AAU 2018 Midwest Grand Prix Recap

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Club teams from Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota gathered at the CenturyLink Convention Center June 2nd-4th for a final showcase of competition prior to USAV and AAU Nationals which will take place the end of this month. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ten teams competed in the 14’s division with six Nebraska natives: </span><strong>Nebraska Elite 13 Thunder, Nebraska ONE 14 Voltz, River City Juniors 14 White, VCNebraska 14 Black, River City Juniors 14 Navy,</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and</span> <strong>River City Juniors 14 Red.</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nebraska ONE 14 Voltz came out on top with gold bracket wins over River City Juniors 14 Navy and Nebraska Elite 13 Thunder for a 6-2 overall record. Behind them was Nebraska Elite 13 Thunder with a second-place finish and Kairos Elite 14 Adidas from Sioux Falls, SD taking third.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the 15’s division, twelve teams competed in the three-day tournament with seven hailing from Nebraska: </span><strong>Nebraska Elite 15 Chaos, VCNebraska 14 Elite, River City Juniors 15 Red, Nebraska Juniors 151, River City Juniors 15 Navy, Nebraska Elite 14 Oorah,</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and</span> <strong>VCNebraska 15 White.</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nebraska Juniors 151 took the gold with a three-set win over VCNebraska 14 Elite (3</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">rd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> overall finish) and a two-set sweep over Kairos Elite 15 Adidas (2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> overall finish) in the championship match for a perfect 7-0 record on the weekend.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The largest division in the tournament was the 16’s division with 14 teams. Eight of these were Nebraska club teams: </span><strong>Nebraska Elite 14 Havoc, VCNebraska 16 Black, Nebraska Juniors 162, Nebraska Juniors 161, River City Juniors 16 Navy, Nebraska Elite 16 Apollo, VCNebraska 16 Blue,</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and </span><strong>Nebraska Juniors 163.</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nebraska Juniors 161 took first-place with a 7-1 record.  They closed out the tournament with gold bracket wins over Southwest Minnesota 161 and Nebraska Elite 16 Apollo, both in three-set thrillers. Nebraska Elite 16 Apollo finished second overall and Kairos Elite 16 Adidas finished in third-place.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ten teams competed in the 17’s division with half of them hailing from Nebraska: </span><strong>Nebraska ONE 17 Titanium, Nebraska Elite 15 Revolution, Nebraska Juniors 171, River City Juniors 17 Navy,</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and</span> <strong>Nebraska Juniors 172.</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nebraska ONE 17 Titanium took gold on the weekend with a perfect 8-0 record and gold bracket victories over Nebraska Elite 15 Revolution (3</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">rd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> place overall) and Adrenaline 17 Rox (2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> place overall) from the Iowa region.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, the 18’s division was one of the smallest on the weekend with just six teams. All but one of these teams were from the Great Plains region with </span><strong>Nebraska Juniors 181, River City Juniors 18 Navy, Nebraska Elite 17 TKO, Nebraska Elite 16 Vici,</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><strong>Nebraska Elite 17 Razee</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> all competing.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Southwest Minnesota 181 who compete in the North Country region took gold in the 18’s division with a 7-1 record and three-set championship win over Nebraska Juniors 181. The Juniors took second overall with Nebraska Elite 16 Vici coming in third.</span></p>