Nebraska Elite 13 Thunder Qualifies for GJNC in St. Louis; 16 Meraki Comes Close in Chicago as Does Performance 16 NIKE in Orlando

ST. LOUIS - Nebraska Elite 13 Thunder earned an automatic bid to the USAV Girls Junior National Championships with its second-place finish in the 13 Open division at the Mideast Qualifier in St. Louis recently.

After going 2-1 in pool play each of the first days of the tournament, Elite 13 Thunder advanced to the final six. Those six teams were divided into two pools of three with the winners of those two pools playing for the championship. As the bottom seed in its three-team pool, Elite 13 Thunder started with a dominating 25-15, 25-19 win over top-seeded Wave and then 13 Thunder avenged a loss from earlier in the tournament with a 27-25, 18-25, 15-11 win over third-seeded T-Street to win the pool and advance to the championship and to earn one of the two bid available.

In the finals, Nebraska Elite 13 Thunder couldn't keep the momentum going as it fell to Mintonette 25-18, 25-16.

Members of the Nebraska Elite 13 Thunder team are: Amanda Allbery, Ella Bellinghausen, Sofia Bressani, Allison Gray, Rylee Gray, Molly Jenkin, Shayla McCormick, Ellie Miller, Allison Petry and Hollyanne Stang. The team is coached by Angie Lantz and Jenna Rosacker.

Also in St. Louis, Nebraska Elite 12 Synergy finished tied for third in the 12 National division and Club Legacy 12 Shattered finished third for third in the 12 American division.

In the 14 Open division, Nebraska Elite 14 Havoc finished in ninth place while in the 15 American division Nebraska Elite 15 Fortis tied for 31st place. In the 13 American division, Club Legacy 13 Shattered tied for 45th place.

At the Disney Volleyball Showcase earlier this month, Performance VBC 16 NIKE was the only team from Nebraska to compete. Performance 16 NIKE dropped its first two matches but rebounded its next six in a row before falling 25-23, 25-15 to A5 South to finish in seventh place.

At the Windy City Qualifier this past weekend in Chicago, Nebraska Elite 16 Meraki had a couple shots at securing a GJNC bid in 16 Open but came up just short.

After winning its first seven matches in the tournament, Elite 16 Meraki took on Sunshine 161 for a trip to the championship semifinals and an automatic bid but dropped a 25-16, 25-21 decision.

Despite the loss, Elite 16 Meraki still had a shot at a GJNC bid because three were available and two of the final four teams had earned bids perviously. That put Elite 16 Meraki into a four-team bracket with the winner getting 5th place and the final bid. In the first round, UNO 16 Elite of Ohio knocked Elite 16 Meraki out with a 25-21, 25-23 win as Elite finished in a tie for seventh place and UNO went on to take fifth place and earn the final bid.

Also in Chicago, Nebraska Elite 15 Kekoa finished in 13th place in 15 Open while Nebraska Elite 17 Ooh Rah placed in a tie for 15th in 17 Open. In 16 USA, Club Legacy 16 ROX tied for 39th place and in 17 American, Nebraska ONE 17 Voltage tied for 45th place.