Week That Was April 21 2022

It was the busiest qualifier time of the year this past weekend. While Big South was happening in Atlanta, Windy City in Chicago and Lone Star in Dallas were also taking place. vballrecruiter.com was on hand at Big South so here’s a quick rundown of what took place at the other two events.

LONE STAR

Drive Nation 17 Red wrapped up its first qualifier victory by going 10-0 and winning 17 Open.

Hou Skyline 17 Royal – which finished runner up to Drive Nation – KC Power 17-1 and Club V 17 Ren Matthew played their way to bids. All three knew they had bids before starting gold pool play because there were five teams in the top eight with bids already in Drive Nation, Club V 17 Ren Reed, Madfrog 17 Green, AJV 17 Adidas and TAV 17 Black.

As for Hou Skyline, it had a chance at bidding last month at NEQ but fell in the third-place match to OT 17 John and missed out by one spot. At Lone Star, it lost its final gold pool match to KC Power but still made the final against Drive Nation.

KC Power finished tied for fifth at MEQ last month in its first qualifying effort but surprisingly didn’t make the gold pools at Show Me. It only lost two matches at Lone Star. One came to Club V Reed on Day 1. The other was to Madfrog on Day 3.

Meanwhile, Club V Matthew was the shocker of the weekend. It’s the 2s team for the 17s and finished fairly far out of the running at both the Salt Lake City Showdown (18th) and the Red Rock Rave (17th) in prior qualifying opportunity. Yet, Club V broke through in a big way in Dallas. It beat previously-qualified Skyline 17 Royal on Day 1. On Day 2, Club V Matthew downed OMNI 17 Rick and Flyers 17 APX in pool play to make gold and qualify.

TAV 16 Black dropped a tight three-setter to Alamo 16 Premier on Day 2 but rebounded to win its final four contests, including topping AJV 16 Adidas in the 16 Open championship match. TAV had only played one previous qualifier, coming in seventh at Northern Lights in April. Runner up AJV qualified at PNQ and helped create trickle down to fifth place. Skyline 16 Royal, which took third, and Alamo, which tied for fifth, joined TAV in qualifying. Previously-qualified teams in Drive Nation 16 Red (4th) and Madfrog 16 Green (t-5th) were also part of the trickle down effect that gave TAV, Alamo and Skyline bids before gold pools began.

Skyline had a strong Day 2 in beating Excel 16 National Red, Flyers 16 APX and Drive Nation to reach the gold pools. There, it split matches with TAV and Madfrog before downing Drive Nation once more in the third-place meeting.

Alamo avoided elimination on Day 1 with a timely victory over previously-qualified Vision 16 Gold, which was knocked out with the loss. Alamo then took down Tejas 16 Black, TAV and Madfrog on Day 2 to reach gold.

Skyline 15 Royal turned in a remarkable run in winning 15 Open and gaining its bid. Skyline missed gold pools at both MEQ and Show Me previously but only dropped one match at Lone Star. It came against previously-qualified Hou Skyline 15 Royal on Day 2. Skyline beat previously-qualified Austin Skyline 15 Royal in the final.

Hou Skyline finished in third, beating Excel National 15 Red in the third-place match. Excel qualified with its showing. Excel lost to Skyline in gold play but beat ARVC 15 Adidas and AJV 15 Adidas to take second place in the pool.

AJV 15 Adidas tied for fifth with TAV 15 Black – which already was qualified – to secure its bid. AJV won its first seven matches of the weekend before dropping its last two to Skyline and Excel.

STANDOUT PLAYERS

We had some eyes on the ground at Lone Star who shared a handful of players who stood out. Here they are:

Delaney Kemp, S Arete 16 – Kemp is feisty and passionate on the court. She’s always able to get her hands on the ball. She also exhibits being a great team leader by pumping people up.

Bethanie Wu, S, TAV 16 Black – One way to describe Wu, who is a three-star recruit, is she’s silent but can be deadly. She brings a calmness to the court. On top of that, she always delivers a great set.

Tay Garcia, L, United 16 – One thing Garcia brings to the table is great energy. She displays a wide range of coverage when it comes to picking up attacks.

Addison Carrillo, DS, SA Force 17 – Carrillo is small but mighty. She played middle back very well. She also showed good energy.

Natalie Adams, S/RS, SA Force 17 – Adams is a fierce competitor. She does a great job of delivering the ball when setting and swinging hard when attacking.

