The bid chases continued to develop Saturday and will play out in 16 and 17 Open on Day 3 at Far Western in Reno. As for 15 Open, the qualifying process is a wrap. On Day 2 we learned which clubs picked up the three available bids. Before getting to that, a reminder vballrecruiter.com will have post-tournament coverage that includes our substantial standout players list. Among those we took note of Saturday are ONMI 17 Rick middle blocker Sophia Garza, Absolute Black 17-1 right side Mary Healy, ID Crush 15 Bower middle blocker Brooklyn Hardy, AZ Rev 15 Premier S/RS Tristen Raymond and NorCal 15-1 Black outside Lucy Chertock.

SEE YOU IN INDY

Congrats to Coast 15-1, AZ Rev 15 Premier and ID Crush 15 Bower on earning bids Saturday! There’s no need to see how 15 Open plays out Sunday to know which teams are leaving Reno happy. Six teams are left in contention and half are already qualified in Mizuno Long Beach 15 Rockstar, NorCal Black 15-1 and NE Elite 15 Matrix. That creates trickle down to sixth place if need be.

Long Beach’s Simone Roslon passes out of serve receive.

Missing from the top six is the other qualified team in the field in Absolute Black 15-1, which went 1-2 in Pool 2 and as a result will miss out on the gold pools. Instead, Coast took second in that pool behind NorCal. It’s a big deal because had Absolute made the gold pools and made for four teams with bids, it would have brought the silver bracket into play.

Now, all that is left is to see how the final pecking order sorts itself to determine the Far Western champion.

AZ Rev started off as the No. 16 overall seed and sprang a big upset on Day 1 when it uprooted Absolute. Rev was involved in all sorts of fun Saturday in Pool 1. It lost its opening match to NE Elite in three before bouncing back by beating Rage Westside 15 Jen.

At one point, the whole pool – which also featured Vision 15 Gold – was 1-1. NE Elite crushed Rage Westside’s hopes of qualifying with a sweep to finish 2-1 and reach gold pools. Up next was a showdown for a bid between Rev and Vision. NorCal, Long Beach and NE Elite already had clinched spots in the gold pools, so it was well known the winner of Vision-Rev would be receiving its bid.

The match did not disappoint. Rev took the opening set and almost staged a furious rally in Game 2 before fending off Vision in three, 25-16, 23-25, 15-12. The Rev players, coaches and parents celebrated accordingly knowing what the victory meant.

ID Crush, meanwhile, was on a mission Saturday. It went 3-0 in Pool 3, including outlasting Long Beach in three games, 25-21, 20-25 15-9. That is Crush’s best victory of the season. While Crush already had its bid essentially clinched before facing Beach, there was zero letdown after Crush opened the day with victories over SA Jrs 15 Adidas and Club V 15 Ren Adam.

Coast’s Paulina Baillie makes a play on the ball.

Coast also picked up its biggest victory so far when it downed Absolute in three sets, 25-16, 15-25, 15-8. That was the second match of Pool 2, so it was still too early in the day to know the exact consequences of that result but there’s no doubt it made Coast’s path to a bid much easier. Coast then topped Rage 15 Greg to move to 2-0 before ending the day with a three-set loss to NorCal.

NorCal’s victory over Absolute, 17-25, 25-21, 16-14, in the 1 v 4 contest also went a long way in shaping the results of Pool 2.

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WHERE DID TRICKLE DOWN GO?

Friday, it was previously-qualified Club V 16 Ren Wayne getting knocked out of contention. Saturday, it was another team with a bid in Skyline 16 Royal not advancing. That leaves one. As in one club with a bid left in 16 Open. That would be Vision 16 Gold.

There won’t be a need for any fifth-place match Sunday. Trickle down can only extend to fourth place and that’s only if Vision finishes in the top four. Should Vision finish third or fourth in its gold pool, that means the third-place match will be used to determine the final bid.

That also means there are seven teams in the running to qualify. Rocky 16 National, Absolute Black 16-1, Hou Skyline 16 Royal and OJVA 16-1 Gold make up Pool 1. Vision is in Pool 2 with SG Elite 16 Rosh, Momentous 16 Dan and NE Elite 16 Lohaki.

Most of the time, four-team gold pools begin play the evening of Day 2. That’s not the case here in Reno. The pools begin at 8am Sunday. It’s going to make for a wildly fantastic conclusion to 16 Open as so much is still at stake on Day 3.

Rocky National continued its amazing run. The Colorado club started off as the No. 25 overall seed. Only three clubs were seeded lower than Rocky National! Yet, after going 3-0 in Pool 1 on Day 2, Rock National assumes the top spot in Pool 1 on Day 3. That’s remarkable! NE Elite advanced out of Pool 1 along with Rocky National.

Vision didn’t drop a set in Pool 2 in going 3-0. However, OJVA, SynergyForce 16 James and AZ Epic 16 Mike all tied at 1-2. It was OJVA getting the second-place nod on set percentage.

SG Elite went 3-0 without losing a set in Pool 3. Hou Skyline beat A4 Volley 16 Purple for the second time in two days to take second at 2-1 and move on.

In Pool 4, Absolute closed out Momentous in straight sets to end 3-0 and drop Momentous to 2-1. Both were assured of advancing before facing off.

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MUSICAL CHAIR TIME

One team is in for a heartbreaking Day 3 in 17 Open. Six teams make up the two gold pools, with Hou Skyline 17 Royal and Club V 17 Ren Reed already holding bids. That leaves three qualifying spots to fight for between NorCal 17-1 Black, AZ Storm 17 Thunder, SynergyForce 17 Jeff and Absolute Black 17-1.

The guess here is both Hou Skyline and Club V are going to finish in the top four at the worst. In that scenario, it would leave the two third-place finishers from their respective pools playing a fifth-place match for the final bid. Imagine the drama of that!

It’s a little different format too in that the gold pools are set to begin at 11am. Not the normal start time of 8am.

As for Day 2 action, there was not much to the way Pool 1 played out. The only match to go three sets was Hou Skyline defeating Club V, 25-19, 15-25, 15-10. That helped Hou Skyline go 3-0. Club V finished 2-1 as Co Jrs 17 Kevin and NE Elite 17 Vici were eliminated.

On the other hand, Pool 2 had big-time implications. SynergyForce, Club V 17 Ren Matthew and NorCal all tied at 2-1, with OMNI 17 Rick going 0-3. SynergyForce earned the first-place tiebreaker and NorCal second place. Club V 17 Matthew finished third and did not advance. That was huge! Had Club V Matthew made it into the top six the three bids would have been cliched instead of one team getting left out in gold pools on Day 3 the way it is now.

Pool 3 had its share of excitement as well. Absolute ended up prevailing in first at 2-1 based on its head-to-head victory over AZ Storm, also 2-1. OJVA 17-1 Gold and Academy 17 Diamond ended tied at 1-2. Academy had a chance to advance had it swept OJVA in the 1 v 2 contest. Absolute avoided a three-way tie at 1-2 by knocking off Storm in the 3 v 4 outing.