Nebraska Teams Primed for Championship Sunday at NLQ
The Great Plains Region is showing out at another national qualifier. Imagine that. While my live coverage of the Northern Lights Qualifier has been national in scope, I still have my eye on all the Nebraska teams performing here in…
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Continue ReadingThe Great Plains Region is showing out at another national qualifier. Imagine that.
While my live coverage of the Northern Lights Qualifier has been national in scope, I still have my eye on all the Nebraska teams performing here in Minneapolis. There are plenty of Nebraska teams in the hunt for bids as we enter the final day of action, so let’s take a brief moment to break all those down.
Here we go.
Back at It Again
As we mentioned in our previews, Premier Nebraska 18 Gold already has a bid from KC MLK and does not need anything further from this tournament. That hasn’t stopped the team from rolling through this weekend’s 18 Open pools.
All told, 18 Gold only dropped one set in the opening match to Vital en route to a perfect 5-0 record in Round 1 pools. That locked Premier Nebraska into 18 Open’s four-team Gold pool without needing a crossover match.
This isn’t about bids for Premier. It’s about winning the event.
The 17s Bunch
While 18 Gold is the only Great Plains team in the Gold running heading into Sunday, we have plenty more intrigue in the event’s 17s divisions.
First, let’s stay in the Premier Nebraska gym. In 17 USA, Premier Nebraska 17 Black is in the final bracket and will gear up for an opening-round bout with home-standing Northern Lights 17-2. If a team is going to knock out 17 Black, it would require someone to hand the team its first set loss of the entire weekend. Premier has soared to a 6-0 record behind some extraordinarily consistent play from its talented lineup. I was particularly impressed with how 17 Black showed up against VCNebraska 17 Black, an in-state rival with some of its own skilled athletes.
Then, there’s the high-pressure environment that awaits in 17 Open. Premier Nebraska 17 Gold has made the final six of this ultra-competitive division and will vie for an early-season bid in Minneapolis. While the team has suffered some narrow setbacks to Rockwood Thunder and A5 this weekend, it has also come through in must-win scenarios to reach the vaunted Gold pool. Dynasty 17 Black and OT 17 O Felix await in 17 Gold’s championship group.
Let’s just keep going down the line. How about Premier Nebraska 17 Red? I was really optimistic about this team heading into NLQ, and this squad decided to back me up by reaching the Gold bracket in 17 Liberty. We’ll have a lot of names to cover from this team, but I’m already loving the offensive balance 17 Red can achieve. After going 4-2 in opening pools, 17 Red will start bracket play against Mizuno Club North.
And let’s round out the quartet of Premier Nebraska 17s teams. It should be no surprise that 17 Silver is in the 17 American hunt after the team’s past success at NLQ. A tough opening-round match against Wisconsin Ice awaits, but this group will be ready.
Finally, we have Club Legacy 17 Alpha’s big breakthrough in 17 American. This division has a fairly large group of teams, so emerging from this field is quite an accomplishment. 17 Alpha only took one loss in its six matches between Friday and Saturday. Not only was this enough to reach the Gold group, but Legacy will have a first-round bye in the bracket. The winner of a morning contest between CSA and Impact will have the tough task of slowing down a 17 Alpha group that has impressed us since this year’s first scrimmages in early January.