Day 1 From Phoenix: Kansas and Missouri Edition
The 18s nationals are underway with the three-day championship tournament going down in sunny Phoenix, Arizona. We gave a preview of the participants, so today we take a look at how the opening day went for these juniors in their…
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Continue ReadingThe 18s nationals are underway with the three-day championship tournament going down in sunny Phoenix, Arizona. We gave a preview of the participants, so today we take a look at how the opening day went for these juniors in their final tournament.
18 Open
As a refresher, the open division opens up in six-team pools playing three matches on the first day, followed by two on the second. In Pool 1, Dynasty 18 Black sprinted out the gate with a 3-0 day, dropping two sets along the way including a sweep of Houston Juniors. They will start the day with 0-3 Arizona Sky. In Pool 2, PVA 18 Elite went 1-2 on the opening day but a perfect morning today will give them life. They defeated Minnesota Select to start the day before losing to Arizona Storm and Sunshine. Reporting from Pool 6, Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite won their first two matches before dropping a three-setter to Vital after dominating the second set of the contest and losing the first in extra points. KC Power 18-1 had a rough day going 0-3. They open their second day against another winless team, so they hope to get in the win column. Dynasty Academy 18 Adidas rounds out our bunch in the final pool and went 1-2 to start the tourney. Their defeats came to teams with winning records but they will have to play undefeated Metro on the second day.
18 National
HPSTL 18 Royal and Pohaku 18-1 both finished Day 1 with winning records going 2-1. They started the day off facing each other with Royal getting the straight-set victory. Pohaku would bounce back to win their other matches while HPSTL won their next one before dropping the final match of the day. Fight Club 18-1 battled to start the tournament but couldn’t find the win column, going 0-3 and managing to get one set.
18 USA
417 Juniors 18-1 did as we expected, finishing the first day near the top of the pool and going 2-1. They won their first two matches before losing to Sunshine. Rockwood Thunder 18 Navy managed to only win one set on the day dropping all three matches. The pool is a tough one with one team undefeated and three sitting at 2-1.
18 Liberty
We pegged Mizuno Club North 18-1 to have a good opening day and they did with a 3-0 match record, a 6-0 set advantage. Elite VBC 18 Gold ended up in the same pool with Club North and suffered their only loss to the Kansas City team, going 2-1 on the day. Mavs 816 18-1 had a tough day but caught a break it appeared with three teams going 1-2 but the tiebreakers didn’t go in their favor and finished last in the pool.
18 American
A lot of action in the American Division for our coverage teams and some tough days across the board. The highs include Thr33 Volleyball finishing second in their pool with a 2-1 record and staying on the right side of the equation. Besides that, not much joy with Missouri Juniors 18s and PVA 18 National going 1-2. Going 0-3 were Invasion 18 Black, Static 18-1, and HPSTL 18 Orange. All of these teams will look to end their tournament on high notes from the other side.
18 Freedom
Six-team pools in the Freedom Division give a little wiggle room for tough opening days. All of our teams will need them as North Storm 18-1, SEMO Heat 18-1, Rockwood Thunder 18 White, and Epic VBC 18-1 all went 1-2. Two wins today can keep their hopes alive in the potential challenge-round play.