Missouri and Nike Mideast Qualifier

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Qualifier season is nearing an end for the 18s and close to the midway stretch for the 15s-17s. The Nike MEQ took place last weekend for some of the age groups. Here is how some of the Missouri teams fared in Indianapolis.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>18s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We will start with the USA division where a couple of teams had good showings in <strong>Club North 18 Ang</strong> and <strong>Missouri Jrs. 18-Blue</strong>. Club North entered holding a Liberty bid and went 8-1 on the weekend, losing in the quarterfinal round before bouncing back to win a bid-bracket match to close the tournament. They only dropped three sets along the way behind solid defensive play from [player_tooltip player_id='150046' first='Claire' last='Mosh'] and pin-action from [player_tooltip player_id='216466' first='Kendall' last='Johnson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='216020' first='Ryanne' last='Wattree']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Missouri Jrs. had a 5-3 weekend making their way to the gold bracket and keeping themselves in bid contention. They were able to collect a win in their first match of bracket play before dropping a tough three-setter that included their 30-28 first-set win. They have a stacked roster with [player_tooltip player_id='124226' first='Autumn' last='Bax'], Isabella Herrbold, and [player_tooltip player_id='150051' first='Hannah' last='Vogt'] to name a few. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jumping to the Liberty division,<strong> [program_tooltip program_id='428797' first='Pursuit' last=''] 18 National</strong> ran through the division with a perfect 10-0 record to claim the title. The squad out of Southeast Missouri features household names we've come to know like [player_tooltip player_id='170032' first='Ava' last='Penuel'] and [player_tooltip player_id='124849' first='Nadia' last='Wasilewski'] had a couple of three-set battles but beyond that didn't get threatened much over the three days. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>17s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>17 Liberty saw <strong>Missouri Jrs. 17 Elite</strong> make a deep run that fell short in the gold bracket. They won their first five matches of the tournament before dropping a match and ended the weekend 7-2. [player_tooltip player_id='219780' first='Chloe' last='Judd'] and [player_tooltip player_id='170044' first='Raylee' last='Stenzel'] are just a couple of players continuing their strong high school play into the spring. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>16s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='222071' first='Ginnie' last='Normile'], [player_tooltip player_id='236998' first='Ava' last='Blankenship'], Kathryn Berthold, and company fought their way to a third-place finish in the 16 Liberty division. <strong>HPSTL 16 Orange</strong> went 8-1 in the tournament suffering their lone defeat in the gold bracket to Mavs KC 16-2 in three sets. It was an exciting and intense weekend for the St. Louis-based team with five three-set battles along the way. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Finishing up our journey in the American, <strong>417 Juniors 16 National Black</strong> took third going 8-2. [player_tooltip player_id='542250' first='Mollie' last='McRoberts'] and [player_tooltip player_id='234466' first='Melanie' last='Rice'] were just a couple of players who had a busy weekend of good volleyball on the court. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->