Top Triple Crown Finishes

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Triple Crown National Invitational Tournament lived up to the hype with many of the top players and teams from across the country traveling to Kansas City. There were many good showings from our regional teams.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>18s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[program_tooltip program_id='430200' first='KC' last='[program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last='']'] 18 Black went 6-2 over the weekend and had a 5th-place finish. They were dropped in their opening match to TAV 18 Black and bounced back to take down Madfrog and eventual champion Coast in pool play. All three of their day one matches went three sets. Day two saw them defeat AVC Cleveland in a challenge match to advance to the elite bracket. They finished the day knocking Dallas Skyline and Momenetous in straight sets. I had a chance to catch their 7:30 match on the final day. After pulling away late in set 1, [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] saw Club V 18 Ren claw back to snatch the second set. The third set was one of runs that saw Club V get to 8-5 before [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] stormed back to tie it at 8. [player_tooltip player_id='153937' first='Alea' last='Goolsby'] would hammer down four straight kills to tie it at 9 but it wouldn't be enough as they would drop the set 15-13. Along with Goolsby, I was impressed with the libero play of [player_tooltip player_id='119694' first='Mya' last='Bolton'] and the middle trio of Zoe McDonald, [player_tooltip player_id='119704' first='Cy' last='Rae Campbell'], and [player_tooltip player_id='119723' first='Julia' last='Headley']. [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] would finish their tournament with a win, beating 1st Alliance in three.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>17s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the 17s division, [program_tooltip program_id='428889' first='Dynasty' last=''] 17 Black had the highest finish with a 5-3 record, good for 11th place. They garnered wins in two of the three [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] pool matches, taking down HPSTL 17 Royal and Legacy 17-1 Adidas. The Kansas City team would win the all-important challenge match to advance into the elite bracket. Once into the elite bracket, they clipped Vision 17 Gold in three sets. Their evening would end with a tough three-set loss to Trible to knock them out of title contention. The final day they would battle in the 9th place bracket where they won their first match before being defeated by Excel. [player_tooltip player_id='173381' first='Hadley' last='Porter'] was a standout defensively and the offense got good play from [player_tooltip player_id='173384' first='Jenna' last='McClure'] and [player_tooltip player_id='173376' first='Lauren' last='Lopez'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>16s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pohaku 16-1 finished their tournament with a 25th place finish after three days of intense volleyball. They went 1-2 in [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] pool play on the opening day but bounced back to get the challenge match over A4 Volleyball to get a spot in the elite bracket. They would suffer defeat in their first bracket match against Houston Skyline, including a 15-13 final set. This lost would send them to the 17th place bracket, where they would again be bumped down a bracket after losing to Wave. Once getting to the 25th place bracket, the Kansas team would rack up three straight wins to close the tournament and end with a 5-4 record. They got good middle play from [player_tooltip player_id='222086' first='Morgan' last='Sears'] and [player_tooltip player_id='344606' first='Kennedy' last='Derks']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>15s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The [program_tooltip program_id='430200' first='KC' last='[program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last='']'] 15 Black team matched the 18 Black team with a 5th-place showing at Triple Crown. They went 6-2 over the weekend. They navigated [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] pool and left with a 2-1 record, beating HPSTL and Arizona Sky. The second day saw them advance to the elite bracket after downing Coast in the challenge round. They wouldn't stop there, winning the first two matches in bracket play over Kiva and Houston Skyline. The dream of a NIT title would be halted by OT 15 Randy in a highly entertaining three-set match. The loss would put [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] in the 5th-place match where they would finish the tournament with a win over Legacy. [player_tooltip player_id='729510' first='Andi' last='Gardner'] and [player_tooltip player_id='446328' first='Tori' last='Massengill'] were busy all weekend. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->