With three of the top four teams from Vballrecruiter’s Top 50 national rankings represented in the 15 Open semifinals at USAV nationals on Thursday in Las Vegas it was truly a heavyweight clash to the finish line. Mixed in was the tournament’s biggest surprise in City 15 Gold, which entered the four-day event ranked No. 31 nationally.
The remaining trio consisted of top-ranked Arizona Storm 15 Thunder, No. 2 TAV 15 Black and No. 4 Tstreet 15 Asics. Through last year and this season there is plenty of history between the three clubs.
Storm defeated Tstreet twice a season ago, once in the Red Rock Rave finals and once more in the USAV 14 Open quarterfinals in preventing Tstreet from reaching the medal stand. TAV went 2-0 against Storm a season ago, beating Storm in the Triple Crown semifinals and then again to capture the USAV 14 Open gold medal. Tstreet, meanwhile, was one of two teams to defeat TAV last year, topping TAV in the finals of the Salt Lake Showdown.
With the teams all returning the almost all their players, it set the stage for 2024. Storm and TAV met twice at Triple Crown, with Storm beating TAV in pool play before TAV downed Storm in the final. Storm then beat TAV in the finals at Sunshine. In April, TAV defeated Tstreet in the Lone Star final. Tstreet and Storm didn’t meet this season.
That was until Thursday’s 15 Open final.
Both teams reached the championship without losing a match. But not without plenty of drama.
Tstreet found a way past national No. 9 Club V 15 Ren Kalee in three sets, 25-20, 18-25, 15-12, in the quarterfinals. Storm was pushed by national No. 10 Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar to three sets before prevailing, 25-18, 18-25, 17-15, in its quarterfinal. Long Beach trailed 14-11 in the third but scored three straight to make it interesting. However, Long Beach never held match point as Storm was able to close it out.
With TAV sweeping national No. 8 Hou Skyline 15 Royal in another quarterfinal, it set up a rematch between TAV and Tstreet from Lone Star. Storm, meanwhile, was paired with upstart City after City stunned national No. 6 Wave 15 Brennan in three sets, 19-25, 26-24, 15-13, in another quarterfinal. Wave led 10-6 in the final set before City fought back.
The TAV-Tstreet meeting lived up to the hype. It was a back-and-forth slugfest with Tstreet edging TAV, 28-26, 22-25, 16-14. Tstreet was ahead 16-8 in the opening set before TAV roared back and extended the set into overscore. Then in the third set, TAV was up 14-12 and held two match points before Tstreet reeled off four straight to leave the 14 Open defending champions shocked.
In the other semifinal, Storm had to fight back after dropping the opening set. There wasn’t nearly the same dramatics as Storm was able to rally and move on in three, 19-25, 25-16, 15-7.
In the final, it was all Tstreet. After controlling the opening set, Tstreet took a commanding lead in the second and never looked back in sweeping, 25-20, 25-15. Tstreet concluded nationals by going 11-0. Outside of the quarterfinals and finals, the only other time Tstreet lost a set was to 1United 15 Blue in its second match of the tournament.
Storm – which went 10-1 overall – finishes with the silver medal for a second season in a row. TAV went 9-1 in earning the bronze medal. City, meanwhile, was the only team in the top eight to finish with more than two losses. City went 6-4 in winning the bronze.
Club V, Hou Skyline, Long Beach and Wave all ended tied for fifth at 7-2.
In wrapping up, City deserves a ton of credit. City picked up a clutch victory over No. 5 OT 15 Randy in pool play to help City go 3-2 and take third place. That victory helped City avoid a three-way tie at 2-3 with OT Randy and KC Power 15 Black. Who knows how the tiebreaker would have shaken out?
City then swept national No. 12 A5 15-1 Kelly in its three-team pool. Though City lost to Forza1 15 One in its next outing, City clinched first by winning one set. In challenge play, City upset national No. 15 Madfrog 15 Green to make the top eight.
City was one of four SCVA clubs in the gold bracket, joining Wave, Long Beach and Tstreet.
Overall, seven of the eight gold-bracket participants were from Vballrecruiter’s Top 10 in No. 1 Arizona Storm, No. 2 TAV, No. 4 Tstreet, No. 6 Wave, No. 8 Hou Skyline, No. 9 Club V and No. 10 Long Beach. City was the lone exception. Given that, it was hardly surprising to see everyone else in the gold bracket.
Two more teams which did well for themselves were AZ Sky 15G and HPSTL 15 Royal. They tied for ninth. AZ Sky came in ranked No. 29. HPSTL was ranked No. 27.
Legacy 15-1 Adidas, which captured the AAU 15 Open championship and was ranked No. 13 nationally, finished tied with KC Power for 11th. KC Power came in ranked No. 26.
1United was one of five at-large recipients and finished the highest of any of them at 13th after going 3-6.
