The first three bids of the season went to Co Jrs 16 Sherri, Club V 16 Ren Wayne and Coast 16-1. I took some time noting how their weekends played out already. So now it’s time to switch gears and take a look at some other happenings that stood out to me in 16 Open in Salt Lake City.
SEEDINGS ARE HARD EARLY
As I noted with 17 Open, it’s tough to seed a qualifier early on. Results are limited so it can be a bit of a guessing game, it’s just the way it is. The top three seeds respectively in AZ Storm 16 Thunder, Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar and Coast 16-1 were close. Coast took the last bid over Storm and Beach finished in a three-way tie in gold pools but caught the short end of the tiebreaker stick and didn’t get to play for a bid. That wasn’t the case with the next group of original seeds in No. 4 Rockwood Thunder 16 Elite, No. 5 Madfrog 16 Green, No. 6 Gainesville Jrs 16 Black and No. 7 DCVA 16 Hong. Rockwood was bounced from contention on Day 1. The other three were knocked out on Day 2 and didn’t reach gold pools. Co Jrs, seeded No. 8, won the event of course. Club V, which finished second to Co Jrs, opened as the No. 15 seed overall. Rev 16-1 Fury was the lowest seed to make gold pools after opening as the No. 17 overall seed.
OPEN SPOTS RESERVED
I think these five teams are going to earn an Open bid for sure as qualifier season continues on:
AZ Storm 16 Thunder: Storm was a victory away from qualifying, going down to Coast in the third-place match. Admittingly, this is a tough team to write about in the sense it really is more about the sum of its parts. Piper Rama and Blaykli Bobik were taking up spots at outsides, with setter Ireland Avalos also having middles Camila Carnejo-Farmer and Skyler Gartin as options. Storm lost its opening match on Day 1 to Rev 16-1 Fury but then won seven in row, including beating Madfrog, Coast and AZ Rev 16 Premier on Day 2. Storm could’ve clinched a bid outright but fell to Co Jrs to end gold pool play before facing Coast again.
Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar: Losing out on set percentage after a three-way tie at 2-1 in gold pools kept Beach from a chance at qualifying. Beach was done in by Club V on Day 1 and then again to open gold pool action Saturday evening. Beach responded by beating both Coast and OT in three sets to force the three-way tie with Coast and Club V. There’s not much height to this group but Beach can scrap and has a high IQ player in setter/right side Charlie Fuerbringer. She was running a 5-1 on the last day and is very smooth at what she does. The team’s only real height comes from Babi Gubbins on the left. The attack can be pin heavy at times, with Fuerbringer also targeting Kate Martin at outside and Gabriella Destler, who was playing right side. Bryn Shankle and Jade Dudley-Epps fill out the middle spots. The defense does help carry Beach with liberos Malyssa Cawa and Summer Suppik plus DS Taylor Mercado doing good jobs.
OT 16 J Will: There’s an element of what-if to OT’s weekend in Salt Lake. While OT made it to gold pools, it finished 0-3 against Coast, Club V and Long Beach. However, the losses to Coast (15-11 in the third) and Beach (15-13 in the third) could have gone the other way and it would have been a different story. Chelsea Sutton is a game-changer in the middle with her size and ability to disrupt opponents with her blocking and as well as her attacking. Rauly Eason also has some physicality to her as well in the middle. Connor Rahn carries a good swing and a portion of the offense at outside. OT just needs to learn to play with more consistency because its performance was too up and down at times. When OT figures that out it’ll get its Open bid.
Rev 16-1 Fury: Rev Fury had a tough go at it in gold pools, falling to AZ Storm, Co Jrs and Flyers 16 Dylan. It did beat Storm on Day 1 and OT on Day 2, so the squad is capable of playing at a high enough level to qualify. For one, it has a rising talent in 6-3 outside Lauren Harden. With her, Rev is going to competitive against just about anyone. There’s also height at other places with Lilah Odegard (6-4) in the middle and Madison Evett (6-2) on the right. Those are a few targets for setter Kamryn Utley. Harden, Evett and Utley, as well as middle Lucy Kay and outside Sydney Lohman, came to Rev this season after playing for Team Indiana a year ago and tying for third in 15 Open at AAUs. There’s no doubt this squad is hungry to make it to Open at JN’s in 2022.
Madfrog 16 Green: One of the surprises of the weekend was seeing Madfrog knocked from contention on Day 2. Madfrog was without its best player though in outside Avery Jackson. When she returns watch out because this team has firepower. Lainee Pyles was moved from the middle to play one of the outside positions, along with Brianna Watson. Lillian Croshaw is a physical middle with a big block while Kate Mansfield fills out the other middle spot. Akunna Cos-Okpalla is a high-jumping right side so there’s plenty to work with. When Jackson returns Madfrog will have options. The staff could move Pyles to the right as she looked solid swinging from the pin, or it could use Croshaw on the right and put Pyles back in the middle. Whatever the case, this team is far from hitting its potential and will gain its Open bid before qualifying season ends.
KEEP A WATCHFUL EYE OUT
Be on the lookout for these two teams as qualifying season continues as they could find their way into the Open field:
Flyers 16 APX Dylan: Flyers tied for fifth with Long Beach but unfortunately I didn’t see a lot of them on the weekend. However, one bright spot is 6-2 middle blocker/right side Jessica Jones. She’s a handful and a game-changer for Flyers.
Gainesville Jrs 16 Black: Gainesville was eliminated on Day 2 with setbacks against Club V and Co Jrs, the two finalists, so there’s no shame there. Gainesville beat Madfrog on Day 3 in a good win for the club. Outside Brooklyn Tealer was one of the more impressive outsides to watch as she did her thing. She’s a flier with a big arm and a potent scorer.
