NJC Potential Matchups, Big Ten Connections, and Stories To Know

Class of the Titans in 15 Open

15 Open – Lions 15-1, Milwaukee Sting 15 Gold, Sports Performance 15 Elite, FaR Out 15 Black

Clash of the powers, and these are only four out of the field which is extremely deep. These teams are the top in the Midwest as well as legit contenders for a national title. Some of their players haven’t even had one day of high school yet.  

Lions 15-1 won the MidEast Qualifier, dropping their only match early to NKYVC.  Milwaukee Sting 15 Gold was the winner of the the JVA World Challenge, defeating SP 15 Elite in the semifinals.  SP 15 Elite finished third in the 16 Super Open Great Lakes Power League while FaR Out 15 Black out of the Grand Rapids, MI area finished 6th.  

There is also a future Big Ten flavor to this field.  For Milwaukee Sting 15 Gold, setter Brooke Mosher has committed to Illinois while Class of 2022 phenom Mckenna Wucherer has committed to play at Minnesota.  For Sports Performance 15 Elite, libero Alexis Rodriguez has committed to play at Nebraska (so has Kennedi Orr of Northern Lights 17-1 who is also from the Class of 2021), and most recently FaR Out had Aubrey O’Gorman and Maradith O’Gorman (Class of 2022) commit to play at Michigan State.  

Future Gophers Coming Together

The Class of 2022 (currently finishing their 8th grade year) already has two Gophers in Wucherer and 6’7 middle blocker Carter Booth, the daughter of former NBA and Penn State college basketball player Calvin Booth.  Kokoro 15-1 has Anna Wolf, a Freshman this past year at River Falls High School in Wisconsin is a 6’2 middle blocker that will be heading to the Gophers as part of the Class of 2021 is the sister of Green Bay star’s Taylor Wolf who was the Horizon League Freshman of the Year and Jessica Wolf.  Northern Lights out of Minneapolis will be bringing one of the top 17s teams in the nation and has two future Gophers as well with Rachel Kilkelly and Ellie Huseman from the Class of 2019. Lets not forget about Taylor Landfair from Sports Performance 18 Elite, the 2020 outside hitter is touching 10’6 and is one of the top recruits in the Class of 2020 in the country.

She’s Back – Purdue Commit Maddie Koch

Maddie Koch exploded onto the national scene last year playing for Wisconsin Volleyball Academy 16 Black competing in 16 Open at Nationals gaining the eyes of some Power 5 coaches.  This past fall she made her verbal commit to play at Purdue following graduation. This past club season she was bumped up to play on the pin for WVA 18 Black, but a knee injury had her temporarily sidelined for over a month.  With WVA 17 Black’s Lydia Lloyd going down with a knee injury at the Northern Lights Qualifier, a roster spot was open and Koch will be filling in for WVA 17 Black. Koch brings the thunder. A powerful and physical attacker that has the potential to contribute at a high level.  After coming from a family of brothers who put Northern Iowa basketball on the map, Koch has the size and strength to be a Big Ten player.

16 Open – Midwest VS. Mideast

Sports Performance 16 Elite is the number one seed in the tournament and also has won the Super Open for the GLPL 16s, as well as the JVA World Challenge will have a major target on their back.  With Sports Performance and Milwaukee 16 Gold being the top two seeds, that leaves 1st Alliance 16 Silver, PNK, and KIVA 16 Red looking at the top. This could provide some interesting matchups come Sunday and Monday.  

Here are some previous results:

JVA World Challenge

Sports Performance defeated PNK 2-0

Sports Performance defeated KiVA Red 2-0

KIVA Red defeated Sting 16 Gold 2-1

PNK defeated Illini Elite 16 Cardinal 2-1

Ultra Ankle Bluegrass:

KiVA Red defeated Sting 16 Gold 2-1

PNK defeated Sting 16 Gold 2-0

Sports Performance defeated PNK 2-0

Central Time Zone (Indianapolis)

Sting 16 Gold defeated KiVA Red 2-0

*PNK and Sports Performance Elite were also in this tournament

1st Alliance 16 Silver

@MEQ – Defeated PNK 2-0