Badger Region Qualifier Preview: National Bid on the Line

With Presidents Day weekend sending teams all across the country, Wisconsin Clubs in the 17 and 18s division will stay a little bit closer to home with the Badger Region Qualifier being held this weekend at the Milwaukee Sting Center Saturday, February 24 and Sunday, February 25. In the 17s Division, FC Elite 17 Navy will be the clear cut favorites with just six teams competing with their best competition coming against teams from Wisconsin Performance and Wisconsin Select. FC Elite 17 Navy has been on a tear lately being in the Gold Pool at the Great Lakes Power League competing and beating some of the top teams in the Chicago area. They are not only hoping to clinch a big through Badger Region, but will also be thinking bigger with chances to clinch an Open bid to USA Nationals with the Mid East Qualifier (MEQ) in Indianapolis and Northern Lights Qualifier in Minneapolis at the end of April. The 18s Division will be a wide open battle with four teams being in their own league with Milwaukee Sting 18 Black, Capital Adidas 18, Wisconsin Volleyball Academy 18 Black, and Motion 18 Blu. How The Bid Works: -Milwaukee Sting 18 Black clinched a USA Bid from the Northern Lights Qualifier held in Omaha mid January -The teams competing this weekend will be competing for a National bid (a higher division than USA) which only the champion will receive -If Milwaukee Sting 18 Black wins the tournament, then they will earn the National bid and Badger Region is able to offer a USA bid to the second place team. The Case for the Favorite Milwaukee Sting 18 Black - With already clinching a bid to the USA Division it takes a little bit of pressure off of getting that initial bid. They’ve played in key matches before and will also be playing at their home facility. Cori Meyers, Abby Hamilton, and Abby Koenen are the three pins that have been carrying this team the whole season not to mention the solid play of UNC-Greensboro recruit, Amanda Garvens of Oconomowoc at libero. They are coming off a top ten finish at the Sports Performance Presidents Day Tournament where they saw some of the top teams out of Illinois and Michigan. They will be battle tested coming into the weekend, looking to improve their bid placement for the national tournament at the end of April in Anaheim, California. Capital 18 Adidas - Coming off an 11th place finish last weekend in the Open Division at the St. Louis Presidents Day Tournament will give this team plenty of momentum for this weekend. This team is led by their solid defense of Kaitlyn Gehler, a Green Bay commit and Sophia Quelle, a solid DS who would be a great fit at the next level. This team also has high flyer Claire Chaussee who is heading to Louisville and Amber Rowoldt on the pin heading to Palm Beach Atlantic. In the middle to keep things balanced is Kirstin Tidd who is heading to North Dakota State. At the Great Lakes Power League in Aurora, Capital 18 Adidas has won eight of their last nine. They have not played Sting 18 Black, WVA 18 Black, or MVP 18 in any official contests yet. Wisconsin Volleyball Academy 18 Black - WVA has only played in qualifiers and the JVA Jamboree. With Purdue commit, Maddie Koch, out with a knee injury for another few weeks they have had to rely on the Milwaukee recruit, Lauren Spaulding, and Lily Welti, a 2019 St. Louis recruit on the pin. WVA has always been solid with Louisville commit, Emily Scott out of the middle. Scott is one of the top middles coming out of the state and if WVA can have solid serve receive and ball control to run the middle they are a dangerous team. Early this season at a small WVA Invite, Milwaukee Sting 18 Black defeated WVA in three sets. WVA has yet to see any of the other teams and having President’s weekend off. Will the extra time give them rest to recover or rust? The three other teams in the top four are coming off a momentous President’s Day Tournaments. Motion MVP 18 Blu - MVP is coming into this event having won six of their past seven at GLPL and coming off a second place finish in the 18 Premier Division at the Nike Presidents Day Classic in St. Louis. MVP has multiple All-State players, but are led by their pins in Greta Paczek and Katy Kluge. Paczek is heading to Bemidji State and Kluge is still uncommitted. Kluge’s high school teammate from Oconomowoc Paige Jaeger is one of the best liberos in the state, heading to Stony Brook, who recently qualified for the NCAA Tournament. With Jaeger leading the serve and pass game for MVP this gives them a chance to knock off any of the teams here. This team also has a fight and grit about them that is fearless. With many of these athletes having played against Sting or even for Sting at one point it could be quite an intense potential semifinal matchup.