I wrote about the 17 Open bid winners – Club V 17 Ren Reed, Alamo 17 Premier and AZ Rev 17 Premier – already and now I’m going to turn my attention to some other points of interest that caught my attention over the three days being in Salt Lake City.
SEEDINGS REFLECT THAT’S IT EARLY
Early in the season, with really just Triple Crown to go off of, it’s difficult to seed a qualifier like SLC. For instance, top-seeded Coast 17-1 didn’t qualify. Neither did second-seeded Sunshine 17 LA. Fourth-seeded Texas Fury 17 Legacy, fifth-seeded Austin Skyline 17 Royal and seventh-seeded AsicsWillowbrook 17 Gold didn’t reach gold pools. Co Jrs 17 Kevin, seeded 23rd, finished fourth. Two qualifiers in Club V (seeded No. 6) and AZ Rev (seeded No. 11) were paired together in a Day 1 pool.
IN DUE TIME
Some notes on five teams I’m very confident will qualify for Open down the road:
Coast 17-1: The top seed was virtually untouchable through the first two rounds of pool. Then Coast opened up gold pool play by squeaking past ID Crush 17 Bower in three, 25-18, 21-25, 17-15. On Sunday though, Coast plays without stud outside and BYU commit Claire Little and that changes the lineup quite a bit. On Day 3, Coast fell to AZ Rev in straight sets before downing Club V in three to force a three-way tie but took third behind those two and was eliminated from bid contention. Coast is still formidable without Little but Little gives them a finisher from the front and back row. Milan Bayless is a fun outside to watch with the energy and athleticism she plays with, while Coast turns to Catherine Schnell to fill in Little’s absence. Schnell has good passing and ball control skills yet just isn’t quite on Little’s level in terms of scoring. Coast can also use Jillian Neal to plug in for Little and Neal adds some physicality to the front row but isn’t quite as dynamic as Little. Setter Zoe Rachow still has a strong target in the middle in Brooklyn Briscoe and on the right side with Noemie Glover. And with libero Sydney Bold and DS Brooklyn Yelland helping hold down the back court, Coast is tough no matter what because they add such strong ball skills to the lineup.
Co Jrs 17 Kevin: This squad lost in the third-place match, finishing fourth and missing a bid by one spot. The team didn’t fare as well as it had hoped at Triple Crown and spent the time since developing a more balanced attack and not having to rely so heavily on its outsides in Sydney Dunning and Dani Cranford. It worked, with middles Lillia Neill, Nicole Martin and Haley Glunz all seeing time and getting involved. Co Jrs also has some talented attackers on the right in Gabi Placide and Annika Sokol, who also sets in the back row, and will run both on the X to mix up the offense. One front row lineup that proved to be effective was Dunning on the left, Neill in the middle and Placide on the right. Co Jrs lost to Coast to end the second round of pool play then opened gold pool with a tough loss three-set loss to Alamo. But Co Jrs pulled out a key victory over Sunshine before falling to Madfrog and ending in a three-way tie. Co Jrs grabbed second and faced AZ Rev for the last bid but AZ Rev played too well and Co Jrs will have to earn its bid another time.
Sunshine 17 LA: Seeded second, Sunshine was not fully healthy but was in contention on the final day for a bid but couldn’t come out of gold pool. Sunshine was missing some key pieces in outside Grace Thrower, right side Avery Jones and one of its liberos in Saylor Little. Thrower and Jones can help spread out the offense so Sunshine isn’t relying so much on outside Torrey Stafford and right Olivia Babcock. Stafford and Babcock can take over matches but it’s asking a lot of the pair to carry as heavy a load as they did all weekend long. Carly Greskovics is the other libero and did a solid job, but usually pairs with Little in that role and Sunshine missed some of that depth. Drew Wright did a great job filling in for Thrower. She’s a strong passer and can score at times, but doesn’t have the same length as Thrower in the front row. Dior Charles plays a valuable role in the middle, especially with her blocking, but her and Catherine Maffei weren’t involved in the offense for stretches at a time because Sunshine’s passing can be hot and cold. Still, as long as Stafford and Babcock are on the court, Sunshine is always a threat.
