Open Bid Breakdown from Windy City Qualifier

What a weekend in the Windy City.   Chicago offered a big opportunity to do some nationally-focused coverage at the Open level, and you know I couldn't pass that up. This tournament's stacked field featured several teams that I had covered on big stages before, but it also presented some new faces that are now firmly on my radar. Whatever the case, Windy City delivered another exciting year of qualifier action.   And, of course, that action comes with more bids. Before I get into any of the nitty-gritty details on this tournament's top performers, here's a look at the big winners who punched their Open ticket to Nationals in Chicago.     17 Open   Let's take a trip from one end of Missouri to the other. Rockwood Thunder 17 Elite and MAVS KC 17-1 locked up Open bids at WCNQ.   We'll start the conversation with Rockwood Thunder, which climbed all the way to a runner-up finish as a team that was not previously qualified in Open. It's a continuation of what has been a fascinating year for this group. 17 Elite fell in the third-place match with a chance to qualify at NLQ back in January. The team was then a late addition to NIT power pools and made the Round of 8 in that tournament despite the near-snub. Then, there's Windy City.   Rockwood Thunder was nearly untouchable on Day 1 of WCNQ but split its matches in a three-team pool in Round 2. That meant 17 Elite would have to endure a crossover match before heading into Sunday. Fortunately, a sweep over Boiler Jrs set the tone well.   That built the foundation for an exceptional Sunday performance in which Rockwood Thunder swept AVC and FC Elite to reach the Gold semifinal bracket. After 17 Elite assured a spot among the division's top four with three bids available, we had to look at the other 17 Open pools for any previously qualified winner. Once 1st Alliance 17 Gold clinched its own spot in the semis, Rockwood Thunder's bid was in the bag.   But 17 Elite wasn't done. The team triumphed over NKYVC 17-1 Tsunami in a three-set thriller to reach the 17 Open championship. A runner-up finish put a stamp on a banner weekend for Rockwood Thunder.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1645139281810161664?s=20 </div></figure>   Hop across the Show Me State to find MAVS KC 17-1, which put together an improbable march of its own to a 17 Open bid.   Following a 2-1 effort to open the weekend, MAVS advanced into a tough Round 2 group featuring NKYVC, Elevation, and Circle City. 17-1's bid aspirations seemed to evaporate after back-to-back three-set losses to Elevation and NKYVC, even when a sweep over Circle City was factored in.   But this group devolved into chaos with Elevation and Circle City also posting 1-2 records behind 3-0 NKYVC. MAVS suddenly held an important advantage with one sweep win and its two losses going to three sets. By the power of tiebreakers, MAVS finished second in this wild pool with a 1-2 record. On to Sunday.   This Kansas City crew found its groove with everything on the line. MAVS went to three sets with both MKE Sting and Boiler Jrs but managed to come out on top each time. We already pointed out that previous qualifiers were in the final four, so this 2-0 pool triumph was the bid clincher for MAVS.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1645071263394586626?s=20 </div></figure>   The story doesn't end here. We have to go outside the final bracket to find our final bid recipient: AVC CLE 17 Red.   AVC established itself as a formidable competitor from the beginning of WCNQ. After doing just enough to advance to Day 2, 17 Red showed some of its strongest volleyball during Saturday's momentous Round 2. Sweeps over 1st Alliance, HPSTL, and Adversity put this Ohio Valley squad on the cusp of a bid breakthrough.   The road got tougher on Sunday with a loss to the aforementioned Rockwood Thunder, but AVC also posted a sweep over FC Elite to its credit.   Let the trickle-down begin. Two of the three available bids came from the final group of four, but the last bid would need to come from outside that bracket. AVC and HJV 16 Elite were the two teams left standing without a bid in the 5th-place group, so a dramatic match for a Nationals ticket ensued.   Fortunately for 17 Red, there was a little left in the tank to harness Saturday's dominant form and pick up a win when it mattered most.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1645108812746031106?s=20 </div></figure>     16 Open   This was Houston Skyline 16 Royal's long-awaited moment of bid glory--and it came with a Windy City championship, too.   16 Royal's high ceiling is well known. In fact, Houston Skyline was seeded second overall in 16 Open ahead of several other teams that had already secured Open bids. After a runner-up finish at NIT, 16 Royal endured a litany of close calls at qualifiers, including NLQ just two weeks ago. Time for redemption.   A 3-0 start was a good way to get the positive momentum back. That was followed up by yet another unblemished mark in Round 2. We've seen this 16 Royal group run the tables on stages like these before, but this one felt different. This was really important.   