Strong Day 1 From Crossroads and MEQ

<p>One lesson I learned last week; impossible to try to cover every Missouri team between two qualifiers. I tried to get my eyes on as many teams and players as possible between MEQ and Sunshine. You live and you learn. In Colorado, only the 18s are in action this weekend. And in Louisville, we get the 17s and 18s. Today, at least in Louisville I wanted to get my eyes on some teams I haven’t seen much this season. Here are the players and teams who had strong opening days.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Colorado Crossroads</strong></em></span></p> <p><strong>18 Open</strong></p> <p>Every time <strong>KC Power 18-1</strong> has taken the floor this season you can’t help but be impressed with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="105491" first="Camryn" last="Turner"]</strong>. She doesn’t stand out before a match, as she is probably around 5-9 but she is the best player on the roster when they take the court. Her athleticism is off the charts and she hits a heavy ball from the right side. As a setter, the southpaw is a good decision maker and does an excellent job of working hard to get the ball to her hitters from her hands. KC Power struggled on the day and was knocked out of bid contention on day 1. </p> <p><strong>18 USA</strong></p> <p><strong>Shockwave Adidas 18-Scott</strong> had a perfect day 1. They finished in the top half of the HOA Power League and are looking to capture a bid. In the match versus Norco, middles <strong>Asha Regler</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="105578" first="Melody" last="Ukoefreso"]</strong> played well. They will join a couple of California teams and a  Colorado team in pool play tomorrow. </p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Nike Mideast Qualifier</strong></em></span></p> <p>With the NCAA tournament taking over Indianapolis, the show heads down the highway to Louisville for the 2021 edition of MEQ. We focused most of our attention today on the 17s, except for Rockwood Thunder in 18 open.</p> <p><strong>18 Open</strong></p> <p>We haven’t had the chance to see <strong>Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite</strong> much this season. They went 2-1 on the day with their defeat to Adversity. We checked out their match against Adversity. RS J<strong>ordan Iliff</strong> played well in this battle. We were also impressed with the play of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="116394" first="Taylor" last="Beaven"]</strong> at the libero position. She dug quite a few balls coming with smoke to keep the rally going. On Day 2, they will keep working towards that open bid while in a pool with <strong>CUVC 18 Premier, Fusion 18 Red</strong>, and <strong>Unified 18-1</strong>. They currently hold their National bid earned through the Gateway Region.</p> <p><strong>17 Open</strong></p> <p>Both <strong>Rockwood Thunder 17 Elite</strong> and <strong>KC Power 17-1</strong> had strong days, going 3-0. Since we watched Rockwood last weekend, we decided to check out Power who has been idle for some time. Both middles, <strong>Olivia Van Der Werff</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="105639" first="Kathryn" last="Frakes"]</strong> were on their game today offensively. Setter <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="98678" first="Sydney" last="Draper"]</strong> continues to be outstanding. We also saw good back row play from libero <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="105674" first="Tori" last="Hamilton"]</strong> and DS <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="105685" first="Kamryn" last="Farris"]</strong>. </p> <p><strong>Dynasty Academy 17</strong> has earned a National bid after clawing their way to Power League title last month. Dynasty jumped up to open play in search of bettering their bid. They went 1-1 in pool play then won a crossover match to stay in gold contention. They are in a loaded pool on the second day with <strong>Circle City 17 Purple, Rockwood,</strong> and <strong>A5 Mizuno 17 Kelly</strong>. <strong>PVA 17-1</strong> had a tough day but luckily a few other teams did too. Three teams finished 1-2 in pool 10 and PVA walked away with the 2nd place finish to keep their drive for a bid alive. </p> <p><strong>17 USA</strong></p> <p><strong>HPSTL 17 Royal</strong> won’t complain about their play on the first day finishing 2-1 and atop their pool after a three-way tie. I watched parts of a couple of matches but as become the norm, difficult seeing numbers far court. Their setter looked sharp in the sets we observed and was excellent in her set placement to the pins. We caught the end of <strong>Mizuno Club North’s</strong> 2nd set against <strong>Drive Nation 17 Black</strong>. <strong>Lia Graham</strong> was good defensively along with <strong>Lilian Holden</strong> at the net. Of course, Club North was far camera and I can’t get a number but white headband, possibly <strong>Haylee O’Meara</strong> (edit: our eyes still work, it was O'Meara) had a couple of key kills down the stretch. <strong>Mavs 816 17-1</strong> had a second-place finish in their pool, going 2-1 on the afternoon. I watched their first set against Elite VBC 17 and what I loved was the whole team seemed to contribute at key times as they fought their way back to take the set after being down. Libero <strong>Oliva Schnick</strong> was all over the court. OH <strong>Ainsley Gardner</strong> contributed some key points down the stretch along with RS  <strong>Sophia Kaster</strong>. I loved the aggressiveness of swings from <strong>Oliva Schnick</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="119199" first="Jalyn" last="Walruff"]</strong>. OH <strong>Alexandra Pennington</strong> has fought her way from injury and had some key blocks and touches. </p> <p><strong>17 American</strong></p> <p><strong>Rockwood Thunder 17 White</strong> had a dominant day en route to a perfect set record. Fellow Gateway Region teams <strong>H2 STL 17 Under Armour</strong> and <strong>Rockwood Thunder 17 Carolina</strong> went 2-1 to keep themselves in the hunt for the lone bid in this division. From the Heart of America region, <strong>417 Columbia 17-1</strong> went 3-0. To add to HOA, <strong>Dynasty 17 Gray, PVA 17 National</strong>, and <strong>Mizuno Club North 17-2 </strong>went 2-1. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>