ID Crush 17 Bower: Teams are going to have to bring it to beat ID Crush, that much is known after SLC. Alamo played its best match of the tournament in sweeping ID Crush handily but outside that ID Crush was a tough out when it lost. It came within two points of upsetting Coast to open gold pools and pushed AZ Rev to three to end gold pool. The 17s division has some big teams and ID Crush fits right in in that sense. Outsides Alexandra Acevedo and Delaney Bub are consistent scorers, with Acevedo playing six rotations and a threat from the back row as well. Setter Alexandra Bower and libero Sierra Grizzle also play important roles and contribute to the team’s success. The feeling here is Crush gained confidence from the way it competing over the weekend and is only going to get better from it, so watch for this team to make some noise at some later qualifiers.
Madfrog 17 Green: After losing to Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar to open play Friday, Madfrog needed to beat SIVBC 17 Storm just to advance out of Round 1 pools. Then after losing to Club V in Round 2 pool, Madfrog had to beat Aspire 17 Premier to reach gold pools. That was the end of the line for Madfrog, which downed Co Jrs but fell to Sunshine and Alamo to finish in a three-way tie at 1-2 and took fourth. Regardless, I’d be shocked if Madfrog didn’t grab an Open bid eventually. This is a big team with a legit weapon in outside Blaire Bayless, who is committed to Pitt. She was as impressive as any outside in Salt Lake, with her lanky frame and ability to score over, around and off the block with authority. Bayless can team up with middle Lyric Berry and right side Reese Miller for a long front row. It’s an even longer front row when Bayless is up front with middle Logan Carr and right side Natalie Hughes. Carr and Hughes form one of the bigger right side blocks I saw. Lefty Hope Briggs is also a part of the offensive make up and plays outside, though she’ll lineup and play on the right at times too.
TEAMS ON THE CUSP
Here’s four teams I think could eventually qualify for Open but aren’t quite a lock like the five mentioned above after seeing them play in SLC:
AsicsWillowbrook 17 Gold: Willowbrook lost to Co Jrs on Day 1 then got stuck in a tough Day 2 pool, losing to Alamo and ID Crush before finishing ninth overall. I thought libero Emily Riley was solid in at her position, with Gabriella Espiricueta also filling in at that spot as well. Willowbrook has sound options in the middle in Farah Farooq and Allana Archie. Both get off the ground well. Outside Ariana Brown carries a hammer and passes very well out of serve receive. The parts are there if Willowbrook can just catch a break or two.
Aspire 17 Premier: The weekend ended with a loss to Willowbrook, 21-19 in the third. The other setbacks Aspire endured came against strong clubs in Sunshine, Club V and Madfrog. Aspire edged out AZ Storm 17 Thunder on Sunday for a good victory. Aspire isn’t nearly as big as some of giant teams in the 17s so it really has to be sharp passing and limiting errors. Outside Avery Burks and libero Lauren Mullings were passing nearly the entire court at times in serve receive. Outside Neomi Beach can leap and has a nice swing. Aspire uses middle Amanda Hardt on the slide, while right side Kierstyn Barton can really blast it front and back row. Aspire lost a set to Sunshine, 25-22, a set to Club V, 28-26, and a set to Madfrog, 27-25, so it can be right there and is close at times. Learning to finish those close sets is key.
AZ Storm 17 Thunder: There were only two sets all weekend when Storm wasn’t competitive. One came against Coast and the other against Aspire. Other than that, Storm was in the 20s in every other set loss that happened. That shows Storm is right there, especially when it’s happening against teams like Coast, Alamo and Co Jrs. Like Aspire, finishing those sets will make all the difference. The team has some strong pin hitters to rely on in outsides Kamryn Gibadlo and Ali Wiest, both of who hit out of the back row too, and right side Sarah Wadsworth. If Storm can clean up some mistakes and errors and make opponents earn a few more points, Storm could break through and qualify Open.
Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar: Beach tied for 11th with Storm. It scored an impressive Day 1 victory over Madfrog but then stumbled in its next outing and went down to SIVBC 17 Storm. Beach is undersized compared to other teams that finished ahead in the standings. But if Beach can get some things together, it could find a way to qualify down the line. Setter/right side Fatimah Hall fills key roles for Beach and can add some physicality hitting on the right. Beach really needs to pass well though in order to get middles Chase Koepke and Liz Hertzog involved so the offense doesn’t become too predictable. Outsides Samarah DaCoud and Ameena Campbell aren’t the tallest outsides but are springy attackers that help make up for it but need some help.