Day 3. Houston Skyline found itself in the "Florida versus Texas" pool featuring HJV and the Sunshine State duo of Tribe 16 Elite Cardinal and OT 16 T JP. This would be a group full of motivated competitors, as only Tribe had an Open bid locked up.   But Skyline landed the first blow with a monumental three-set win over Tribe. There was still work to do against the other bid-eligible teams, but Houston Skyline established itself as a frontrunner. From there, 16 Royal notched two comfortable sweeps over OTVA and HJV.   After all the struggles and narrow defeats, Houston Skyline stood alone atop its Gold pool. The bid was secured, and it was on to the championship match.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1645151056660246529?s=20 </div></figure>   Go ahead and complete the undefeated weekend. 16 Royal battled past HPSTL to claim the Windy City crown and leave no doubt that it's still a GJNC frontrunner.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1645166899074854912?s=20 </div></figure>   Amid Skyline's breakthrough, two other bids were up for grabs. It was no shock to me to see OT 16 T JP snag one of them.   I was lucky enough to cover this OTVA squad at length at Triple Crown, and its familiar high-flying firepower was back for Windy City. A 3-0 Friday start was backed up by another perfect effort on Day 2, despite not being the top seed in its Round 2 pool.   Houston Skyline ran the show in its Gold pool, but things got wild down below. OTVA posted a 1-2 record alongside Tribe and HJV, so let the tiebreaker chaos commence. A 3-4 set record was enough to stand above the rest and put 16 T JP into the third-place match.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1645102229140160513?s=20 </div></figure>   However, this third-place match never happened. Houston Skyline claimed the first of three bids in 16 Open. But Skyline's championship opponent, HPSTL 16 Royal, already had its bid from the Sunshine Qualifier. This meant that OTVA had a bid guaranteed alongside its co-third-place finisher: Austin Skyline 16 Royal.   It was just a good weekend to be a Skyline squad. In fact, Austin Skyline's only loss in the first two days of WCNQ was against its counterparts from Houston. Like OTVA, a 3-0 start for Austin Skyline set the tone from the beginning. At the end of it all, 16 Royal was within a couple of percentage points from winning a tiebreaker with HPSTL to take Gold Pool 1 for itself. Sometimes the margins don't go your way, but Austin Skyline will still be pleased to take the Open bid back to Texas.       15 Open   So, we'll say a word about the six teams that made the final Gold pool in 15 Open. But, as we detailed in our <a href="https://prepdig.com/2023/04/which-open-teams-are-in-sundays-bid-hunt-at-windy-city/">Sunday preview feature</a>, this top group had no influence on the bid race with all six Gold teams already holding an Open bid.   This was a division in which Mintonette Sports m.51 would not be denied. After rolling through the first two rounds of pools without a loss, m.51 replicated that performance in the Gold pools to reach 15 Open's championship match. From there, Mintonette finished its flawless weekend with a three-set win over Austin Skyline 15 Royal to take the title.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1644695129477857282?s=20 </div></figure>   But let's acknowledge the extraordinary weekend for Austin Skyline. While this 15s group didn't have an Open bid to play for like its 16s counterparts, last weekend's qualifier put the bright future of Austin Skyline on full display. A runner-up finish for this previously qualified team is further proof of this club's rapid ascent.   Elsewhere among the top six, it's worth giving a shoutout to Boiler Jrs 151E Gold for its extraordinarily successful run in Chicago. That run included a streak of six consecutive straight-set wins and only one match loss on the event's final day.   Elevation 15 Tony, Legacy 15-1 Adidas, and NKYVC 15-1 Tsunami provided a little more regional flair to this Great Lakes contest. Again, this trio already held bids heading into WCNQ, but that championship-level dominance was still apparent. Look out for these GJNC contenders.   Now, let's address the pair that secured Open bids for the first time. As we discussed in the aforementioned Sunday preview, the two available bids would trickle all the way down to the top two finishers in 15 Open's Silver bracket. I had said that the squads with first-round byes in that group would be odds-on favorites. That's not how it worked out.   Michio Chicago 15 National and AVC CLE 15 Red both clawed from the quarterfinals and won a pair of matches to snag 15 Open's two bids. Saturday's pools had been a struggle for both of these squads, but something about Sunday's new life brought out the best in Michio and AVC. In fact, both swept through their semifinal matches to guarantee the bid and a berth in the Silver finale.   Fittingly, these bid-earners went all the way down to the wire in the 7th-place match with Michio eventually prevailing in a 16-14 third set. It was the perfect victory lap for an improbable bid journey on both sides of the net.

What a weekend in the Windy City.