Valeria Velez, OH/DS, Tejas 16 – Velez proved to be a solid six-rotation kid who has great leadership presence on the court. Her ball control is very solid and she can also put away a ball.

WINDY CITY

1st Alliance 17 Gold earned its second qualifier victory of the season after beating Circle City 17 Purple in the final. 1st Alliance qualified back in January by winning Northern Lights. With 1st Alliance, Circle City and Legacy 17-1 Adidas finishing in the top four, trickle down extended to sixth place for the bids.

Two clubs in HJV 17 Elite and Sunshine 17 LA had been knocking on the door at their two previous qualifiers and both were finally able to earn one in Chicago. The other bid recipient was a surprise in UPVBC 17 Open. UPVBC finished 13th at Northern Lights back in January and 17th at Show Me before busting through at Windy City with a fifth-place showing. UPVBC picked up a huge victory over previously-qualified Metro 17 Travel on Day 2 that kept it in contention. Then on Day 3, UPVBC scored its bid by topping Rev 17-1 Raptors in its final gold pool match to land tied at fifth with Sunshine and qualify.

Sunshine, meanwhile, had a shot at qualifying in March at the Salt Lake City Showdown but finished third in its gold pool and tied for fifth overall. Sunshine was once again in the gold pools at the Red Rock Rave in Las Vegas at the beginning of April but ended tied for ninth. After losing gold pool matches to Circle Cityand Legacy on Day 3 at Windy City, Sunshine was in a must-win position against AVC Cle Rox 17 Red in a showdown for a bid. Sunshine swept to get it done.

HJV produced three top-10 finishes so far at qualifiers before gaining a qualifying spot at Windy City. It took fifth-place at NEQ last month when it lost a key match against Hou Skyline 17 Royal. The loss kept HJV from playing in the third-place match with a chance to get its bid. HJV grabbed ninth at the Sunshine Classic and seventh place back in January at Northern Lights. HJV delivered victories over Rev Raptors and UPVBC in gold pool action in Windy City to tie for third.

In 16 Open, Dynasty 16 Black finished on top of the field for the third time by beating 1st Alliance 16 Gold for the championship. Dynasty also defeated 1st Alliance in the final at MEQ, as well as winning Northern Lights, where it originally qualified. Somewhat surprisingly, Dynasty and 1st Alliance were the only two clubs in 16 Open at Windy City that already had bids, so trickle down only extended to fifth place.

The three bids went to Metro 16 Travel, MKE Sting 16 Gold and Capitanas 16-1. Metro opened as the No. 1 seed earlier this month at the Sunshine Classic but settled for seventh place after losing gold pool contests to previously-qualified A5 Mizuno 16 Gabe and OT 16 Jason. However, it lost just one contest at Windy City when it fell to 1st Alliancein its last gold pool outing. While the setback prevented Metro from reaching the final it did give Metro a tie for third and its bid.

MKE Sting wasn’t able to make the gold pools at MEQ and Show Me but pulled out a clutch victory over Rev 16-1 Fury on Day 2 in Chicago to put itself in position to qualify. Once in gold pools, Sting defeated Six Pack 16 and HJV 16 Elite to end tied for third. HJV had a shot at qualifying but fell to Capitanas in the fifth-place meeting.

Circle City 15 Purple topped Dynasty 15 Black in the 15 Open final. Dynasty was seeking playing in its third qualifier final after winning MEQ and taking runner up at Show Me. In Kansas City, Dynasty defeated Circle City in gold pool action to make the final over Circle City. 1st Alliance 15 Gold took third and Legacy 15-1 Adidas fifth. All four clubs had bids, so trickle down normally would’ve reached seventh place.

However, with 19 teams in the field only two bids were awarded so trickle down only reached sixth place. The bids went to Six Pack 15 and HJV 15 Elite. That created the first at-large in the division. Six Pack earned its 15 USA bid at MEQ in March then tried its hand first in Open at Show Me. Six Pack came in 10th in Kansas City. At Windy City, all three losses came to qualified teams in Circle City 15 Purple, 1st Alliance 15 Gold and Dynasty 15 Black. Six Pack did secure a victory over HJV in gold pool to finished tied for third.

HJV finished tied for fifth with Legacy, which already had its bid. The key victory of the weekend came on Day 2 when HJV outlasted Mintonette Sports m.51 in three games to take second in the pool and advance to gold play. It gave HJV and Six Pack bids before even playing on Day 3.