Arizona Storm 16 Thunder in gold pool to miss out on the gold bracket.
At No. 29 in vballrecruiter.com’s Top 50 National Rankings, ID Crush was the second-highest ranked team in 16 Open, one spot behind No. 28 OT 16 Roberto.
OT opened the weekend as the No. 2 team in Pool 2 but took over the No. 2 seed and held it through the start of Monday’s gold pools. It was a rough start, however, as Long Beach swept OT handily to open pool play. Long Beach followed by sweeping Norco 16 Black to clinch the bid outright.
It left OT and Norco in a must-win contest, as the only known at that point is finishing in third meant no bid. OT rebounded from earlier and handled business against Norco, sweeping and putting itself in great position to qualify.
OT fared well in its first shot at qualifying at the Sunshine Classic. There, OT lost to both Hou Skyline 16 Royal and Legacy 16-1 Adidas to finish tied for fifth. Northern Lights was a different tale, where OT stumbled a bit and finished 11th after going 3-4. OT’s only loss this past weekend was to Long Beach in gold pool play. OT pulled out a pair of tough contests on Day 2, first beating Vegas Aces in three before holding off AVA TX 16 Adidas, 16-25, 25-21, 18-16.
Both Vegas Aces and Long Beach came in unranked behind No. 32 AVA and No. 40 NorCal. It could have been lights out for Long Beach on Day 2. The So Cal club finished in a three-way tie at 1-2 with Forza1 16 One and NPJ Salem 16 National and it led to a one-game playoffs after all were equal in set percentage. Long Beach ended up advancing after narrowly downing NPJ, 15-13. There were no such close calls on Day 3, as Long Beach was sharp in pool play and didn’t allow opponents much of an opportunity to apply any pressure of their own.
It was a stark contrast to Long Beach’s time in Spokane, where the squad went 2-5 and finished tied for 11th.
As for Vegas Aces, it already had secured its USA division bid and took advantage of its time in SLC to upgrade to an Open one. Vegas Aces opened the weekend by pushing ID Crush to three before finishing 2-1 and moving on. Day 2 began with a critical victory over AVA TX. Vegas Aces barely lost to OT in the next outing, falling 15-12 in Game 3, before securing a spot in the gold pool by beating OK Charge 16 UA.
Vegas Aces had another shot at ID Crush on Day 3, once again going the distance but not quite able to come out ahead. But Vegas Aces responded with a resounding sweep of NorCal, 25-19, 25-18, to put itself on the verge of qualifying.
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Like ID Crush in 16 Open, the 17 Open gold medalist was also a repeat winner from PNQ in Vision 17 Gold. Vision was one of two teams entered with Open bids – along with Club V 17 Ren Matthew – but was the only one to make the gold pools.
Naturally, Vision found itself in the thick of it on Day 3. Vision and the other three teams in Pool 1 in Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar, NorCal 17-1 Black and City 17 Gold were all tied at 1-1 with two rounds remaining. Vision and City were up first, with Long Beach and NorCal to follow.
SG Elite 17 Rosh and Seal Beach 17 Black were both 2-0 and were attentive to what was happening. Vision beating City would clinch bids for SG Elite and Seal Beach, while setting up a showdown for the final bid between Long Beach and NorCal. However, a City victory would knock Vision from the top four and not award any bids to any team yet.
The drama was kept to a minimum though once Vision swept City. The only bid left to determine was a crazy clash between Beach and NorCal, which eventually held on, 25-21, 25-27, 19-17.
After winning the opening frame, NorCal was cruising at 17-9 in Game 2 before the drama took over. Long Beach clawed back and tied it at 22. NorCal had two match points at 24-23 and 25-24 before Beach prevailed.
The third set was just as wild, with Beach going up 13-11 late. But Beach never saw a match point, as NorCal reeled off three straight to lead 14-13. NorCal had four more looks at it before finally ending the match on Paige Bennett’s kill.
Everything after that was for finishing purposes.
San Gabriel swept Seal Beach to reach the final, where it fell to Vision, 25-22, 23-25, 15-9. It was the only match SG lost all weekend. SG was set to go to Far Western isn’t attending now. It was SG’s third attempt at qualifying after going to both Red Rock at PNQ.
San Gabriel made the gold pools in Las Vegas but missed out on the gold bracket with a loss to Coast 17-1. In Spokane, SG was one victory away from earning a bid but fell in the third-place match to SCVC 17 Roxy. SG was determined to qualify in Salt Lake. SG defeated Vision in three sets on Day 2 in pool play in the only other set it lost.
Vision was playing without right side Cleo Hardin, so winning another qualifier was a great accomplishment. SG came in ranked No. 17 in our Top 50, followed by Vision at No. 21. City sits at No. 38, while Long Beach is at No. 46. However, it was unranked Seal Beach and NorCal coming through.
NorCal’s bid came in dramatic fashion as we highlighted and came on the heels of finishing in ninth place at PNQ. NorCal started off Day 2 with a loss to DaKine Warriors 17 Surf in three but still made the gold pools, which began Sunday evening. NorCal opened by sweeping City, which beat NorCal at PNQ. NorCal then lost its morning match to Vision before clinching its bid against Long Beach.
Like SG, Seal Beach was also part of the gold pools in Las Vegas but fell to eventual champ Drive Nation 17 Red and Absolute 17 Black to finish tied for ninth. Seal Beach had a grind of a weekend in Salt Lake, opening with a three-set victory over Rage 17 Greg. Seal Beach closed the day with a three-set loss to SASVBC 17-1 and that knocked Seal Beach into a Day 2 pool with qualified Club V.
Seal Beach came up clutch though, first outlasting City in three, 24-26, 25-21, 15-13, before getting past Club V, 25-22, 22-25, 15-7 and winning the pool. Seal Beach then opened gold pools by sneaking past DaKine, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12, before beating Tx Performance, 25-22, 20-25, 15-9, and eventually earning its bid.
