Gateway League Produced Great Action in St. Louis

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Gateway(GW) [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] League kicked off a couple of weeks ago and finished this past weekend. I don't know how others feel but one thing I love about the GW [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] League is the cross-play between different age groups. One, some of your best competition may not necessarily be in your age group. Two, most of these athletes play against each other in high school from freshmen to seniors, so to have them continue this format is a good concept in my opinion.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the coming days and weeks we will be breaking down some of the teams across the state and the [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] league gives us a chance to learn about some of these teams and their rosters. We won't go into great detail in this piece about the who's who of teams but want to share the results of the two weekends of action.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The pool makeup to start the action would be eight pools of seven that played over two days (Jan 7/8). Based on the results, the pools would be reseeded for Saturday, Jan 21st followed by bracket play on the 22nd. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The top team in pool 1, [program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 18 Elite with a veteran roster of Juilette Myrick, [player_tooltip player_id='102557' first='Ava' last='Roth'], and [player_tooltip player_id='123472' first='Caitlyn' last='Little'] went undefeated over the first two play dates. Three teams would finish with records of 4-2 with second place going to Missouri Jrs 17-1 from the Heart of America region. [player_tooltip player_id='124226' first='Autumn' last='Bax'] and Baily Braun are a couple of key contributors to this squad. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 17 Elite entered as one of the favorites to win it all returning a team that has competed and had success amongst some of the best in their age group in the country. They took care of business winning pool 2 behind the play of [player_tooltip player_id='153929' first='Maya' last='Witherspoon'], [player_tooltip player_id='124215' first='Olivia' last='Hasbrook'], and setter duo Morgan Dumm and [player_tooltip player_id='124219' first='Alyssa' last='Nelson']. 5-1 Missouri Jrs. 18-1, who would earn a bid the following weekend at MLK. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 16 Navy dropped one set on the way to a perfect record in Pool 3. The 15 Elite team fought their way to a 5-1 record to finish runner-ups in pool play. Pool 4 top team goes to [program_tooltip program_id='428760' first='Core' last='STL'] 18-1. We remember this team a year ago as 17s found success over the course of the season and showed they would be a team competing strongly throughout the [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] league. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>HP Illinois 17 National and HP South 16 Premier would run through pools 5 and 6 over the weekend. Our first non-undefeated pool winner would come from pool 7 with [program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 16 Carolina at 5-1 claiming bragging rights and Rockwood 15 Navy stayed perfect in the final pool. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An off weekend sent some teams to qualifiers and tournament play but they regrouped on the 21st for new pool play action. Rockwood 18 Elite would forfeit their matches after a qualifier weekend. We'll jump right to bracket play on Sunday with the teams who advanced to the gold bracket for 16-18.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Missouri Jrs. 17 Black, BSVBC 18 Black, [program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 17 Navy, [program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 16 Elite, Missouri Jrs. 18s, HP Illinois 17 National, [program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 18 Navy, and [program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 17 Elite all advanced to the round of 8 after earning victories in previous matchups. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The top half of the bracket had very entertaining contests, with both matches going three sets. The Missouri Jrs 17/BSVBC matchup point differentiation was only 7 points over the three sets with the 18s team coming away with the victory after a 16-14 third set. In the other match, 17 Navy took down the 16 Elite team after dropping the first set and coming back to win the next two.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The bottom portion saw two sweeps in Missouri Jrs. 18s knocking off HP Illinois and Rockwood 17 Elite making quick work of 18 Navy. 17 Elite would keep their domination going erasing Missouri Jrs. in straight sets, -17 and -14. BSVBC would make a sweep in their semi-over 17 Navy to make it to the final match. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>BSVBC would put a halt to Rockwood Elite's four-set domination by taking them down in the opening set and putting the 17-year-old squad back against the wall. As we mentioned earlier, this Rockwood team has been there and they didn't flinch getting the second set in commanding form, -15. The final set is one you love to see in a high-level championship match with great intensity, big swings, and big defensive plays. In the end, Rockwood got it done winning 15-13 to claim the Gateway [program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last=''] League title.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Look for our breakdown of many of these teams roster's in the coming days.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->