The Champs Are Here! Club North 17 Liberty Champions

"We expect them to make some noise". This is what I penned on June 21st in an article previewing the tournament. We knew this roster was strong and they answered the call by leaving Chicago and returning to Missouri as the 17 Liberty National Champions.   Mizuno Club North 17 Ang was a perfect 10-0 over four days, only dropping three sets along the way. Two of those three sets came on day one where they had to survive with 16-14 and 15-9 thirds to finish the day undefeated. They kept the drama to a minimum on the second day, winning both matches with some breathing room, including a win over region competitors Missouri Jrs.   The common phrase is the tournament doesn't start until day three and they wasted no time jumping out on another local foe, Mavs KC 17-2 in the first set before completing the sweep. They would take care of STVA 17 Mizuno in the second match to win the pool and advance to the crossover match for a chance to advance to Gold on day four. They kept the train moving full speed ahead, getting a sweep over Gateway Region's HP South 17 Premier.   It would be key to see how Club North would react body-wise to moving to the early wave after playing into the evening the last three days. An 8 am start and adjusting schedules could prove difficult for some teams. The other change is you only need two wins to capture the title versus three, due to this division having a four-team Bracket. 17 Ang would show little fatigue jumping out and grabbing the first over the same Missour Jrs. team they played on day two. The difference in this match would be Jrs. would grab a set, getting the second behind the play of Isabella Herrbold. The third set was what you would expect to see with two high-level teams trading blows but it would be the team from Kansas City getting it done 15-13.   They would keep that momentum going in the finale, jumping all over AMA Xtreme 17 Queens in the first set and running away -12. The second would be much closer but Xtreme didn't have enough in the tank and Club North would claim their title, -22.   [player_tooltip player_id='124853' first='Mikalah' last='Davis'], who is truly an inspiration and one of my favorite players to follow after watching her bounce back from a knee injury was named the tournament MVP. Joining her on the All-Tournament team with their strong week of play were Autumn Ericson and [player_tooltip player_id='150046' first='Claire' last='Mosh'].   Missouri Jrs. 17-1   It's always good to see multiple teams from your coverage area have success and Missouri Jrs. was one win away from potentially being the team we talked about above in this article. They went 6-3, with two of those losses coming to the national champions and one to other region program [program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='[program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='[program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='PVA' last='']' last='']' last=''].   They went 4-1 in pool play, only losing to Club North. They followed that up by going 1-1 in pool play on day three before getting the win in the pivotal crossover match to advance to the Gold Bracket.   [player_tooltip player_id='349615' first='Kylee' last='Richey'] and Isabella Herrbold earned spots on the All-Tournament team to make that five players from the Heart of America Region.   But the region wasn't done.   Mavs KC 17-2   Mavs would finish the tournament with a 5th place showing after going 6-2 and winning the Silver Bracket. They went 3-2 in opening pool play, good for third and a chance to stay on the A-side heading into day three. They ran into Club North and we know the result after reading Club North went undefeated. Mavs rebounded to get an important second-match victory to stay in the hunt but dropped the crossover to AMA. Tabor Scanlon and [player_tooltip player_id='152824' first='Emily' last='Mathis'] would become the sixth and seventh players from the region to be named to the All-Tournament team.   HP South 17 Premier   The Gateway region representative also earned a top-10 finish, concluding their tournament run in the seventh spot after advancing to the Silver Bracket. They were in a tough opening pool that featured both Club North and Missouri Jrs. The competition in this pool was tough overall and their 2-3 record was good enough to allow them to finish third and stay in Group 1 for day 3. They would split those matches before running into Club North again in the crossover match. Their tournament would end in the opening Silver Bracket match to Fusion 17 Gino. [player_tooltip player_id='216463' first='Brooke' last='Hemmen'] earned All-Tournament honors for her team.   [program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='[program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='[program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='PVA' last='']' last='']' last=''] 17 Elite   We mentioned them earlier, defeating Missouri Jrs. They had a strong overall tournament going 7-3. They went 4-1 to start the championships but a tough day three moved them to Group 2 for the final round. They dropped the opening match of pool play and won the set, before coming back and losing the crossover. They closed their tournament by winning Flight 1 in sweeps, including a 29-27 win to finish it. They would end in 13th place.   Mavs 816 17-1   A tough opening pool put Mavs behind the eight ball, as they would go 0-5 and move to Group 2 for Day 3. They were able to go 1-1 in their new pool but dropped their crossover match. Flight 3 would see them win their first match and lose the second.

"We expect them to make some noise". This is what I penned on June 21st in an article previewing the tournament. We knew this roster was strong and they answered the call by leaving Chicago and returning to Missouri as the 17 Liberty National Champions.