This early in the season there is both plenty of optimism and lots of uncertainty. It only adds to the excitement of the opening weekend of qualifying. There’s been very few outings for clubs leading into the first chance to qualify this season and it usually makes for one of the more unpredictable weekends of the year. Below, we take a look at the Windy City 18s event set for Jan. 13-15 in Chicago.
WINDY CITY 18s
Number of Teams: 22
Number of Bids: 3
Previously-Qualified Teams: n/a
vballrecruiter.com Nationally-Ranked Clubs (10):
- 2. 1st Alliance 18 Gold IL
- 17. Vision 18 Gold CA
- 20. AVC Cle 18 Red OH
- 30. City 18 Gold CA
- 32. Metro 18 Travel DC
- 34. Circle City 18 Purple IN
- 35. MKE Sting 18 Gold WI
- 37. FC Elite 18 Elite WI
- 40. Legacy 18-1 Adidas MI
- 49. Top Select 18 Elite FL
vballrecruiter.com 5-star Players to Watch:
- Morgan Gaerte OH Team Pineapple 18 Black (Notre Dame)
- Lameen Mambu OH Metro 18 Travel (2025, Georgia Tech)
vballrecruiter.com 4-star Players to Watch:
- Kennedy Osunsanmi RS City 18 Gold
- Grace Nelson OH 1st Alliance 18 Gold (Kansas)
- Ellie White OH 1st Alliance 18 Gold (Michigan)
- Calli Kenny S/RS 1st Alliance 18 Gold (Marquette)
- Kiylah Presley MB Paramount 18
- Erika Bracey OH Paramount 18 (Rhode Island)
- Taylor Williams OH Vision 18 Gold (Duke)
- Erin Debiec S Metro 18 Travel (Colorado State)
- Claire Luoma L/DS MKE Sting 18 Gold (Clemson)
- Anna Bjork MB MKE Sting 18 Gold (Notre Dame)
- Lilly Wagner S MKE Sting 18 Gold (Maryland)
- Alexis Haury S NPJ 18 Forefront (Washington)
- Ava Pratt OH Adversity 18 Adidas (Northwestern)
- Ella Demetrician OH FC Elite 18 Elite (Michigan)
Outlook: The first qualifier of the season is as straight forward as it gets when it comes to earning a bid. Forget any trickle down scenarios because no one has a bid yet. It means placing in the top three to lock up a spot for the USAV 18s GJNC in April. The field is decent sized with 22 teams in contention. It’s also a solid field with 10 clubs listed from vballrecruiter.com’s 18s Top 50. At No. 2 overall, 1st Alliance is not only the top seed in the field but a heavy favorite to bring home one of the three bids, especially being its home qualifier. After that, it gets real interesting in a hurry. Plenty of teams have what it takes to join 1st Alliance in qualifying. Vision has most everyone back from last year’s roster and joins City as two California clubs looking to get the job done. Meanwhile, Top Select makes the trip from the other coast, as does Metro. After that, it’s a Midwest bunch looking to finish in the top 3, with AVC, Circle City, MKE Sting, Legacy and FC Elite.
Prediction: It would be a shocker if 1st Alliance didn’t qualify. The question is does the home club end up on top? The call here is yes, as 1st Alliance downs MKE Sting in the final. Rounding out qualifying is Vision taking the last remaining bid.
