The first three teams to pick up 16 Open bids occurred at the Salt Lake City Showdown. Co Jrs 16 Sherri finished on top of the field with a perfect record after beating Club V 16 Ren Wayne in the final. Coast 16-1 earned the final bid by beating AZ Storm 16 Thunder in the third-place match. Below, we recap the three bid winners’ weekend in Salt Lake.
Co Jrs 16 Sherri (First, 10-0)
- Day 1: d. AP 16 Adidas (25-11, 25-13); d. SF Elite 16 Saga (25-14, 25-8); d. Livewire 16 Adidas (25-19, 26-24)
- Day 2: d. Xcel VB Adidas (25-16, 25-10); d. Gainesville Jrs 16 Black (25-19, 25-23); d. Club V 16 Ren Wayne (25-23, 25-22); d. Flyers 16 Dylan (25-20, 25-23)
- Day 3: Rev 16-1 Fury (24-26, 25-18, 15-12); d. AZ Storm 16 Thunder (25-10, 25-16); d. Club V 16 Ren Wayne (25-18, 25-18)
It was nearly a flawless three days of volleyball for Co Jrs 16 Sherri as it captured not only a bid but the 16 Open crown in Salt Lake City, going 10-0 in matches and dropping just one set along the way. Co Jrs capped its impressive run by downing Club V 16 Ren Wayne in straight sets, 25-18, 25-18, in the final, the fifth time the Colorado club didn’t allow more than 20 points to an opponent in either set on the weekend.
“I think we had hoped we could do it but I’m not sure we expected to or that I expected to anyway,” Co Jrs coach Sherri Hawkins said of the team’s undefeated run to the bid. “It was definitely a strong field. If you compared our results to other teams in the field from Triple Crown, we had the fifth-best record from there.”
An integral part of Co Jrs – which tied for 21st at Triple Crown – is 6-1 S/RS Izzy Starck. Co Jrs defeated Club V on Day 2 before beating Club V again in the final and there really wasn’t any stopping her either time, Club V coach Wayne Wood said.
“That Co Jrs setter/opposite No. 9 (Starck) played amazing volleyball,” he said. “I feel like we were able to minimize some of their other hitters but we had no answer for her. We watched game film to see how we could improve and I’m not sure I’ve seen another opposite as dynamic as her.”
While Co Jrs can turn to Starck in tough moments, she’s hardly responsible for carrying the bulk of the scoring. Avah Armour – a 6-6 junior OH/RS committed to Central Florida – more than had her moments as Co Jrs moved her around between outside and right side. Outside Paityn Chapman, at 6-3, is another tall and effective option that’s plenty involved.
They are part of a lineup that is not lacking in height. Middle/RS Addie Kanouff is 6-5, as is middle Marae Reilly. Even the team’s shortest middle in Grace Woodring at 5-10 plays taller, as she touches 9-8. Back row setter Regan Kadel is 5-10, so there is length pretty much everywhere. Toss in libero Ella Vogel and DS Eve McLaury – the only newcomer to the roster – and there aren’t any holes and it’s what makes Co Jrs dangerous when the team is on and clicking.
“I think we had a well-balanced attack,” Hawkins said. “I think we were able to pretty much attack anywhere on the court and that helped. The blockers couldn’t key in on one hitter because we had multiple people attacking with a high kill percentage.”
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Club V 16 Ren Wayne (Second, 7-3)
- Day 1: d. NCVC 16 Blue (25-4, 25-14); d. Alamo 16 Premier (20-25, 25-17, 15-11); d. Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar (27-29, 25-12, 15-11)
- Day 2: d. Gainesville 16 Black (25-17, 25-23); d. Xcel 16 Adidas (25-14, 25-22); l. Co Jrs 16 Sherri (25-23, 25-22); d. Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar (25-21, 25-21)
- Day 3: d. OT 16 J Will (25-16, 25-16); l. Coast 16-1 (25-19, 25-11); l. Co Jrs 16 Sherri (25-18, 25-18)
If we’re to use Triple Crown as a guide, Club V 16 Ren Wayne wasn’t on the radar as a potential qualifier in Salt Lake City. After finishing tied for 41st in Kansas City, Club V opened its first qualifier of the season seeded No. 15 overall. But after Day 1, there was ample proof Club V could contend if it kept its level of play up after knocking off Alamo 16 Premier and Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar en route to winning its pool.
