Nebraska Bid Tracker: Premier 16 Gold Finishes Show Me Marathon

Surviving a journey in the Open division is hard enough, but this Kansas City trip had a few detours.   Premier Nebraska 16 Gold had a busy midseason slate leading into this year's Show Me Qualifier. The team had performed well at Minneapolis' Northern Lights Qualifier but narrowly missed out on Gold contention in 16 Open. The next stop was the Great Plains Region Bid Tournament, where 16 Gold dominated the event to secure a 16 National bid to GJNC. Despite having a postseason spot assured, Premier Nebraska rightfully viewed an Open bid as the ultimate prize.   That brings us to Show Me, a qualifier known for razor-thin margins and head-spinning bid scenarios. It's easy to get caught up in the labyrinth of numbers on AES, but 16 Gold's priority was simple: play quality volleyball and be there at the end. That's exactly what happened.   Let's relive all the chaos that resulted in another Open-qualified team from the Great Plains Region.     Rewriting the Script   Qualifiers seldom go the way you expect, but winning fixes everything.   Premier Nebraska 16 Gold tallied two early victories to start the weekend's gauntlet on the plus side. The highlight of Round 1 was a three-set win over Kairos 16 Alpha, a team previously qualified in 16 Open. Keep these qualified teams in mind for later.   16 Gold started the event in a three-team pool rather than the standard quartet. This meant a crossover contest would close out Saturday's slate. Although 16 Gold fell in its battle with Paramount, a spot in Round 2 was already in hand.   Show Me's drama reached an entirely new tenor on Sunday. Premier Nebraska returned to the win column with an emphatic sweep over TAV Houston. The next opponent in Round 2's pools was Metro 16 Travel, and we were about to see a major inflection point in 16 Gold's Show Me path.   Premier's match against Metro had everything: drama, tension, and back-and-forth momentum swings. 16 Gold rallied after dropping the opening set and won in three to improve to 2-0. Another three-set triumph against KC Power followed. Both Premier Nebraska and KC Power looked ahead to Monday's Gold pools.  <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Oh, this was fun.<a href="https://twitter.com/Premier16_G?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Premier16_G</a> gets it done in a colossal three-set tilt against Metro. [player_tooltip player_id='458163' first='Erin' last='Cramer'] had the final serving run to close it out. 2-0. <a href="https://t.co/TxM5AtRb0j">pic.twitter.com/TxM5AtRb0j</a> — Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) <a href="https://twitter.com/KingsleyATK/status/1911470808066629867?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2025</a></blockquote>  16 Gold was matched up with OK Charge and Mizuno Northern Lights. OK Charge already held an Open bid, so the contest against Northern Lights could be seen as the "must-win." 16 Gold took the floor after OK Charge won a three-set nailbiter over Northern Lights.   Cue another marathon battle. 16 Gold claimed the opening set against Northern Lights, but the Minnesota challengers battled back. Of course, we saw the clutch factor from Premier Nebraska again en route to a 15-9 victory in the tiebreaker.   OK Charge triumphed over 16 Gold in the pool finale, so we were left to wait for the trickle-down bid scenarios in the fifth-place bracket. This is where things get wild.   Three of the top four finishers in 16 Open were already qualified in the division. This left two bids available for the four teams in the fifth-place bracket. However, one of these four fifth-place teams, Houston Skyline, was also previously qualified. Skyline bowed out of the bracket, so the remaining three were reseeded into a round-robin pool. We now had three teams vying for two bids.   Premier Nebraska was reunited with two familiar foes from previous rounds. One was KC Power, which 16 Gold had defeated in three sets to close out Round 2. The other was Paramount, which defeated Premier Nebraska in the opening-day crossover finale.   KC Power was up first, and we got a close replica of the three-set slugfest we saw on Sunday. This one was perhaps more heart-stopping as KC Power held a match point in Set 3. 16 Gold fought back with three consecutive points to win 16-14 and put itself on the cusp of a bid.   16 Gold would not need to take the floor again. Paramount swept KC Power, giving us our two top teams for 16 Open bids. The marathon, with all its detours and twists, was complete.  <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> As much drama as you could want!<a href="https://twitter.com/Premier16_G?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Premier16_G</a> wins a 16-14 third set over KC Power. Barring some tiebreaker madness, 16 Gold has the inside track to an Open bid. <a href="https://t.co/uSbJkiQOLa">pic.twitter.com/uSbJkiQOLa</a> — Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) <a href="https://twitter.com/KingsleyATK/status/1911843601543536810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2025</a></blockquote>    An Ever-Evolving Crew   Premier Nebraska 16 Gold has worked tirelessly to be a consistent competitor at the Open level, and it all came together in Kansas City.   