Saturday Recap of Pool Play and Top Matches From Winter Classic
Entering the Wisconsin Center and navigating the 40 courts in the convention center can be a little intimidating at first, but it doesn’t take long to find quality talent and teams. The convention style of volleyball is exciting from a fan’s point of view because you are SO CLOSE to the court (I’m still replaying the athlete from Midwest Penguins 15 Black who stepped through a folding chair to save a ball successfully). You can hear everything from the what the players are saying to each other, what the coaches are saying to each other, and what the coaches are saying to the officials (all compliments).
Here is a quick recap of what has gone on so far at the Wisconsin Juniors Winter Classic
15 Open
Pool A – 1. Lions 15-1 (IL) 2. Midwest Penguins 15 Black 3. Fusion 15 Red (IL) 4. Club Synergy
Pool B – 1. Milwaukee Sting 15 Black 2. FC Elite 15 Navy 3. Fusion 15 Black 4. Eclipse 15 Solar
Pool C – 1. Motion VB 15 Blu 2. WI Juniors 15-1 2. Capital 16 Adidas 4. 360VA 15-1
Pool D – 1. Lions 15 Red 2. Chicago 15 Elite (IL) 3. Wisconsin Premier 15 Teal 4. VC United 15-1
16 Open
Pool A – 1. 1st Alliance 15 Silver (IL) 2. Wisconsin Ice 16 Purple 3. Wisconsin Premier 16 Teal
Pool B – 1. Milwaukee Sting 16 White 2. WI Juniors 16-1 3. 1st Alliance 16 Black (IL) 5. Fusion 16 Black (IL)
Pool C – 1. Milwaukee Sting 16 Black 2. Sports Performance C-Fed (IL) 3. Motion VB 16 BLU 4. WI Juniors 16-Elite
Pool D – 1. Capital Adidas 16 2. 1st Alliance 16 Red (IL) 3. FC Elite 16 Navy 4. Midwest Penguins 16 Black
17/18 Open
Pool A – 1. FC Elite 17 Navy 2. Fusion 18 White (IL) 3. WI Juniors 17-1 4. Wisconsin Select 18
Pool B – 1. Fusion 18 Black (IL) 2. Wisconsin Ice 18 National 3. Midwest Penguins 17 Black 4. Milwaukee Sting 17 White
Pool C – 1. Milwaukee Sting 18 Silver 2. CI Elite – 18 Red (IL) 3. 1st Alliance 17 White 4. Fusion 18 Silver
Pool D – 1. 1st Alliance 17 Black 2. WI Juniors 18-1 3. V-Hawk Xtreme 18 – National 4. Next Level VBC G18Green
Notable Matches
17/18 Open
Wi-Juniors 18-1 over V-Hawk Xtreme
27-25, 25-23
V-Hawk Xtreme out of La Crosse is a legit power with lots of balance at every position. Marissa Kleman and Lydia Lange are two strong, athletic, and tall middle blockers. Lange, who is actually from Caledonia, Minnesota, played a little on the left side and has a future out there. She can touch extremely high and puts up a large block. Oh, and both of these players are playing two ages up being 2020 prospects.
For this match being one of the early ones of pool play, it provided a lot of intensity. Both teams trading runs and timeouts, but Juniors won some key points at the end after being down in both sets. Erica Grant, the Tennessee Tech recruit, was a key point scorer for Juniors out of the front and backrow. Wi-Juniors would go on to advance to the gold bracket, while V-Hawk Xtreme went to Silver. V-Hawk will continue to improve being early in the season and the two middles will only get better and more confident playing against older, more experienced players.
16 Open
Sports Performance 16 C-Fed over Motion Volleyball 16 Blu
25-14, 21-25, 15-8
These two clubs have been playing against each other since they were 12 or 13 years old. Sports Performance is one of the top clubs in the nation out of Aurora, IL and the athletes are well disciplined and trained. Motion is extremely athletic, with Sarah Mattes on the outside receiving the bulk of that sets and being one of their leading point scorers as well. Tahya Pozorski is definitely a libero on the rise in the recruiting ranks. Very smooth, reads extremely well, and makes the routine plays. This match was back and forth the whole time, but SPVB went on an early run in set three, and Motion was never able to recover. Motion will be fun to watch at GLPL next weekend could possibly see this team again down there.
15 Open
Milwaukee Sting 15 Black over FC Elite 15 Navy
25-21, 25-23
There was a different feel to this match than other matches in the 15 Open pool play. The court was full of fans on both sides, players on these teams are familiar with each other, and I even found myself forgetting these players haven’t even finished their first year of high school (some of the FC Elite’s players haven’t even finished junior high). FC Elite is led by Cora Behnke with a heavy swing on the outside and Sting is extremely balanced with six rotation outside Mackenzie Leach and two extremely athletic, physical, high flying lefty right sides in Natalie Tesch and Katelyn Winkler.
Elite made a late run in set two, but just could not make that run to take the lead. Sting was able to get a lead and put pressure on from the start. Both teams played with a lot of intensity and what I found very impressive was the level of communication on the court for only being 15 years old. There is a chance both of these teams could see each other again in Gold play Sunday.
Midwest Penguins 15 Black over Fusion 15 Red
25-14, 25-23
Playing in the close confines of convention center volleyball, players don’t have a ton of room to track a ball going off the court of play If they do, they will probably land in grandma’s lap or knock over a few chairs. The play of the day was when Midwest Penguins 15 Black had an athlete who literally stuck her foot in a folding chair to keep the ball in play….and the rally kept going. I don’t think MWP won the rally, but hustle and effort provides such momentum for the team. There were multiple plays throughout this second set that were long rallies, and those went in favor of MWP. This is one of those examples for athletes in high school how the score at the end of the game may not always be important, but the effort, heart, teamwork, and the crazy plays are the ones that will always be remembered.