State Line Tidbits: Qualifier Season Near Complete

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The qualifier season is almost done with Far Western holding the last of matches this weekend. The region bid season is done. Besides at-large bids and some potential movement, we know who will be participating in this summer's edition of the girl's junior national championships. Let's catch up on the news from this week across Kansas and Missouri.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Commitment News</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Let's start with commitment updates before we get into play. [player_tooltip player_id='261106' first='Grace' last='Schmedding'], who has been key to the dynasty we are seeing at Heritage Christian has committed to play her college ball at Fort Hays State University. The 2024 Six-Rotation pin plays her club ball with a strong Club North 17-1 team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Heart of America 16 Region Bid Play</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lawrence, Kansas hosted the final region bid series for the 16s in the HOA region. Let me say, HOA has continued to show they are one of the deepest regions in the country with many high-level teams. In the 16s division alone, 14 teams are set to participate in nationals this summer. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Starting in the Freedom, <strong>KC Legends 16-1 </strong>went a perfect 8-0 to capture one of the two bids handed out over the weekend. They battled through a couple of three-set tilts on day two before taking down runner-up <strong>Kansas United 16-1</strong> in the final match. Their closes match on the first day saw the opponent get to 21. Kansas United went 6-2 to garner their bid. They bounced back from a day 1 loss to [program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='[program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='PVA' last='']' last=''] to win three matches in a row in straight sets. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The American division saw <strong>417 Juniors 16-1 </strong>and <strong>Mavs KC 16-2 </strong>grab the two bids at stake. 417 started the tournament with three auto-3 matches but had to battle in quite a few of the sets. They did drop one of them to <strong>Club North 16-1.</strong> Day two would start the same as day 1, a back-and-forth street fight with Club North. The difference would be they wouldn't drop a set but had to fight tooth and nail to escape with a 26-24, 25-23 victory. Things would not get easier for the Southeast Missouri club as they would drop the first set to <strong>Kansas Networks 16-2</strong> before storming back to get the next two. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mavs KC was running like a well-oiled machine, winning all of their matches in straight sets before running into <strong>Invasion 16-1</strong> in the semifinals. Mavs would win the first of a tight set 26-24. Invasion would fight back to get the second before the intense third was won by 15-2 in extra points, 18-16. The final match had some excitement in the second set but 417 finished the deal 27-25. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Far Western</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mavs KC 15-2 took the trip out West and returned with a 5th-place finish. They dropped the first match of the tournament before winning six in a row before losing in the gold bracket quarterfinals. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>April Video Vault</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The month is coming close to an end, continue to tag me to highlight videos to make this month's shout-out. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->