Striking Gold at the Las Vegas Classic

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Washington Teams Roll Into the Gold Brackets: 15 &amp; 16 Divisions</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Las Vegas Classic is one of several large tournaments filling the Presidents Day Weekend in mid-February. Coaches from all levels of the NCAA can recruit events in person, making the weekend a defacto starting point for the club season. Scoring an invite to the Triple Crown NIT in Kansas City is challenging, leaving Vegas a good option for teams on the left coast. From the 15U up to the 18U, clubs from Washington stacked the Gold Bracket; here is a look at the results from the Mandalay Bay Convention Center last weekend. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">15 Club</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Shockwave 15. Champions. </strong>The team from the Tri-Cities ran up an 11-0 record to finish first in a 148-team field. OH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='505821' first='Grace' last='Hammond'] </strong>was hard to handle from the pin, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='499411' first='Callie' last='Stemp']</strong> did terrific work pushing the ball from the setter position, and libero <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='499824' first='Mallory' last='Raines']</strong> is another excellent defender in the Shockwave pipeline. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/FQqj55LYRFI?si=N-L7UFGsVUQOTe_z","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/FQqj55LYRFI?si=N-L7UFGsVUQOTe_z </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">15 Premier</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>CPA 15 Benson. 2nd. [player_tooltip player_id='481226' first='Emery' last='McMurray']</strong> and fellow setter <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='513693' first='Sophia' last='Campbell'] </strong>had a terrific tournament, feeding an improving group of attackers along the CPA front line. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='763389' first='Leigha' last='Hardesty']</strong>, out of Ridgeline High School, is an OH to watch, with a tremendous attitude and a knack for making winning plays.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Puyallup Juniors 15 National. 5th. </strong>Setter <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='501666' first='Olivia' last='Puttler']</strong> and MB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='558358' first='Ava' last='Knapp']</strong> worked hard and connected for PJVBC 15's. Knapp has turned it on in the early part of the club season as a blocker and attacker; she is a six-footer from Puyallup High School with great potential. Puttler has strong hands and will throw over a scoring dump when the defense is scrambling. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>SIVBC 15 Typhoon. 9th. [player_tooltip player_id='535882' first='Nehmat' last='Bhutani']</strong> worked the setter spot smoothly and found her emerging attackers: MB <strong>Sabrina Kuehner</strong>, OH <strong>Avery McIntosh</strong>, and opposite <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='662556' first='Parker' last='Johnson']</strong>. SIVBC knocked off PJVBC 15 in pool play but ran into a tough Ascent 15 team in the Gold bracket, dropping a 3-set decision. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">16 Premier</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>CPA 16 Benson. 2nd. [player_tooltip player_id='412070' first='Mara' last='Sandberg'] </strong>set the tone for CPA from the jump. The OH is one of the top-ranked prospects in the 2027 class, and she played like it in Vegas. Her team benefits from her passing in the middle back- she did an excellent job setting up CPA attackers with on-point deliveries to her setter. That back line is bolstered by two quality liberos who played lights out all weekend, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='395235' first='Gabrielle' last='Reich']</strong> from Mead and<strong> [player_tooltip player_id='244064' first='Jade' last='Livingston']</strong> from Ridgeline. CPA dropped a three-set battle to Texas Storm 16 Smack in the championship- and held a late lead in set two before the Storm hustled their way to a victory. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>SIVBC 16 Thunder. 3rd.</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='249301' first='Maya' last='Quitquit']</strong> was dishing to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='243689' first='Selana' last='Morales']</strong> on one pin and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='335612' first='Lauryn' last='Coleman'] </strong>at the other, with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='243688' first='Jasmine' last='Terry']</strong> bringing heat down the middle. That group had their way with nearly every other team before running into the Texas Storm 16 squad. SIVBC has a boatload of firepower and may have the highest ceiling of any local club team; seeing them play in June after a season spent training will be interesting.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Puyallup Juniors 16 National. 9th. </strong>This team has skilled, athletic players up and down the roster from the 2026 and 2027 classes. A loss to Hive in the initial Gold Bracket game dropped PJVBC to 6-2 overall for the weekend. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='459079' first='Kathryn' last='Harris'] </strong>delivered tempo sets to high-flying attackers and played excellent defense from her setter position. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='499402' first='Mia' last='Nelson']</strong> from Curtis is a scorer from the OH spot; she can work the ball down the line or to the corner and has a great vertical. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->