Bracket play in 17 Open at AAU in Orlando essentially started Day 3, with eight late afternoon/early evening challenge matches deciding the eight-team gold bracket for Day 4. There was an unexpected twist that we wrote about in yesterday’s recap when original top-seeded Legacy 17-1 Adidas squared off against No. 2 A5 Mizuno 17 Jing after Legacy was upset by Rev 17-1 in pool play.

With Legacy and A5 not only being the two highest-seeds teams but the two highest-ranked teams from our National Rankings, no doubt one was going to be severely disappointed not to be playing for a gold medal on the final day of competition. After suffering the setback to Rev, Legacy hit its stride, beginning with A5 and ending with a rematch against Rev in the 17 Open gold medal match.

Legacy swept the revenge outing, 25-20, 25-19, to hoist the championship trophy for the second consecutive season after finishing on top of the 16 Open field a summer ago.

“Obviously, coming into a tournament as the defending champs and the No. 1 seed there is a lot of pressure on you immediately,” Legacy coach Jen Cottrill said. “They are phenomenal athletes but they are also 16 and 17-years-old. I felt like we played really heavy the first half of the tournament. When we lost to Rev we were able to work on our mental focus and getting rid some of the pressure and we never looked back.”

Rev pulled out its upset over Legacy in three games on Day 3 but couldn’t maintain the same play in the final. Legacy took command early in each set and made Rev play from behind the rest of the way. It was only fitting that Harper Murray skied for the final point and delivered an emphatic kill to clinch it.

“We focus on our serve and pass all the time and being disciplined defensively,” Cottrill said. “With a player like Harper who can terminate she draws a lot of attention. Earlier in the day we were able to use our middles and other players to score with her drawing all the attention. In the final she was just unbelievable so it was just feed her the ball.”

Before getting an opportunity to get even with Rev, Legacy had another chance to extract revenge in the quarterfinals. Top Select 17 Elite upset Legacy on Day 1 of the JVA SummerFest in Columbus earlier this month before Legacy went on to capture that title. When Top Select grabbed the first set it looked like it could be a repeat performance from the Florida club. But Legacy grabbed control midway through the second set and took it from there. Murray put an end to it with a kill for the victory, 20-25, 25-16, 15-6.

Up next in the semis was OT 17 John, which was coming off a nail-biter in the quarterfinals. OT snuck past MN Select 17-1 in three, 20-25, 25-15, 15-13. OT was up 10-6 in the final frame before Select tied it up at 12 all. That was all the drama on the day for OT though, as Legacy swept OT, 25-20, 25-21, to reach the final.

Rev and Ku’Ikahi 17 Wahine RSB both swept their quarterfinal contests before producing a tight affair in the semis. A kill off the block from Elie Patterson finally put a cap on that one for Rev in three, 25-22, 16-25, 15-13.

Legacy, Top Select, OT and MN Select, as well as A5, are in 17 Open at the USAV GJNC in Indy starting July 1. Rev is in 17 National and is a team to watch out for in that division.

“It’s nice, we get almost a week,” Cottrill said. “Last year we had like two days (in between). We’ll go home and practice a little bit and try and take this confidence into Indy.”

***

Finishing off with some final thoughts on 17 Open. Whereas the rides in 14 Open and 15 Open – where Legacy 15-1 Adidas brought home gold as well for the club – were more straight-forward, I didn’t feel like that was the case in 17 Open. And where our National Rankings held up well in 14 and 15 Open, they took more of a hit in 17 Open.

Only eight of the 14 teams in the field appearing in our National Rankings made it to challenge play, which featured 16 teams. Three of the four top teams in our rankings did make the gold bracket in No. 10 Legacy, No. 13 MN Select and No. 17 OT John. It would have been the top four making it except for what happened with No. 3 A5 having to play Legacy.

Legacy winning was something most thought possible when the tournament started. Most probably figured to see an A5-Legacy final. But it’s likely very few if anyone not associated with the club saw Rev making it all the way to the final.

It can hardly be called a fluke either. Rev defeated A5 on Day 2 and Legacy on Day 3. That’s legit. Rev also handed Ku’Ikahi its only loss of the tournament. Ku’Ikahi didn’t have enough results to make our Top 50 put out in May. But the Hawaiian club showed it belongs in our final rankings coming out in July to be sure.

Rev – sitting at No. 44 – could very well move up quite a few spots as well.

Another surprise was High Tide 17 Elite. Rev swept High Tide in the quarterfinals. Academy 17 Diamond was the only other team to beat High Tide, which actually beat Rev in pool play on Day 1.

AVC Cle Rox 17 Red – which finished tied for fifth – had a shaky loss to Miami Elite 17 in pool play on Day 3, when it also lost to Academy Diamond. But AVC defeated Kokoro Volleyball to make the challenge rounds and delivered a big upset in knocking out original No. 6 seed Adidas KiVA 17 Red in sound fashion, 25-17, 25-21.