Meet Six 17s Taking Care of BID-Ness

War is ugly. Saturday, there were emotional highs, rock bottom lows, no parking, acai bowls, big-time shots, and unforced errors. You could say that's pretty much every volleyball tournament ever, and you wouldn't be wrong. It all just felt like it had higher stakes this time, with bids to be handed out to the top 5 teams for USAV Nationals. Metro Travel was absent, as they've been collecting Open bids like Pokémon recently. That left the door open for other teams to earn their way and represent the DMV in Indianapolis this summer. Here's a summary of how things went.   17s:   [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] 17s Nick just missed out on their open bid in Boston, finishing 5th when the top 4 got bids. It was heartbreaking for them to be so close, as well as for the rest of the region, since now they were going to show up at Regionals looking for a bid. It felt like they had a chip on their shoulder. They had some ups and downs here and there over the course of the day, but in the end, they rode their star players to an undefeated day and took home their first bid. This is probably the most likely team to win another bid and cause the trickle-down effect. There are some uncommitted players still out there for this team, if a savvy coach was paying attention to the reserves who may not get as many minutes with all the talent on this team, they would see some stellar players that would be stars on other teams with more minutes.    Mariska followed former teammates to [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] this year, the talent, the exposure, the high level play, it makes sense. But I've been saying for a few weeks now sometimes you end up with TOO much talent and some coaches run a shorter bench than others. This situation reminds me a bit of [player_tooltip player_id='290176' first='Kieran' last='Rhoton'] at [program_tooltip program_id='484770' first='VA' last='Juniors']. She was buried behind a lot of talent on Metro Travel, and left for Juniors this year, where she's been getting featured player playing time and is an absolute monster out there. Mariska is a similar type player and with more of a chance out on the court I think everyone will see that she is a special player. Whether someone understands the level team she's on and makes her an offer based on ID Camps, or if she goes a route of signing with a lower tier school with featured playing time and then transferring to a bigger school, she is a great player who will make a difference at the next level.    Speaking of [program_tooltip program_id='484770' first='VA' last='Juniors'], they met [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] in the finals, and also secured themselves a bid to Nationals. They are a very good team. A few ups and downs over the course of the day, but that happens sometimes, and big players stepped up and got them to where they needed to be, just falling short in the final match. They aren't done and are another team with a strong chance to win another bid and cause a trickle down. [player_tooltip player_id='290176' first='Kieran' last='Rhoton'] was showing what I've been talking about for weeks and was everywhere, offensively and defensively and all of their star players were contributing. My highlight for this one is going to go to:    Juniors has been running a 5-1 with [player_tooltip player_id='206729' first='Megan' last='Phan'], but she's nursing a bit of an injury to her hand, so wisely, VA split and ran a 6-2 at Regionals, sharing the load and helping to keep players rested. They can get away with that because Meg is no slouch herself. She's been around the area looking for the right fit for a few years, and she got a chance to get some real time and shine this weekend. She looked good, out there both offensively and defensively, and didn't slow down the machine with the change. She showed off a good serve, played a bit at the net, had a couple of blocks, and did a good job setting, moving the ball around to all their weapons. I'm glad she got a chance to show what she's got. She's one of a group of setters in this class that don't get enough love in the rankings.    MVSA 17 Blaze came in third and won themselves a bid. I wrote it last week, they are just one of those teams you may not see a SUPERSTAR when you watch them, but as a whole their team is very dangerous. Someone new will step up every time, making it hard to game plan for how to stop them. I wrote about [player_tooltip player_id='491007' first='Ana' last='Djordjevic'] the other day, and she was great as always, but [player_tooltip player_id='438097' first='Haile' last='Ma'] really stole the show for me when the bids were really on the line.    Haile will sneak up on you. She doesn't have the in your face power of [player_tooltip player_id='941986' first='Coco' last='Lewis'], or the larger than life game of [player_tooltip player_id='296486' first='Taylor' last='Harrington'], but she's a very solid pin in her own right, and became the focal point of the offense in the round to determine guaranteed bids, and she took over. Burying shot after shot, where she succeeded and carried her team, is that she didn't try to force things, and hit balls out for turnovers. If something wasn't there, she'd tip or roll and would make the big play next time. She was steady and smart, which is a big reason why they beat some big teams and finished 3rd.    Virginia Elite had a really solid day. Another team like MVSA or [program_tooltip program_id='498081' first='Loudoun' last='Elite'], they might not jump out at you with star power, but they will handle business. Better as a whole than individually. They are walking away with a bid too, beating some tough teams to do it. The way matchups worked out I didn't get to watch them as much as some others but [player_tooltip player_id='488812' first='Olivia' last='Boggs'] did stand out playing Middle when I got a chance to catch them for a bit.   [program_tooltip program_id='498081' first='Loudoun' last='Elite'] Quintin is another team I said to watch out for, and they ran the gauntlet to grab the 5th and final bid. The final 4 teams had to play a one set match to 25, then another against the other winner to determine a clear 5th seed for the bid, and they pulled off the win against MD Juniors and then Premier Edge.    I feel like I'm writing about her weekly at this point, but there was no stopping her out there. She's got elite-level athleticism, a ton of power, and was just hitting in, around, and through blocks all day. To try to pigeonhole her and say that her height is going to limit her opportunities is pretty short-sighted. Players over 6 feet tall are getting credit, even though they may touch 9 and a half feet, while Lacey is almost getting another foot on them. She would be an absolute game changer for a lot of programs, just a matter of her narrowing down what she's looking for school wise, but I suggest getting a move on it if you're a coach looking for an uncommitted 2027, as last time I wrote about a similar shorter pin with a huge vertical, she signed D1 within a few weeks. If she chose to go the D3 route, you could be looking at Conference Player of the Year potential, and before you ask, she can serve well and play defense as well. I saw somewhere between 5-10 solo blocks personally this weekend.    The next in line for bids after the madness at 17s goes:   Premier Edge   Maryland Juniors 17 Elite Black *   Metro National 17 *   [program_tooltip program_id='494409' first='Blue' last='Ridge'] 17   LEVBC U17 National   [program_tooltip program_id='498081' first='Loudoun' last='Elite'] 17 Tony   [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] 17 Allorie   Couple additional players that stood out from this group:    Isabel showed some skill from the OH. She had good timing getting up and getting balls, and was putting them away with consistency both line and cross. She wasn't in our system at all, but she should be, especially since I know of at least one college coach that's interested. This is a great example of how sometimes players slip through the cracks, so you've gotta keep your eyes open wherever you are.     Another player not in our database, to be fair, this one is based out of West Virginia, but I feel like we still should have seen her somewhere along the way. She is listed as a Middle/OPP, and I could see the skill to play both. She was in the middle, being one of the taller players on their team, she had a good vertical and used it to get up and down on the ball, she had no trouble hitting a 10-foot line when she got a clear set. Athleticism showed enough that I could see her fit in at RS as well. She was a standout on their team, and one who could definitely play at the next level.

War is ugly. Saturday, there were emotional highs, rock bottom lows, no parking, acai bowls, big-time shots, and unforced errors. You could say that's pretty much every volleyball tournament ever, and you wouldn't be wrong. It all just felt like it had higher stakes this time, with bids to be handed out to the top 5 teams for USAV Nationals. Metro Travel was absent, as they've been collecting Open bids like Pokémon recently. That left the door open for other teams to earn their way and represent the DMV in Indianapolis this summer. Here's a summary of how things went.