WVA Invite #1: Sting and WVA – Round 1

Aurora, Illinois at the Great Lakes Power League will not be the only place with high quality volleyball going on this weekend.  Wisconsin Volleyball Academy (WVA), will be hosting a one day event at the Lake Park Sportszone in Menasha featuring a 13/14s bracket, 15/16s bracket, and a 17/18s bracket.  

With the 18s level having their national tournament at the end of April in Anaheim, California put on by USA Volleyball, the qualifications are different as opposed to AAU Nationals in Orlando.  For USA Volleyball, you must qualify for specific divisions and that can only happen at USAV Qualifiers in which there are only 16 tournaments you can qualify at.  For example, if you want to compete in the “Open” or top division at USAV Nationals, you must qualify by finishing a certain place in the Open division at one of these qualifiers.  For WVA Black and Sting Gold and Black, they will not be playing in the Great Lakes Power League, and focusing more so on a schedule in qualifying for an Open bid at the National Tournament.  In 2017, WVA qualified in “National” division and Sting Gold qualified as an “Open” bid.  

Sunday will be a prelude of potential matchups between WVA 18 Black and 18 Sting Gold and 18 Sting Black.  Next weekend (January 13-15), these teams will be competing at the Girls Winter Volleyball Championship in Chicago and will be Northern Lights Qualifier in Omaha and MEQ in Indianapolis for qualifiers later in the season.  They will also be at non-qualifying tournaments together at the JVA Jamboree in Milwaukee and Badger Region Championships in Milwaukee.  Whether they meet at each tournament, or not, being able to face each other throughout the season will make both teams extremely better.  If one of the teams does not receive an Open bid, they are eligible to receive an at-large bid.

Sting Gold has a full roster of Division One players with three pins going to NCAA perennial powerhouses.  Brooke Anderson is committed to Iowa State, Mia Grunze to Ohio State, and former WVA outside Mikaylah Van Lanen is heading to Dayton.  Claire Mosher of Sting Gold and a Marquette recruit has been playing for 18 Gold since her Sophomore year when they finished in the final four of the USA Nationals of 2016 held in Milwaukee.

Sting Black still has a loaded roster of talent of Emily Matson going to Murray State, Abby Hamilton to Loyola Maryland, and Abby Koenen to UW-Milwaukee.  There are still unsigned seniors who are high caliber on this team in Lizzie Lightner, Amanda Garvens, and Class of 2019 setter Tommy Albers.

WVA 18 Black could fill a floor full of Division One players as well with Emily Scott going to Louisville, Alexis Dorner to Green Bay, Lily Welti to St. Louis, Megan Cannon to Robert Morris, and Maddie Koch to Purdue.  Madyson Schroeder will be one of the top defenders for WVA and is still uncommitted as a libero.  Katie Hoeffner and Lauren Spaulding are both six rotation utility players who will provide lots of depth as the pin and backrow for WVA, both college caliber type players who would be a great pick up.

A link to the schedule for the WVA Invite can be found here: WVA Invite #1