Midwest Power League #3 Results Recap
The Midwest Power League triad is complete, and we’ve got plenty of winners to talk about! This third edition of the Power League was a two-day pool-to-bracket format that brought together some of the league’s top performers from the previous…
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Continue ReadingThe Midwest Power League triad is complete, and we’ve got plenty of winners to talk about!
This third edition of the Power League was a two-day pool-to-bracket format that brought together some of the league’s top performers from the previous two events. We recapped a little of Saturday’s action in our setup of the Sunday bracket.
So, last weekend’s Power League finale put bragging rights at stake for both the weekend and the league as a whole. In other words, teams were rewarded for their work throughout the entire league in addition to this third weekend. We’ll talk about both of those perspectives this week.
Here’s a rundown of the Midwest Power League finale!
Championship Sunday
The Sunday Gold bracket featured a fascinating medley of intra-club matchups, sizeable age gaps, and everything in between.
These trends were present right away with the two Kairos teams in the Gold bracket meeting each other in the opening round. It was a close, competitive match that really demonstrated the depth that this club is building in South Dakota. In the end, though, experience won the day as Kairos 18 Adidas advanced to the next round over its 17s counterparts.
I just mentioned the advantage that experience can bring, but don’t tell that to Premier Nebraska 16 Gold. This red-hot squad, fresh off that amazing bid run at NLQ, toppled Nebraska Elite 18 Omega in two emphatic set victories. 16 Gold’s confidence is growing, and it shows in these impressive on-court performances.
The third first-round Sunday match turned out to be a crucial one. VCNebraska 18 Elite and Club Ignit Select 18 Blue exchanged scoring runs in the opening set before VCN took a narrow 29-27 victory. That momentum carried into the following set as home-standing 18 Elite claimed the win.
After the first wave in the Gold bracket, we had that big contest looming between Nebraska Elite 17 Vici and Premier Nebraska 18 Gold. I’ve mentioned already this week that these are teams with decidedly different agendas heading into April, but both teams played with nothing to lose in Lincoln. It fittingly went the distance before 18 Gold prevailed in a tiebreaker.
The bottom of the bracket then featured back-to-back Premier clashes with a title match appearance going to whichever team emerged unscathed. Premier Nebraska 17 Gold took the floor for the first time Sunday morning and was able to extinguish that blazing 16 Gold squad. That, of course, set up a meeting between 17 Gold and 18 Gold.
This semifinal match had it all: firepower, ball control, and yet another third set. After a grueling battle, youth prevailed. 17 Gold was finals-bound.
Couldn’t expect anything other than a three-set gauntlet from these two.@premier17gold wins to advance to the Power League finals! pic.twitter.com/pISo06VmRj
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) April 3, 2022
Another intense three-set match could be found in the top half of the bracket, as Kairos 18 Adidas faced a Nebraska Juniors 18 Black team that had earned a first-round bye. The South Dakota team showed some serious fight as it rallied back from a first-set loss to take a big victory in the second. In the third, though, 18 Black continued to show why it has been one of the Power League’s top performers throughout 2022.
However, the ensuing semifinal match had 18 Black meeting the VCN 18 Elite team that was suddenly finding its groove. That momentum — and perhaps some home-court comfort — lifted VCN to a huge win over Nebraska Juniors to make a push to the finals.
From there, VCN would not be denied. Perhaps this is where experience prevailed after all, as 18 Elite scrapped through a three-set contest with Premier 17 Gold to win the third weekend of the Midwest Power League.
@VCNebraska 18 Elite defends home court!
Midwest Power League champs! pic.twitter.com/Ylz8ar4vbv
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) April 3, 2022
Silver Surfing
In the adjacent Silver bracket, Nebraska ONE 15 Synergy continued its huge spring stretch by stringing together three Sunday wins. The NLQ qualifier got past VCNebraska 16 Elite, Nebraska Elite 15 Matrix, and Premier Nebraska 15 Gold to prevail in Silver.
So awesome to see all these nationally qualified Nebraska teams coming together.@We_are_NEONE 15 Synergy gets in the win column on Court 6! pic.twitter.com/U1jVgB1vPI
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) April 3, 2022
Other squads in this group are worthy of praise after Sunday’s slate. Premier Nebraska 15 Gold’s run to the runner-up spot started without a first-round bye and also went through successful squads like Nebraska Elite 16 Lokahi and Premier Nebraska 17 Black. What a sight to have two 15s teams at the end of a bracket that featured all age groups up to 18s.
Nebraska Elite 15 Matrix continues to improve, and a three-set triumph over VCNebraska 18 Black shows what this squad is capable of. This is a team that has battled hard at national qualifiers and might have found a spark after this Power League.