Day 1 Northern Lights: 18 Recap
Our prediction mojo is in early preseason form in a lot of ways when looking at the Open Division. The other divisions, we are in midseason shape! A quick look at the opening day of Northern Lights in Omaha. We…
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Continue ReadingOur prediction mojo is in early preseason form in a lot of ways when looking at the Open Division. The other divisions, we are in midseason shape! A quick look at the opening day of Northern Lights in Omaha. We will share out Day 1 top player performances in another post a little later after we watch more matches!
18 Open
Both Dynasty 18 Black and PVA 18 Elite had tough opening days, along with Pohaku 18-1, whom we also picked to grab a trickle-down with the aforementioned teams double qualifying. None of those things will happen after all three teams finished outside the top 2 in their respective pools. Dynasty dropped their first match of the day before rebounding with a sweep of VA Elite 18 but put themselves in a must-win situation to advance. They would lose to Front Range volleyball, who would go perfect on the day. This would put Dynasty in a play-in game for an opportunity to still stay in gold pools but they dropped that match to Minnesota Select.
PVA found themselves in the exact same scenario after dropping the first match and winning the second. They played a highly contested first set, 22-25 before Nebraska Premier raced away with a 13-25 win. In the one set battle to stay in contention, PVA was dropped by Metro 23-25.
Pohaku could never really get things going for the day, going 0-3 and finishing last in their pool. KC Power 18-1 was our surprise team locally for the day, going a perfect 3-0 and winning their pool. We discussed them prior to MLK and shared how they have the pieces to be in contention for an open bid this year after not earning one a season ago. Their success didn’t come without a little drama, after a three-set win to start the day over top seed FC Elite, but add in a 30-28 slugfest over Metro they earned their spot in the next round.
Dynasty Academy 18 Adidas looked like the team we expected them to be after a just ok showing at MLK. They went undefeated to capture pool 5 from the 4th seed position. It’s hard to put stock in seedings this early in the year, so we aren’t surprised by both their seeding and winning the pool. The good news is both KC Power and Dynasty Academy end up in different pools heading into Day 2, which keeps bid hopes alive for these local teams.
18 USA
Mizuno Club North is the team making us look good early after a 3-0 day and not dropping a set. No team got higher than 18 points in the six sets played. They look strong heading into Day 2. 417 Juniors is a team we thought would stay in gold pools after day 1, and they succeeded also going 3-0, dropping one set along the way. They won a three-set battle with CIA in their final match to stay perfect. One team we missed in our preview, Static 18-1 had a good opening day going 2-1 and staying in bid contention. They dropped their lone match to top seed UPVBC to start the day.
Shockwave 18 Ryan was close to a perfect day but a three-set defeat in the final match of the day put them at 2-1 but still in good shape. This was a good showing after a difficult open run at MLK in mid-January. Their neighbors, Fight Club 18-1 went 1-2 to finish third but kept their hope alive by winning the first of two playoff sets, putting the hammer on CCE 25-12. They followed by losing a heartbreaker 24-26 set that would send them to the silver pools on Day 2.
18 Liberty
As expected, both Mavs 816 18-1 and PVA 18 National were perfect on the opening day of action as top seeds in their pools. The Mavs didn’t drop a set on the day, while PVA only let one slip away. Dynasty 18 Blue had a runner-up pool finish going 2-1.
18 American
Kansas and Missouri teams still in bid contention:
Epic VB 18
Topeka Elite 18-2
North Storm 18-1