St. Louis President’s Day Tournament Teams To Know

<p>There was much attention on the Triple Crown NIT last weekend and it was much deserved. Many Kansas/Missouri teams had good showings, including Dynasty 16 Black walking away champion of the Elite Division. There was some good volleyball played in St. Louis also and today we take a look at some teams who had good showings.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>HPSTL 15 Royal (2nd Open Division)</strong></p> <p>This is a team that will be fun to watch for the remainder of the season. They didn't drop a match until the final one to Circle City 15 Purple in two highlight contested sets. 15 Royal has a roster full of players that will become household names for years to come including [player_tooltip player_id="169895" first="Tara" last="Greenberry"], [player_tooltip player_id="174403" first="Zoe" last="Baliva"], and [player_tooltip player_id="168037" first="Hannah" last="Leftridge"]. </p> <p><strong>HPSTL 15 Orange (5th Open Division)</strong></p> <p>15 Orange won the right games at the right time to advance to the gold bracket despite a 4-4 record. They walked away with a 5th place finish. </p> <p><strong>[program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 16 Navy (3rd Open Division)</strong></p> <p>16 Navy went 6-3, tying for third place over the weekend. Emma Hoing was a welcomed addition to this team moving over from the 15 Elite team from a year ago. [player_tooltip player_id="150039" first="Claire" last="Fulton"] is a player who can make things happen on the court and continue to watch the development of [player_tooltip player_id="150043" first="Sophia" last="Gagnepain"] and [player_tooltip player_id="150041" first="Madison" last="Swehla"]. </p> <p><strong>HPSTL 16 Royal (5th Open Division)</strong></p> <p>HPSTL 16 Royal was perfect through two days before running into the before-mentioned [program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] team. 16 Navy pulled off a three-set win to start the day. They would bounce back to beat Iowa Select to finish fifth and a 7-1 record. [player_tooltip player_id="150035" first="Audrey" last="Small"] continues to flash her defensive playmaking ability. [player_tooltip player_id="150037" first="Grace" last="Killion"] is a year older and stronger. [player_tooltip player_id="124225" first="Sammi" last="Bergjans"] was solid through eight matches. </p> <p><strong>HPSTL 17 Royal (3rd Open Division)</strong></p> <p>17 Royal was perfect through day 1. They ran into a buzz saw on day 2. They did what they needed to do on the final day to escape with a third-place finish going 5-4. [player_tooltip player_id="101700" first="Elise" last="Paul"] continues to show flashes of being able to take over a match. [player_tooltip player_id="102461" first="Brianna" last="Wortman"] continues to grow her game. </p> <p><strong>HPSTL 18 Royal (3rd Open Division)</strong></p> <p>18 Royal would have been perfect if they didn't have to face Circle City teams, losing to both 18 Purple and 18 Black along the way to a 7-2 weekend. Haley Baliva and [player_tooltip player_id="150001" first="Anna" last="Sommer"] were a couple of many players who were solid for HPSTL. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>