Helping to wrap up the USAV Girls Junior National Championships in Chicago is the 16 Open division, which runs July 3-6. The top teams have taken turns beating each other up all season and it’s going to create a frenzied finish to the calendar. Below, we take a look at what to watch for and reveal our predicted winner.

16 OPEN

Number of Teams: 36

vballrecruiter.com National Rankings:

1. 1st Alliance 16 Gold (IL)
2. Drive Nation 16 Red (TX)
3. Surfside 16 PV Legends (CA)
4. Hou Skyline 16 Royal (TX)
5. HJV 16 Elite (TX)
6. Arizona Storm 16 Thunder (AZ)
7. Nebraska One 16 Synergy (NE)
8. A5 16 Gabe (GA)
9. Circle City 16 Purple (IN)
10. OT 16 JP (FL)
11. TAV 16 Black (TX)
12. MKE Sting 16 Gold (WI)
14. Adidas KiVA 16 Red (KY)
15. HPSTL 16 Royal (MO)
16. Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal (FL)
17. Austin Skyline 16 Royal (TX)
18. Legacy 16-1 Adidas (MI)
19. Mich Elite 16 Mizuno (MI)
20. Coast 16 Luis (CA)
21. Wave 16 Kevin (CA)
22. Northern Lights 16-1 (MN)
23. ID Crush 16 Bower (ID)
25. GP 16 Rox (FL)
26. MAVS KC 16-1 (KS)
27. Madfrog 16 Green (TX)
28. AVC Cle 16 Red (OH)
31. NorCal 16-1 Black (CA)
33. Alamo 16 Premier (TX)
37. Premier Nebraska 16 Gold (NE)
38. Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar (CA)
39. OT 16 Roberto (FL)
44. Vision 16 Gold (CA)
45. Triangle 16 Black (NC)
Oaks 16 Gold (CA)
Vegas Aces 16 UA (NV)
Vaqueros 16s (PR)

5-Star Athletes to Know:

Suli Davis OH Drive Nation 16 Red
Zoe Gillen-Malveaux MB Drive Nation 16 Red
Abby Vander Wal OH 1st Alliance 16 Gold (Texas)
Logan Parks S/RS MAVS KC 16-1
Natalie Wardlow MB Nebraska One 16 Synergy
Kelly Kinney OH Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal
Charlotte Glass S Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal
Kassidy O’Brien S Hou Skyline 16 Royal (Kentucky)
Bayleigh Minor MB Hou Skyline 16 Royal
Bailey Warren OH Hou Skyline 16 Royal
Kaci Demaria OH Surfside 16 PV Legends
Jordan Taylor MB HJV 16 Elite
Campbell Flynn S Legacy 16-1 Adidas (Nebraska)
Asia Harvey OH A5 16 Gabe
Madison Quest OH MKE Sting 16 Gold (Wisconsin)
Annabelle Groomes S/RS AVC Cle 16 Red
Teraya Sigler OH Arizona Storm 16 Thunder (Nebraska)
Megan Fitch OH Alamo 16 Premier
Amina N’diaye OH OT 16 Roberto
Ayanna Watson OH Vegas Aces 16 UA (2026)
Layli Ostovar Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar (2026)

Outlook: The top six seeds virtually mirror our Top 50 National Rankings. 1st Alliance is tops in both categories, with a slight difference with the next two. We have Drive Nation 16 Red at No. 2 in the country, followed by No. 3 Surfside 16 PV Legends. As for the seedings, those two are switched. Hou Skyline 16 Royal, HJV 16 Elite and Arizona Storm 16 Thunder follow at Nos. 4, 5 and 6 respectively in both our rankings and seedings. The first big deviation comes next with ID Crush 16 Bower at No. 7. We have ID Crush at No. 23 in the rankings. It’s true ID Crush finished first at three qualifiers in PNQ, Salt Lake City and Far Western but those were not the toughest qualifiers. ID Crush did participate in the Red Rock Rave, where it made the gold pools but finished tied for ninth. AAU 16 Open champ Adidas KiVA 16 Red checks in as the No. 12 overall seed. The two at-large recipients in Legacy 16-1 Adidas and Mich Elite 16 Mizuno received respectable seeds at No. 13 and 16 respectively. MKE Sting 16 Gold, which is No. 12 in our Top 50 National Rankings, received a lower seed than expected at No. 22.

Prediction: Let’s first look at which teams are going to break pool, then we’ll pick the quarterfinalists and eventual winner.

ROUND 1

Pool 1

1st Alliance 4-1

OT 16 JP 4-1

Legacy 3-2

Wave 2-3

Madfrog 2-3

Vision 0-5

Pool 2

Surfside 5-0

KiVA 4-1

Tribe 3-2

Austin Skyline 2-3

MAVS 1-4

Triangle 0-5

Pool 3

Drive Nation 5-0

Circle City 4-1

MKE Sting 3-2

GP 2-3

Alamo 1-4

Coast 0-5

Pool 4

Nebraska One 5-0

Hou Skyline 4-1

Mich Elite 3-2

AVC Cle 2-3

OT 16 Roberto 1-4

Vegas Aces 0-5

Pool 5

A5 4-1

TAV 4-1

HJV 3-2

HPSTL 3-2

NorCal 1-4

Oaks 0-5

Pool 6

Arizona Storm 5-0

Northern Lights 4-1

Vaqueras 3-2

ID Crush 2-3

Premier Nebraska 1-4

Long Beach 0-5

***

Quarterfinalists

1st Alliance

Drive Nation

Hou Skyline

Arizona Storm

A5

Circle City

HPSTL

Austin Skyline

Final

1st Alliance d Arizona Storm

Bronzes

Cirlce City; Drive Nation