Northern Lights Qualifier 18s: Kansas and Missouri Teams

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Teams are ready to trek north for the Northern Lights Qualifier in Minneapolis this weekend. The tournament will run Friday through Sunday and feature the 18s, for their second qualifier of the year and the first cracks at bids for 17s and 15s. Today we will highlight some teams expected to be in the mix come Sunday in the 18s division.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>18</strong> <strong>Open</strong> - <strong>3 Bids</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The top seed, [program_tooltip program_id='430200' first='KC' last='[program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last='']'] 18 Black already owns a bid so the trickle-down could be in effect early in the season for teams. The team got strong play from their pins at MLK with [player_tooltip player_id='153937' first='Alea' last='Goolsby'] and [player_tooltip player_id='119708' first='Rachel' last='Van Gorp'] carrying the offensive load and [player_tooltip player_id='119694' first='Mya' last='Bolton'] playing strong defensively. Pohaku 18-1 will take their second crack at an open bid after a 7th place showing in Kansas City. Look for them to attempt to get their middles established early in the tournament with [player_tooltip player_id='201027' first='Jada' last='Ingram'] and Alexis Alexander to get their pins one-on-one matchups. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>18 USA</strong> - <strong>2 Bids</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mizuno Club North Ang was just outside of capturing a bid in the Liberty division at Asics MLK with a third-place finish and will take a stab in the USA division this weekend. [player_tooltip player_id='152821' first='Lauren' last='Wright'] was effective all weekend from the setter position and the team got good play from [player_tooltip player_id='216020' first='Ryanne' last='Wattree']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>18 Liberty</strong> - <strong>2 Bids</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The sole team we cover in the 18 Liberty division will be [program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='PVA' last=''] 18 Elite. They are doing the opposite of what Club North did and going from USA to Liberty for this qualifier. They went 3-4 at MLK, good for a tie for ninth. When pool play opens on Friday they will be at the top of the fourth grouping. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>18 American - 1 Bid</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One bid will be in play, which is the norm for the American division. A couple of teams we think could be in the hunt are [program_tooltip program_id='428889' first='Dynasty' last=''] 18 Blue and Club North 18 Riley. [program_tooltip program_id='428889' first='Dynasty' last=''] went 7-1 at MLK and finished in a tie for fifth, with their loss coming in gold bracket play. They only dropped three sets the whole tournament and will look to build on their play. Club North also advanced to the gold bracket in the American division in Kansas City and was dropped in their opening match. They had a 5-2 record, good for a ninth-place showing. Tatiana Murray had some bright moments in their tournament run.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->