That consistency often starts at the setter spot, and [player_tooltip player_id='458126' first='Ava' last='Waters'] has established herself as an all-around leader for 16 Gold. Her masterful distribution at Show Me helped put all her attackers in positions to succeed. Waters is also strong enough to square up with opposing left-side hitters at the net. She does so much more than aid the ball-control phase.   Speaking of ball control, 16 Gold was not shy about using a platoon of backcourt substitutions in Kansas City. Standout DS [player_tooltip player_id='458162' first='Taylor' last='McLeay'] showcased her defensive prowess whenever she subbed in for the frontcourt opposite. We've also seen McLeay dominate the high school scene as an attacker, so her infinite skill set meshes well with Premier Nebraska's operation.   We can say the same of [player_tooltip player_id='458159' first='Kam' last='Bails'], who anchored the middle-back area through much of Show Me. Bails is an experienced outside hitter who has also seen trips through the frontcourt in the 2025 season. She's a reliable passer as a DS and gives 16 Gold another attacking option on the pipe.   The final piece is the libero position, where [player_tooltip player_id='458362' first='Campbell' last='Capece']'s meteoric rise continues. Ironically, Capece is the other six-rotation outside hitter across from McLeay at Omaha Marian. She dons the contrasting jersey on the club side and made some spectacular saves in Kansas City. Capece is not afraid to take up real estate in serve receive and allows her outside hitters to set up their approaches.   And, of course, the outside hitters went to work at Show Me. The familiar combo of [player_tooltip player_id='458123' first='Hallie' last='Lauenstein'] and [player_tooltip player_id='458124' first='Gracie' last='Lauenstein'] fits right in with a new team this year. Aside from their terminal ability, the Lauensteins are perhaps the most effective servers on the roster. We've seen it at Waverly, and it's translating to the spring season.   This leaves us with a dynamic group of middle blockers and opposites to discuss. Papio South star [player_tooltip player_id='458153' first='Lyric' last='Judson'] has almost become a medley of both positions, as she has wielded a wicked two-footed approach on the right side in first-ball situations. Judson can also score off of one foot and is 16 Gold's go-to attacker on in-system plays.   [player_tooltip player_id='458163' first='Erin' last='Cramer'] asserted her dominance in high-pressure moments. She is 16 Gold's most physical blocker and has made colossal gains as an attacker. Cramer even dished out a huge serving run to down Metro in Round 2. 16 Gold has also put [player_tooltip player_id='521094' first='Charlotte' last='Gregg'] into the lineup this year to give the team a wealth of riches in the middle. Depth is on the rise.  <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> First set on the board.<a href="https://twitter.com/Premier16_G?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Premier16_G</a> seizes the early lead against Northern Lights. [player_tooltip player_id='458163' first='Erin' last='Cramer'] crushes the gap set from [player_tooltip player_id='458126' first='Ava' last='Waters']. <a href="https://t.co/yrwSPxxXFs">pic.twitter.com/yrwSPxxXFs</a> — Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) <a href="https://twitter.com/KingsleyATK/status/1911791926413553930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2025</a></blockquote>  The opposite position has two more high-impact names in the Premier Nebraska gym. [player_tooltip player_id='591636' first='Maddox' last='Graves'] can match up with anyone as a wing blocker. She shut down some of Show Me's best hitters and delivered heat on the right side. Meanwhile, [player_tooltip player_id='575234' first='Koco' last='Janssen'] is the change-up lefty who can disrupt opposing scouting reports with her attacking range.   All of this depth was required to pull off one of the most dramatic bid triumphs of the season.     The Tracker   Update: GPR's bid allocations for the 15s age group have changed, moving VCNebraska 15 Black up to 15 American and Premier Nebraska 15 Black to 15 Freedom.   18 Open   [program_tooltip program_id='428743' first='VCNebraska' last=''] 18 Elite - KC MLK     18 National   Premier Nebraska 18 Gold - GPR     18 USA   [program_tooltip program_id='428717' first='Nebraska' last='ONE'] 18 Black - NLQ     18 American   Premier Nebraska 18 Black - GPR     18 Freedom   Banzai VBC 18 Select - GPR     17 Open   Premier Nebraska 17 Gold - NLQ     17 National   Midwest Elite 17-1 - GPR     17 American   [program_tooltip program_id='428717' first='Nebraska' last='ONE'] 17 Black - GPR     17 Freedom   VCNebraska 17 Elite - GPR     16 Open   Premier Nebraska 16 Gold - Show Me     16 American   [program_tooltip program_id='428717' first='Nebraska' last='ONE'] 16 Black - GPR     16 Freedom   VCNebraska 16 Black - GPR     15 National   VCNebraska 15 Elite - GPR     15 American   VCNebraska 15 Black - GPR     15 Freedom   Premier Nebraska 15 Black - GPR

Surviving a journey in the Open division is hard enough, but this Kansas City trip had a few detours.