NLQ Championship Monday: Bids Secured and Champions Crowned
After an intense, action-packed, drama-filled weekend of volleyball at the Mizuno Northern Lights Qualifier in Omaha, we now have some new teams headed to Nationals this summer.
Here on the Prep Dig site, we’ve reached the post-event period where we’re going to be cranking out a lot of analysis from this big qualifier event. Standout players will be a major focus as we finish recapping all the results. We’re also going to be looking at top performers from many of the other divisions that we saw in Omaha. Be sure to stay tuned for all the content!
Now, though, let’s put a bow on our recaps of the 17 Open and 18 Open divisions. Here’s who emerged with trophies and bids from Championship Monday.
18 Open
A few hotly contested days of 18 Open play came to an exciting conclusion Monday afternoon.
The day began with a pivotal Pool 1 matchup between Club V 18 Ren Reed and Vital 18-1 Gold. With the 18 pools each having just three teams, every result was magnified.
These two talented teams traded blows in the first two sets, forcing a deciding third in the pool’s opening match. With the score eventually going to a 14-14 tie, Club V pieced together the final two points to take a massive win in a pressure situation.
Afterward, Premier Nebraska 18 Gold seized the opportunity to face two teams that had just endured a grueling battle in the Monday opener. 18 Gold swept past Vital and had the same success against Club V to claim victory in the pool. The Nationals bid was theirs.
Ticket punched!
It was a long, wild weekend for @Premier_18Gold, but they’re heading to the 18 Open finals at NLQ! pic.twitter.com/LZIJUrP8hr
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) January 31, 2022
Pool 2 of 18 Open Gold kicked off with FC Elite 18 Elite facing VC United 181 Elite. These two neighboring clubs fought in a close bout before FC Elite, already an 18 Open bid holder after their early success in Chicago, get the narrow two-set victory.
It was then time for Mizuno Northern Lights 18-1 to see the floor again after an eventful Sunday grind. Lights scrapped their way to a two-set win over VC United, assuring that they could snag a bid with a win in their next match.
The bid-deciding match got off to a rough start for Lights, though, with FC Elite taking a commanding lead in the first set and looking to be in complete control of the match. However, the team from Minnesota showed their heart and clawed all the way back to take the next two sets.
Northern Lights 18-1 was going to the Northern Lights Qualifier 18 Open championship match, and they had also assured their trip to Nationals. From there, this positive momentum carried them to another win in the rematch with Premier Nebraska to take the title.
Northern Lights 18-1 prevails at the Northern Lights Qualifier!
Hard-fought three-set win to take the title in 18 Open. pic.twitter.com/T2AsiHdmWs
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) January 31, 2022
NLQ’s third 18 Open bid belonged to Club V 18 Ren Reed. A third-place match was not necessary; the other second-place pool team was FC Elite, who did not need to compete for another bid.
17 Open
On to the wild carousel of 17 Open.
Gold pools picked back up Monday morning after each team played one Gold match on Sunday.
Premier Nebraska 17 Gold looked to keep pushing forward after a crucial win in their Gold opener against Dynasty 17 Black. In Monday’s first match, 17 Gold mounted a miraculous comeback down 14-11 in the third set to MN Select 17-1 and swiped their second victory of the pool.
UNREAL!
Down 14-11 in the third, @premier17gold strings together five straight to win it! Grace Heaney went OFF! pic.twitter.com/KDd9zlxbH8
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) January 31, 2022
Things got even tenser as the aforementioned Dynasty 17 Black picked up a three-set victory over OT 17 J John, a team that had claimed a Sunday victory of their own against MN Select.
The next match became a clincher. Premier Nebraska elevated their play once more to sweep OT and assure their victory in the pool. After an up-and-down run in the first two days of action, 17 Gold earned their bid.
Dynasty, meanwhile, aspired to keep their own bid hopes alive. A clutch two-set win over MN Select put 17 Black in sole possession of second in the pool with a 2-1 record.
Time to talk about Pool 2. Some jokingly referred to this group as the “race for second place.”
That’s in reference to the dominance displayed by 1st Alliance VBC 17 Gold throughout the weekend. They did not drop a single set en route to Gold pools, and — spoiler alert — they continued that unblemished streak through their Gold group. After sweeping Skyline 17 Royal on Sunday, 17 Gold earned two more decisive victories against MAVS KC 17-1 and HJV 17 Elite to lock up a trip to Nationals. This team’s infectious energy and fun attitude will be an instant hit in Indianapolis.
Well, let’s address that battle for second place now. It came down to set win percentage as each team took turns trading blows.
MAVS KC 17-1 finished Sunday competition in this pool with a sweep over HJV 17 Elite, and that set count turned out to be important later. On Monday, HJV 17 Elite slipped past Skyline 17 Royal in a classic Texas grudge match that ended 15-13 in the third set. The pool needed to be more complicated, though, and Skyline 17 Royal proceeded to edge MAVS KC 17-1 in a three-set triumph of their own. MAVS, HJV, and Skyline all sat at 1-2 with sweep defeats to 1st Alliance factored in.
With three teams tied and no one having the head-to-head advantage over the other two, the set percentage tiebreaker kicked in. The two-set win for MAVS KC over HJV tilted things in their favor with Skyline and HJV picking up their wins in three sets.
After all that hair-splitting metagame, MAVS KC 17-1 and Dynasty 17 Black were paired together in a Kansas City showdown to decide the third bid. A dramatic match ensued that evoked images of the action we saw with 18 Open on Sunday. In the end, MAVS KC held their ground in the third set and won their way to Indy.
Oh, and don’t think we’ve forgotten about the championship match. Of course, everyone wanted to see if 1st Alliance could finish off their perfect run. After some huge swings exchanged on both sides, the Illinois team pulled away at the end of each set to win 2-0 over Premier Nebraska and bring a trophy (and serious bragging rights) to 1st Alliance.
Perfection!
1st Alliance VBC 17 Gold is your undisputed NLQ 17 Open champion! Zero set losses throughout the event! pic.twitter.com/CnjSXlgh1V
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) January 31, 2022