January Thaw 18 Open Recap, Stock-Raising Performances

Emma Worthington (Omaha Duchesne) of Nebraska Elite 17 TKO goes up for an attack against the block of Sarah Wing (Omaha Marian) and Emily Bressman (Omaha Marian) of Nebraska Elite 18 MOAB during the January Thaw tournament last weekend.   OMAHA – Now that all the dust has settled from last weekend’s January Thaw USAV Qualifier at CenturyLink Center, it’s time to take a look back at some of the top performances and other tidbits of information to come out of the competition. We’ll start by taking a look at the top division from the weekend which had a pair of bids available to the USAV Girls Junior National Championship – 18 Open. First, here’s some random thoughts on the three division and at the end I’ll list out stock-raising performances from Nebraska players in the division over the weekend. I will admit – it was hard at times to pry myself away from the 18 Open courts. The action there was so good all weekend. Congrats to Milwaukee Sting 18 Gold and Minnesota Select 181 for qualifying for the USAV GJNC by taking the top two places. After getting steamrolled 25-22, 25-9 the first day against A4, it was hard to picture Sting coming all the way back and winning it all, but after that match Sting was simply the most consistent team in the division. Brooke Andersen, a 6’0 senior OH for Sting who is headed to Iowa State, was on fire all weekend. She’s a dynamic attacker with a really nice arsenal of shots. She’s going to be fun to watch play at the next level. Minnesota Select 181 was impressive all weekend as well, losing only to KC Power 181 on the second day in three sets and Milwaukee Sting in three sets in the championship pool. Serve receive consistency was an issue at times for them, but they were simply solid all the way around. Eleanor Holthaus, a 5’11 OH/Setter for Select who will join Andersen at Iowa State, was an absolute beast on the outside. She might be listed as just 5’11, but she plays much, much bigger than that and is a strong, strong hitter. It was also pretty exciting to see Kari Zumach play extremely well for Select. She’s a springy 6’2 RS with cannon arm despite having a slight frame and build. Kirsten Bernthal Booth has three exceptional pins coming in this fall to join a pair of AVCA All-American seniors. That’s a great problem to have. It was a slow-fade for A4 as the squad from Orange County demolished everyone the first day, needed extra points in the third set twice to go undefeated on the second day and then looked completely flat in a 25-19, 25-19 loss to Minnesota Select to start the final day. I really think Devon Chang is going to be the real deal of UCLA. It was interesting to learn that UCLA initially passed on her in the recruiting process because of doubts about her ability to block at the Pac-10 level. Just goes to show that you never know how the recruit process will play out. I think the Bruins will wind up extremely happy that they changed their minds. Things can get weird in club volleyball tournaments, and the fact that KC Power went 5-1 the first two days but didn’t make the finals is one of those. Sting dominated the top seed 25-16, 25-17 to start day two and then KC Power – after beating Minnesota Select in three sets – lost a one-set tie breaker 25-16 to get left out of the championship pool. That’s a rough weekend when you only lose one match against that level of competition and can’t get into the top four. It was just a three-day period, and that certainly isn’t a very good sampling size, but I do have to say that it’s wasn’t a real overwhelming performance weekend for the Nebraska recruits competing. Callie Schwarzenbach’s KC Power 181 team is one of the best in the nation and she’s ranked as the #10 recruit in the nation. She’s certainly every bit of the 6’4 she’s listed at and man does she have a quick arm and snap on her slides and the exit velocity after she makes contact is big time. She did a nice job, but I’m not sure we saw the best she has to offer over the weekend. Iowa Power Plex’s 7th-place finish was a little misleading considering it won just one match on the weekend, but was able to win a pair of play-off sets on the first day to secure its place in the top half of the standings. Husker 2019 OH recruit Madi Kubik looked good but I can’t say she really stood out. In fact, it was 2020 Wisconsin MH recruit Devyn Robinson that had the place buzzing when they played – and for good reason. The fact that she was one of the better middles in the tournament and is just a sophomore tells you all you need to know. Northern Lights 171 with 2021 Husker setting recruit Kennedi Orr struggled early in the tournament before hitting its stride late, winning its last five matches. Orr is absolutely the real deal and her court awareness and presence is amazing for a freshman playing at that level. Especially the first day, Orr did a lot more running down of passes than she did running an offense. It would have been nice to see what she could do with cleaner serve receive and passing behind her. Neither Nebraska Elite 181 MOAB nor Nebraska Elite 171 TKO probably got as many wins as they would have liked on the weekend, but both teams deserve a shout out for their performances. MOAB beat Dynasty 18 Black on day one but then lost a tie-breaker set to Iowa Power Plex to send it into the consolation rounds. In a showdown between the two Nebraska Elite teams, MOAB got the win and wound up finishing 2-5. TKO got a win the first day over WVA 18 Black and more impressively, was tied 12-12 in the third set against Coast 181 before falling 15-13. Despite finishing 1-6 TKO showed there was a very fine line between it and some of the top teams in the nation when it is at its best. MOAB was short handed over the weekend and spent the last two days with Emily Bressman playing setter, so it’s really hard to judge just how well the team could have competed with its full line-up. Stock-risers: Rylee Marshall (Fort Calhoun), 6’1, OH/MH, Nebraska Elite 181 MOAB – Class of 2018 #9 These are the kind of tournaments where you love to see how kids like Marshall respond. Playing at Fort Calhoun, Marshall clearly doesn’t get to see anything close to this level of competition until tournaments like this. Marshall showed that she can be a strong, physical presence at the net against elite-level competition and also displayed the versatility to play anywhere along the net, which is something her future college coaches at Omaha love. Jordan McCormick (Millard West), 5’10, Libero, Nebraska Elite 17 TKO – Class of 2019 #16 McCormick has been a little difficult to rank recently because after being a pretty dominant OH during her younger years she is transitioning to the libero spot, where she will play in college at Wayne State. Playing high school ball at Millard West – where Iowa State libero recruit Jaiden Centeno resides – means this club season is really the first time she’s worked exclusively in the back row. Multiple college coaches were impressed with her play over the weekend as libero. Mackenzie Saitta (Elkhorn South), 5’11, OH, Nebraska Elite 17 TKO – Class of 2019 #37 I believe this is the second time already this club season that Saitta has shown up on a stock-riser list, but she definitely deserves it. Saitta was taking it to some of the best blockers in the nation and was absolutely fearless at times. A Tennessee-Chattanooga recruit, Saitta has also made impressive strides defensively and she is quickly become one of the top full-rotation outside hitters in the Class of 2019.