A chance at qualifying became a reality by the time Club V upended Long Beach for the second time a day later as the two sides opened gold pool action against one another. At that point, Club V had only lost to Co Jrs 16 Sherri and entered Day 3 in as good a spot as any to clinch a bid. It came to fruition Sunday when Club V beat OT 16 J Will before falling to Coast 16-1, ending in a three-way tie with Coast and Long Beach while owning the tiebreaker and advancing to the final where it fell to Co Jrs once more. “It was a great team weekend,” Club V coach Wayne Wood said. “I’ve coached a couple of teams that have qualified for Open but this is the first one to do it at the first qualifier of the year. The core of this team won USA at Nationals last year so they fell short of getting the Open bid. We added a couple of players and it really took every one of them this weekend.”
Club V suffered a setback before Triple Crown when it lost libero Trinidy Tien for the season to an ACL injury. That left a big void in the lineup that needed filling and the team turned to Greta Brown, one of their outsides, to fill it.
“She played huge,” Wood said. “Hats off to her. She had to shoulder a lot of responsibility. This was only her second tournament at libero and she anchored our serve receive and anchored our defense. She understood we needed a libero and that if she could be successful at the position we could be successful as a team.”
Samantha Blackett and Elina Mortensen are capable of carrying the offense at times on the outside but the full arsenal of Club V can be realized when the team is passing well. Middle Zoey Burgess is a 6-2 weapon who changes the course of matches when she’s involved. Ava Naplerski also brings value to the position, which is why Wood said he believes his middle duo is among the best in the country. Wood also said his right sides in Hannah Olsen and Cala Cooper helped spread out the offense for setters Kate Ohlsen and Alyssa Anderson.
“Serving tough is another one of the focuses,” Wood said. “Long Beach was another great team but we were able to serve them tough and get them out of system and that helped simplify the defense.”
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Coast 16-1 (Third, 8-2)
- Day 1: d. UPVBC 16 Open (25-8, 25-15); d. Club V 16 Ren Matt (25-23, 25-17); d. Excel National 16 Red (25-22, 25-13)
- Day 2: d. AZ Rev 16 Premier (25-18, 25-19); l. AZ Storm 16 Thunder (14-25, 25-8, 15-10); d. Madfrog 16 Green (25-19, 25-16); d. OT 16 J Will (25-11, 20-25, 15-11)
- Day 3: l. Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar (25-20, 20-25, 15-11); d. Club V 16 Ren Wayne (25-19, 25-11); d. AZ Storm 16 Thunder (25-22, 25-18)
After a smooth Day 1, the road to a bid hit a huge speed bump on Day 2 and Coast 16-1 was suddenly starring at an exit from qualifying contention if it couldn’t figure out a way to get past Madfrog 16 Green in its final Round 2 pool match. A loss to Arizona Storm 16 Thunder the previous outing left Coast in the must-win situation, with the victor between Coast and Madfrog advancing and the loser not.
It was almost impossible to know what to expect given Coast’s dominating Game 1 win against Storm only to have Storm reverse course and put a wallop on Coast the next two sets. However, Coast shook that loss off and looked like a completely different team in handling Madfrog in two and remaining alive.
“We had some moments where the kids knew we all had to step up and had to play our best and beat some really good teams,” Coast coach Rodrigo Suelotto said. “I was happy for them to accomplish that. We had some tough losses but we bounced back very well.”
Coast was in similar position on Day 3. After starting gold pool action the evening before by sweeping OT 16 J Will, Coast was upended by Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar in three sets and had to respond against Club V 16 Ren Wayne to give themselves the best chance at qualifying. Once again, Coast answered back loudly, soundly defeating Club V in straight sets and eventually earning second after Long Beach’s victory over OT created a three-way tie with Club V. Club V took first, Coast second and Long Beach had the tough luck of finishing third and being eliminated.
Coast’s opponent in the third-place contest for the last bid was a familiar one – Arizona Storm. The serve and pass game abandoned Coast in its previous loss to Storm but showed up clutch in the rematch to allow Coast to sweep, 25-22, 25-18, and qualify.
“We served well and that allowed us to get into a rhythm and we were siding out and passing well,” Suelotto said. “The better serving was huge for our success hitting our targets with accuracy.”
It’s not surprising that when the passing goes away Coast becomes overly reliant on freshman outside Jaidyn Jager and the offense can bog down. Coast is at its best when setter Kierstin Remensperger can get others involved regularly, especially middles Mackenzie Parsons and Hayley Ogden who can spice up the attack in a hurry. Jager, libero Sophia Meyer and DS Melody Chang were sharp in the pass game in the rematch against Storm to help the team earn the bid.
“You can’t win them all,” Suelotto said. “There are so many good teams so to get a quick reset after tough losses is great and they did that twice. I think that the one thing we worked on a lot the two weeks before was the mental aspect, the team-first mindset and having the kids helping each other no matter what.”
