The conclusion to a season’s long journey in 17 Open didn’t bring about any real surprises. Rather it delivered affirmation. And with it, a repeat champion. The USAV nationals capped its four-day thrill fest with Arizona Storm 17 Thunder defeating Hou Skyline 17 Royal in three sets, 24-26, 27-25, 15-13, in an instant classic for the 17 Open gold medal in Las Vegas on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Storm backed up its 16 Open gold medal from a season ago, defeating last year’s finals opponent in 1st Alliance 17 Gold in the semifinals, 27-25, 23-25, 15-9.
Though Storm proved itself as the best once more it certainly didn’t come without stiff challenges. In fact, Storm was a point away from being on the wrong end of a major upset after fighting off a match point when trailing 15-14 in Game 3 against Wave 17 Juliana in the quarterfinals.
On the final day of the season, it was the best of the best in the mix. Hou Skyline entered nationals ranked No. 1 in Vballrecruiter’s Top 50 National Rankings. Storm followed at No. 2, then 1st Alliance at No. 3. All three were in the semifinals, along with No. 6 Skyline 17 Royal. Six of the eight quarterfinalists resided in our Top 10 with No. 8 Circle City 17 Purple and No. 10 Surfside 17 Legends among the Top 8. Wave was right behind at No. 11. Mich Elite 17 Mizuno, at No. 15, was the lowest-ranked team in the quarters.
It was a fitting ending soaked in drama. Five of the seven gold-bracket contests went the distance. Mich Elite pushed Hou Skyline to a third set before Hou Skyline prevailed, 22-25, 26-24, 15-9, in the quarters. That one saw Hou Skyline climb back from a 22-19 deficit in Game 2 to keep its hopes alive.
While Storm and 1st Alliance were slugging in out in a rematch of last year’s 16 Open final, Hou Skyline and Skyline were going toe-to-toe in the other semifinal. Skyline trailed 15-11 in Game 2 before turning it around and forcing a third set but Hou Skyline survived, 25-20, 25-27, 15-13, to set up a showdown between the top-two ranked teams in the country and deliver a dream matchup to end the season.
Hou Skyline captured four national qualifiers. Storm joined OT 17 Aaron as the only other teams to finish first at multiple qualifiers with both winning two. The championship clash was an offensive slugfest. Hou Skyline had the high-flying theatrics of outside Bailey Warren and middle Bayleigh Minor while Storm countered with the power of outside Teraya Sigler and the length of outside Devyn Wiest and middle Kenna Cogill.
While there were moments of defensive brilliance, like when Storm libero Izzy Mahaffey went flying off the court and into the signage to keep the ball in play before Storm took the point to go ahead 26-25 in Game 2, offense carried the day for both sides.
The scales tipped in Hou Skyline’s favor as libero Morgan Madison’s ace pushed the margin to 11-9 in Game 3. But Storm tied it at 11 and Hou Skyline never led again. Up 14-12, Storm missed on its first chance to celebrate but not on its second as Sigler crushed a hard-angle shot cross court to seal the repeat effort.
Storm finished a perfect 11-0. Hou Skyline took home the silver in going 8-3. 1st Alliance went 9-1 and Skyline 6-4 in tying for the bronze.
While Storm repeating and earning its second consecutive gold medal will be right at the top of the list of things that standout and will be remembered from this year’s nationals, there are a few other things that are noteworthy to me.
One is Wave going 1-4 in pool play. Wave managed to advance in fourth place. Then caught fire in going 3-0 on Day 3 and pushing Storm to the brink of elimination to start Day 4.
Skyline was in a similar position. Skyline went 2-3 in pool play but was within a couple of points of reaching the final. The first two days aren’t about playing well. It’s about finding a way to advance. Records mean nothing on Day 3. Everyone starts off 0-0 again.
It’s about playing well on Day 3 then peaking on Day 4.
Obviously the gold bracket dominated the storyline on the last day of competition. While it was an amazing conclusion and one that was highly anticipated given the teams participating in the final eight, there were still a few more things to recognize before wrapping up this write up.
One is Dynasty 17 Black coming in 10th. Dynasty was one of three at-large recipients, along with Drive Nation 17 Red and AJV 17 Adidas. I for one was iffy as to if Dynasty should have received one of the at-larges. However, finishing in the Top 10 definitely proved Dynasty belonged and for a team that didn’t quite find its stride during qualifying season it sure ended on a high note.
CUVC 17 Open is another club that deserves credit. CUVC came in seeded No. 26 overall and ranked No. 34 in our Top 50. Yet, CUVC upset No. 4 MKE Sting 17 Gold on Day 3 and wound up finishing No. 11 overall when it was all said and done.
One more note involves regions. The SCVA had three clubs finish in the Top 9 in Surfside, Wave and Coast 17-1. If you toss in Mizuno Long Beach 17 Rockstar, the region had four of the Top 15 teams. The Heart of America Region and Intermountain Region were the only other two regions with two teams in the Top 15. Club V 17 Ren Reed and Idaho Crush 17 Bower represented the Intermountain Region, while Dynasty and MAVS KC 17-1 held it down for the Heart of America Region.
Lastly, no regions qualified more teams than both Lone Star and North Texas. Both had five each.
