Omaha Golden for NL 15-1 in 16 Club; NL 15B 3rd in 15 Club

<p>Due to the 2018 Super Bowl taking place in Minneapolis this year’s January Thaw event hosted by Northern Lights Volleyball was held at the Century Link Convention Center in Omaha, NE. The two-day event welcomed several teams from across the Midwest and offered age divisions from 12s to 18s. The following represents results and highlights for Minnesota-based North Country Region teams competing in both the U15 and U16 divisions.</p> <p><strong>16 Club</strong></p> <p>It was a gold medal effort for Northern Lights 15-1 as they swept the two-day event with a perfect 8-0 record while dropping only three sets on the weekend. Following pool play it was an all-NL quarterfinal as they faced off against NL 16-2 pulling out a three set win 23-25, 25-16, 15-10. Their semifinal opponent was Nebraska Elite 16 Apollo, in which it was a straight victory to advance to the gold bracket finals. Facing off against Nebraska Elite 15 Revolution, NL 15-1 claimed the three-set win 18-25, 25-18, 15-11 to bring the title back to Minnesota with the host club. Six of the 20 teams competing in 16 Club represented the North Country Region and Minnesota. The following are the final standings for those teams:</p> <p>1^st – Northern Lights 15-1 (8-0 record)</p> <p>5^th – Northern Lights 16-2 (6-2 record)</p> <p>7^th – Northern Lights 16 Black (4-3 record)</p> <p>14^th – Northern Lights 16 Red (3-4 record)</p> <p>15^th – Northern Lights 16 White (4-4 record)</p> <p>17^th – Impact 16 Black (3-4 record)</p> <p>The Northern Lights 15-1 roster includes the following athletes:</p> <ul style="list-style-type: square;"> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="71942" first="Lauren" last="Crowl"]</strong> 6’3 R/MB | 2021 Eastview HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="58029" first="Kali" last="Engeman"]</strong> 6’0 L/MB | 2021 Minnetonka HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="58017" first="Payton" last="Evenstad"]</strong> 6’0 S | 2021 Faribault HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="10088" first="Kira" last="Fallert"]</strong> 6’0 L/Lib | 2021 Concordia Academy</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="71946" first="Lauren" last="Galvin"]</strong> 5’11 L/R | 2021 East Ridge HS</li> <li><strong>Madelyn Hornyak</strong> 5’10 L/DS | 2021 Lakeville North HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="58025" first="Abigail" last="Moe"]</strong> 6’2 MB/L | 2021 Eagan HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="71941" first="Ava" last="Moes"]</strong> 6’3 L/R | 2021 Lakeville South HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="10110" first="Emma" last="Torstenson"]</strong> 5’9 Lib/S | 2021 Northfield HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="71950" first="Brooke" last="Weichbrodt"]</strong> 5’10 S/R | 2021 Concrodia Academy</li> </ul> <p><strong>15 Club</strong></p> <p>Of the 20 teams that competed in the 15 Club division seven of them were from Minnesota. The majority of Minnesota teams were from Northern Lights Volleyball with one team representing Impact. The highest placing Minnesota team was Northern Lights 15 Black with a third place finish. NL 15B swept through two rounds of pool play with a 5-0 record of which seeded them directly to the semifinals of the Round 3 Gold bracket. A three set loss to CIS 14M pushed NL 15B to the third place match. In the other semifinal match, NL 14-1 advanced from the quarterfinals after defeating Iowa Heart 15 Black in straight sets. Their semifinal opponent was Nebraska Elite 14 Havoc, the event’s eventual champion. Nebraska advanced to the finals with a 25-13, 26-24 win. Both NL 15B and 14-1 would battle for the bronze placement with 15B winning in straight sets, 25-15, 25-21. With contributions from several athletes, both teams were among several Northern Lights teams that finished among the top 10 in the final standings:</p> <p>3^rd - Northern Lights 15 Black</p> <p>4^th - Northern Lights 14-1</p> <p>5^th - Northern Lights 15-2</p> <p>7^th - Northern Lights 15 Red</p> <p>8^th - Northern Lights 14-2</p> <p>10^th - Northern Lights 15-w</p> <p>19^th – Impact 15-1 (2-6 record)</p> <p>The Northern Lights 15 Black roster includes the following athletes:</p> <ul style="list-style-type: square;"> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="72044" first="Justine" last="Bastyr"]</strong> 6’2 L/R | 2021 Lakeville North HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="72071" first="Morgan" last="Bauer"]</strong> 5’7 S | 2021 Northfield HS</li> <li><strong>Brenna Bieniek</strong> 5’9 MB/L | 2021 Shakopee HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="72781" first="Kaija" last="Kunze-Hoeg"]</strong> 5’10 Lib/L | 2022 Mounds Park Academy</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="71964" first="Kelly" last="McArthur"]</strong> 6’1 S/R | 2021 Bloomington Jefferson HS</li> <li><strong>Abagail Milner</strong> 6’1 MB/R | 2021 Lakeville North HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="72062" first="Faith" last="Saewert"]</strong> 5’7 Lib/L | 2021 East Ridge HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="72045" first="Lauren" last="Schmidt"]</strong> 6’0 MB/L | 2021 Jordan HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="84915" first="Laura" last="Wellbrock"]</strong> 5’8 Lib/L | 2021 Northfield HS</li> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="58067" first="Rachel" last="Wieber"]</strong> 5’11 L/MB | 2021 Northfield HS</li> </ul>