Wisconsin Club Weekend Update

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">May is always a hectic, and interesting month in the world of club volleyball.  Athletes involved in a spring sport are doing double duty, PROM, some clubs are starting to reach their peak, and for some clubs that may been in a tough stretch the season can be a little bit long before nationals.  That doesn’t mean that there isn’t solid volleyball being played and the excitement isn’t there. Wisconsin had teams playing in three states this weekend in Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois with some taking home hardware.  Here is a quick weekend recap of some clubs around the state: </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>JVA Midwest Challenge - Des Moines, IA</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The younger teams from Milwaukee Sting made their way to Des Moines taking on teams from Minnesota, Nebraska, and Illinois.  Nebraska has some strong club teams out of the Omaha area and Kokoro out of the Minneapolis area was down there as well. Iowa has Six Pack out of Cedar Falls, Adrenaline out of Cedar Rapids, and PowerPlex out of Des Moines that all have college level players.  With teams playing up a division it would be a different dynamic playing against players with more experience. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">15 White took home a gold ball (literally) winning the 15 Open Division.  Sting 15 White defeated Nebraska Juniors 15-1 in the opening round of Gold Play.  Nebraska Juniors is the club of Nebraska legends, Jordan Larsen who was an All American and Olympian as well as the Rolfzen twins, who won a national title at Nebraska.  The three set win took them to the semifinals with another Nebraska club in VC Nebraska 15 Black which resulted in a three set win for 15 White.  The championship was against Kokoro 15-1 which features River Falls prep, <strong>Anna Wolf</strong>, who is committed to Minnesota. Sting White prevailed again in three sets winning 15-12 in the third. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sting had 15 Black and 16 White in the final eight of the 16s Gold bracket.  15 Black actually knocked off 16 Black to get to Gold. 15 Black then lost to a traditionally strong Iowa Club to Six Pack 15s out of Cedar Falls which is a club closely connected to Northern Iowa.  Sting 16 White made it to the semifinals before getting bounced by MVP 16 Blue out of Sioux City, Iowa with players from Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sting 15 Gold jumped up two levels to play in the 17s Division.  15 Gold breezed through pool play and Gold bracket play before running into Adrenaline 17 Rox out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Adrenaline has 6’4 middle blocker <strong>Grace Tubbs</strong>, <strong>Kylee Donner</strong> a libero going to UNI, and <strong>Aliyah Carter</strong> a high power, high flying outside hitter from the Class of 2020.  A second place finish in a field of solid 17s teams </span></p> <p><strong>16s Great Lakes Power League - Aurora, IL</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The merry-go-round continues in the A and B bracket of the Super Open Division of the Great Lakes Power League.  Wisconsin Juniors 16-1 and Capital Adidas 16s finished 6th and 8th in Bracket A, which will move them down to Bracket B for the final weekend of GLPL.  Motion 16 Blue finished second in Bracket B, which will move them up to Bracket A, clinching a share of finishing in the top eight of the Super Open. River City 16s and Wisconsin Juniors 15 will be guaranteed a finish in the top 16 the club division of GLPL. </span></p> <p><strong>Rochester Cup - Rochester, MN</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The River Falls athletes of <strong>Emily Banitt</strong> and <strong>Halle Olson</strong> have been bulldozing the competition this year playing for the Minnesota club, Kokoro 16-1.  Olson and Banitt will be the go to athletes this year as River Falls tries to get back to the Resch after a runner up finish in 2017. The Milwaukee Sting 17 Silver team was competing in the 18 Open Division against some top Minnesota clubs that will go the AAU route for Nationals which means their 18s teams are still in full force.  17 Silver went 4-3, losing to eventual champion Southwest Minnesota Volleyball Club. Kokoro 18-1 with River Falls athletes <strong>Izzy Barr</strong> and <strong>Marissa Stockman</strong> finished second.</span></p> <p>Later this week we will have some hidden gems from the Green Bay Fest held at Green Bay Power, a look into the Green Bay Phoenix College ID Camp, and athletes who are starring on the track and the volleyball court. </p> <p>Look for us Sunday at the AAU Super Regional being held at Milwaukee Sting. </p>