Five Quick Observations From The Prep Dig Gauntlet
It’s complete. Teams from five different states coming to Middleton High School and Kromrey Middle School on the edge of Madison, Wisconsin were able to compete for a season ending tournament or a tune up heading into the national tournament. We were able to crown five champions with FC Elite (Appleton, WI) winning the 14s and 15 Open, V-Hawk Xtreme 14 Adidas (La Crosse, WI) winning 15 Club, Iowa Rockets (Iowa City, IA) 15R winning the 16 Open division, and Central Iowa Select (Des Moines, IA) winning the 17/18s division. Plenty of tough competition, three set battles, and social media to go along to complete an event to kickoff the start of Prep Dig Events which will gain momentum heading into the end of 2019 and into 2020.
14s Showcase a Bright Future
The 14s Division, held at Kromrey Middle School (which is one of the nicest middle schools I’ve ever seen) showcased some of the top 14s in the state. With the power pool format, the top teams were able to field some extremely competitive matches on Saturday with bracket play on Sunday. For FC Elite and Midwest Penguins 14 Black, the two teams representing the Badger Region in Indy in 14 National and 14 American their first match went in favor of Elite 25-18, 25-15. However, Sunday was a different story with MWP coming back in a three set battle before falling just short in the third set 18-16. Regardless of the results, both teams are getting the experience in tight matches. Same goes for the One Wisconsin 14-1 team. Many of these athletes on FC Elite and One Wisconsin are from the same area and some will even be playing for the same high school programs. FC Elite came out on top in set three 15-13 to claim the title. FC Elite will head to nationals in Indy while One Wisconsin will go to nationals in Florida. The future of Wisconsin prep volleyball is definitely in good hands.
VHawk 15 Adidas takes set one of the 15 Club Championship #PDGauntlet pic.twitter.com/RrIXziZYcK
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) June 2, 2019
The Balance
When teams head to the national tournament, every match is going to be against most likely that will be unfamiliar. I feel there was a little bit of that throughout the weekend with Chicago Elite getting a chance to play Nebraska Juniors. MN North out of the Duluth area getting to compete against teams from Iowa or Illinois. Adjustments being made throughout the course of a match. Throughout all levels, plenty of three set matches was a theme over the course of the weekend. What gives you all the feels is it really didn’t matter what match or what was at stake. The three set matches were full of excited, a little bit of the expected drama, and a lot of momentum changes back and forth before the final ball drops.
Just won an all out dog fight against FC Elite in the semi-finals! 13-25, 25-15, 17-15👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Onto the ship against Iowa Rockets! Let’s go🏐🏐🏐 #PDGauntlet pic.twitter.com/NeGdamr1qn
— Nebraska Juniors 16s Teams (@Jrs16Ne) June 2, 2019
The Grit of Nebraska Juniors 16 Black
Nebraska Juniors 16 Black by no means had an easy route to their second play finish in the 16s Division. From the start, dropping their opening match to FC Elite who is loaded with a talented and balanced roster to coming back in the semifinals to defeat FC Elite 17-15 in the third set to advance to face Iowa Rockets who would eventually win the 16s title. This team is well balanced, unselfish, and just gritty. Finding ways to save and score points. NE Juniors middle blocker, Alexis Markowski is actually committed to play basketball at South Dakota State. Her club volleyball days will soon be ending, but that doesn’t take away from the impact she has on the net and the fire and intensity she plays with her teammates. There is always the the back and forth between basketball and volleyball and to have an athlete who is a Division 1 basketball player and still play club volleyball speaks to not just her athleticism, but the discipline it takes to be successful at multiple sports (oh and being a 16 year old high school student as well).
Big win for @IowaRockets 16R – heading to the semifinals #PDGauntlet pic.twitter.com/D6MLSCRW9R
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) June 2, 2019
The 17/18s Wild Ride
The 17/18s division was a wild ride throughout the whole weekend. With high caliber teams up and down the lineup, the title was definitely up for the grabs. With a late addition of moving the Iowa Rockets 16R from 16s to 17/18, they were a bit of a wildcard. After advancing out of pool play Saturday they were up against Nebraska Juniors 17 Black which looked like a machine on a mission with the balance and power throughout their lineup with some solid future college athletes. Rockets came out strong winning 25-19 in set one, dropped set two and won set three 15-12. The result was the same in the semifinal against a strong FC Elite team where they dropped the first set, but would go on to win the next two including the third 15-12. In the finals, Central Iowa Select out of Des Moines was just a little too strong for Iowa Rockets 16R. After seeing Iowa Rockets play in March at the Iowa Regionals compared to now, the improvement and confidence this team is playing with will be tough to go up against when they heading nationals in Indy late June.
What’s Next?
We will have articles, videos, and pictures…lots of pictures coming out from the tournament over the course of the whole weekend. The pictures will be posted from our Prep Dig Facebook page and shared over all of our individual state Facebook pages. The experience is far from over. Please visit our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts along with the hashtag #PDGauntlet where you can see some pictures from teams competing and a really solid dance routine from Revolution Volleyball Academy 😉