Missouri fares well in 18 Open, Rockwood takes on Ohio

<p>We are excited qualifier season is here! After the 18s qualifier was canceled in Kansas City last month, we had to wait a couple more weeks to get things going! The 17s and 18s had the opportunity to qualify in Omaha at the Northern Lights Qualifier. This tournament was moved to Nebraska from Minnesota due to Covid protocols in place. Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite decided to travel East in hopes of earning a bid in the same state nationals will be held in April. </p> <p><em>We have been working hard to cover teams within the Gateway and Heart of America regions. We will continue to do such but will focus our attention for the most part on players in the state of Missouri moving forward.</em></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Northern Lights 18 Open</strong></span></p> <p>In the top division on the club scene, we had five teams represented who fall into our coverage area. One of those teams walked away as the champion, earning the ever so coveted "golden ball".  </p> <p><strong>Mavs KC 18 -1 - 1st Pace - 8 -1 overall record</strong></p> <p>I watched a few Mavs matches live and caught the rest over the last couple of days via recording. They are a dynamic team with all of the right pieces to compete for a national championship. The lone Missouri player on the team is Park Hill’s [player_tooltip player_id="41748" first="Kristen" last="Birmingham"] (Oklahoma). She is one of the three-headed monsters along with setter <strong>Kendra Wait</strong> (Creighton) and <strong>Caroline Bien</strong> (Kansas). They were 1-1 on day 1 in a three-team pool, losing to <strong>Adversity</strong> of Illinois. They bounced back to win a crossover match convincingly to move into day 2 of pool play. The day started with a three-set win over <strong>Premier Nebraska,</strong> before avenging the day 1 loss to Adversity -18, -17. This win would clinch the top spot in their pool but they still defeated Houston Jrs. 18 Elite. The format for the qualifier was two gold pools of three, with the winners advancing to the championship match. The second-place teams in the pool would play for the third bid. After <strong>Mizuno Northern Lights</strong> loss their opening match to <strong>FC Elite 18 Elite</strong>, a Mavs victory against Northern Lights would clinch at least a third-place match. In a back and forth match, Mavs would prevail -20, -24. The following match for first place in the pool saw Mavs KC sweep FC Elite to earn their open bid.  The championship featured a rematch from the previous day with Premier that would lead to another three-setter. Mavs would prevail after a 9-1 start to the third set, winning 15-8. Libero <strong>Courtney Jackson</strong> (Arkansas), DS <strong>Ashlyn Lovett</strong> (Georgia Southern),  and MB <strong>Justine Bichelmeyer</strong> (Central Missouri) had phenomenal weekends in the action I saw. </p> <p><strong>PVA 18 Elite - 5th Place - 5th Place - 5-4 overall record</strong></p> <p>PVA turned some heads this weekend. Even though their overall record may not look impressive, they won the right matches at the right time over the first two days. Day 1 saw them end in second place in pool action, after losing a tough three-set match to 2nd place finisher Premier Nebraska. They finished day 2 in a three-way tie of 2-1, but walked away as pool winners after the tiebreaker of the highest set percentage. They did face two Missouri/Kansas teams on day 2,  defeating <strong>417 Net Results 18-1 </strong> and losing a heartbreaking three-set match to <strong>KC Power</strong> 21-19. They ran into tough competition on the final day, losing again to Premier and then to <strong>Houston Skyline 18 Royal</strong>. I watched parts of three of their matches live, and even though I stated I will keep the focus on Missouri athletes, I can’t help but talk about the play of <strong>Bettye Igbenebor</strong> (Chicago). She was lights out over the three days. We also saw great libero play from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="101690" first="Arley" last="Anderson"]</strong> (Central Missouri). She was excellent defensively and saved many rallies for her team. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="101686" first="Kelly" last="Ann Greene"]</strong> (UC Santa Cruz) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="101677" first="Maggie" last="McInerney"]</strong> (Chicago), St. Teresa’s teammates had strong moments throughout the tournament. </p> <p><strong>417 Juniors 18-1 - 11th Place - 3-4 overall record</strong></p> <p>This team was the talk of the tournament on day 1. After already earning their USA bid the week prior, they jumped up to the open division with mixed results. They knocked off top seed Houston Skyline in three-sets. We did learn Skyline was missing three key players, however, Juniors took advantage of the opportunity and made themselves known. After taking care of Skyline, they handled <strong>Minnesota Select</strong> and <strong>UNO 18 Elite</strong> to win their pool. Day 2 came a lot tougher, as they would be defeated by region rivals PVA 18 Elite and KC Power. They dropped the final match to Northern Lights. The 0-3 day would send them to the Silver Bracket, where they were defeated in the 1st round by Houston Jr.s 18 Elite. I watched two games live on day 2 and the final match on video. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="41753" first="Salma" last="Lewis"]</strong> (Drury) had a great weekend on the pins for her team. She was aggressive and fiery. I was also impressed defensively by libero <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="41752" first="Kate" last="Owen"]</strong> (Missouri State). She brought the energy and was a vocal leader. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="41751" first="Maddy" last="Bushnell"]</strong> (Missouri State) was her reliable self along the front row. She was an effective scorer both in front and behind the setter. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="102444" first="Sydney" last="Golden"]</strong> (Northern Iowa) ran a great offense. </p> <p><strong>KC Power 18-1 - 11th Place - 4-3 overall record</strong></p> <p>KC Power finished in an 11th place tie with region mate 417 Juniors after a 4-3 weekend. Day 1 saw them run out to a 2-0 start, before falling to <strong>1st Alliance 18 Silver</strong> out of Illinois in three sets. Their second-place pool finish would be enough to keep them in the gold pools for day 2. We mentioned previously they were joined by two other region teams and Northern Lights for pool play. Their sole loss was to Northern Lights, but they ended up being the odd team out after a three-way tie with a 2-1 record. The final day saw them paired up again with 1st Alliance, which ended up being another competitive three-set battle. The result would be the same, with 18 Silver winning a close final set -12. We did watch a few live matches and was impressed by the play of Missouri player MB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="101675" first="Andi" last="Kreiling"]</strong> (Arizona State). She was effective in spurts and put up a strong block. Other players to highlight from the Kansas side are S/RS <strong>Camryn Turner</strong> (Kansas), OH <strong>Brooke Stonestreet</strong> (Iowa State), and MB <strong>Sarah Bingham</strong> (Illinois). At only around 5-7, Turner was a force from the right pin. She is an amazing athlete and appeared to be the go-to player when Power needed a score. Stonestreet was a consistent hitter throughout the weekend mixing up her shots effectively. In the middle, Bingham was steady and looked to have her way with quick sets. </p> <p><strong>Pohaku 18-1 - 17th Place - 2-5 overall record</strong></p> <p>Pohaku had a tough start to the tournament dropping every match on the 1st day and putting them out of contention for a bid. They bounced back on the second day to earn two victories before falling to Minnesota Selection on the final day. In the little action we did see, OH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="41759" first="Aubrey" last="LaPour"]</strong> (Bryant University) was her typical self, swinging hard and scoring points. L <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="41757" first="Aly" last="Gurtiza"]</strong> (Central Michigan) was making plays along the back row. </p> <p><em><strong>Bids: Mavs KC 18-1, Premier Nebraska 18 Gold, FC Elite 18</strong></em></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Ohio Valley 18s Qualifier</strong></span></p> <p>Rockwood Thunder was the lone Missouri team to venture West in hopes of earning a bid to nationals in their first attempt. The 18 team tournament featured two teams who have previously earned open bids, including one who would join 18 Elite in pool play. Day 1 saw them finish second in their pool after losing to Milwaukee Sting, one of the teams coming in with bids.  The second day of competition saw them placed with the other team looking to double qualify in Michigan Elite. Ohio teams AVC and CVC would join this four-team pool. Thunder had a tough day dropping every match and knocking them out of bid contention. They would rebound to win the Nickel pool on the final day to finish 10th with a 4-4 record. I watched three games back on video. [player_tooltip player_id="41802" first="Ella" last="Brinkmann"] looked very good over the weekend from the pin. [player_tooltip player_id="41746" first="Jordan" last="Iliff"] (Missouri) was steady from the right side. We were also impressed by the play of libero [player_tooltip player_id="116394" first="Taylor" last="Beaven"] (Stanford). Also [player_tooltip player_id="118841" first="Anna" last="Taylor"] (Xavier) had good play from the middle. </p> <p><em><strong>Bids: Metro 18 Travel, Elevation 18 Goller, AVC Clev 18 Rox</strong></em></p>