Filling Out the Nebraska Bid Tracker after GPR Bid Tournament
Let’s finish it off! Our Nebraska Bid Tracker has hopped all around the club landscape this year. Great Plains Region representatives have traveled across the country to lock in their spot in the Junior National Championships in Las Vegas. Yesterday,…
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Our Nebraska Bid Tracker has hopped all around the club landscape this year. Great Plains Region representatives have traveled across the country to lock in their spot in the Junior National Championships in Las Vegas. Yesterday, however, the bid pursuit happened right at home–and nine more teams secured postseason plans.
The UBT Sports Complex hosted this year’s Great Plains Region Bid Tournament with the 15s, 16s, and 17s vying for three bids in each age group. A National, American, and Freedom bid would be distributed to the top three finishers in that order. The double-elimination format added a further layer of drama.
That setup yielded an intense day of volleyball, and we came away with a talented list of teams for the Nebraska Bid Tracker. Time to relive the madness.
17s
This was a four-team bracket with all the action you could hope for.
The division’s top two seeds won their openers, setting up a highly anticipated matchup between Premier Nebraska 17 Gold and MVP United 17 Red. This pair has already locked up bids by virtue of those Round 1 wins, but we got plenty of drama here anyway. MVP United landed the first blow in a 15-13 win in the third set, but this was just the beginning of the saga. More on that in a moment.
On the other side of the bracket, Premier Nebraska 17 Red assured its top-three spot with a win over CNJV. That set up an all-Premier matchup with the winner setting up a rematch with MVP. 17 Gold would get another shot thanks to a two-set victory.
The double-elimination format opened a door for 17 Gold to reclaim the #1 spot despite the earlier loss to MVP. Premier Nebraska got revenge in the championship match, so the two teams would reset and do it again. But, this time, a single set to 25 points would decide it all.
17 Gold made the comeback with a dominant 25-14 win and a 17s title. We got the maximum amount of volleyball for a four-team bracket.
17 National: Premier Nebraska 17 Gold
17 American: MVP United 17 Red
17 Freedom: Premier Nebraska 17 Red
16s
Let’s lead off with the 16s champion. Premier Nebraska 16 Black left little doubt here.
16 Black’s first “win” came before the event even started: a first-round bye. Similar to the scenario mentioned with the 17s, this early advantage meant 16 Black could guarantee a bid with an opening-round victory. That closure came swiftly via a sweep over Premier 16 Silver.
The wins kept rolling in as 16 Black earned another two-set win over MVP United 16 Red, the age group’s top seed. A top-two finish was in the bank for a team that had made the 15 USA field a year ago.
Meanwhile, MVP United 16 Red shared similar privileges as Premier 16 Black. A first-round bye placed 16 Red right on the cusp of a bid, and the team would await the winner of Premier Nebraska 16 Red and VCNebraska 16 Elite. We got the battle of 16 Red teams as Premier Nebraska advanced. We nearly saw an upset in the 1-4 matchup, but MVP United came back from a one-set deficit to dispatch Premier Nebraska and earn a top-three spot.
Let’s get back to VCNebraska 16 Elite. This team likely entered the GPR Bid Tournament with high expectations but lost that first bout with Premier 16 Red. 16 Elite would now have to climb from the elimination bracket with little margin for error.
Fortunately, VCN got back on track against Premier 16 Silver. That gave us a win-and-bid contest between 16 Elite and Banzai VBC 16 Select, which had amassed a two-match winning streak while making its own lower-bracket climb. VCNebraska rallied to claim Set 1 and never looked back. It wasn’t easy, but the job was done.
MVP United pushed past VCN to get another shot at Premier 16 Black, but the #2 seed was too strong. 16 Black completed a GPR championship run without dropping a set.
16 National: Premier Nebraska 16 Black
16 American: MVP United 16 Red
16 Freedom: VCNebraska 16 Elite
15s
Higher seeds generally ran the show in the 15s bracket, but the journey was far from ordinary.
MVP United 15 Red and Premier Nebraska 15 Red took full advantage of their first-round byes to swipe bids right away. MVP United ‘s triumph came against Nebraska ONE 15 Lime, while Premier Nebraska endured a three-set slugfest with their 15 Silver counterparts to advance. The 1-2 matchup went to MVP United in a three-set thriller, sending the #1 squad to the championship match.
Where is the third bid coming from? Once again, this was a case of lower-bracket heroics after falling in Round 1. South Central NE 15 Black was defeated by Premier 15 Silver in the opener, putting this third-seeded team on the brink of elimination. 15 Black rebounded with a win against Nebraska ONE 15 Lime, but this was only half the battle.
The rematch between 15 Black and 15 Silver would now decide a bid. Vengeance ruled again. South Central NE atoned for its early loss by defeating 15 Silver in three sets to move on.
Why stop there? The high-pressure run continued with a massive South Central comeback against Premier 15 Red. 15 Black now entered the title match with a ton of reps and pushed MVP United to a one-set tiebreaker. Eventually, MVP’s fresh legs prevailed with a win in the tiebreaker set to swipe the title.
15 National: MVP United 15 Red
15 American: South Central NE 15 Black
15 Freedom: Premier Nebraska 15 Red
The Tracker
18 Open
Premier Nebraska 18 Gold (KC MLK)
18 National
VCNebraska 18 Elite (GPR)
18 USA
Premier Nebraska 18 Black (NLQ)
18 American
Banzai VBC 18 Select (GPR)
18 Freedom
Club Legacy 18 Alpha (GPR)
17 Open
Nebraska ONE 17 Synergy (WCQ)
VCNebraska 17 Elite (SLC)
17 USA
Nebraska ONE 17 Black (WCQ)
Premier Nebraska 17 Black (WCQ)
17 National
Premier Nebraska 17 Gold (GPR)
17 Liberty
Banzai VBC 17 Select (WCQ)
17 American
VCNebraska 17 Black (Show Me)
MVP United 17 Red (GPR)
17 Freedom
Premier Nebraska 17 Red (GPR)
16 Open
Premier Nebraska 16 Gold (Show Me)
16 National
Premier Nebraska 16 Black (GPR)
16 American
MVP United 16 Red (GPR)
16 Freedom
VCNebraska 16 Elite (GPR)
16 Liberty
South Central NE 16 Black (Show Me)
15 Open
Nebraska Elite 15 Revolution (NLQ)
Premier Nebraska 15 Gold (WCQ)
VCNebraska 15 Elite (MEQ)
15 USA
Premier Nebraska 15 Black (NLQ)
15 National
MVP United 15 Red (GPR)
15 Liberty
VCNebraska 15 Black (MEQ)
15 American
South Central NE 15 Black (GPR)
15 Freedom
Premier Nebraska 15 Red (GPR)