St. Louis President’s Day Weekend: 17s and 18s

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kansas City is not the only show in town this weekend with the Triple Crown NIT. There are tournaments in Omaha, DC, and of course St. Louis. We have quite a few teams making the trek to the east side of the state to compete in the annual tournament. Here is what we know heading into play tomorrow.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>18 Open</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>HPSTL 18 Royal</strong> will be the lone representative from Missouri or Kansas when the action kicks off. They have been successful early this year winning the USA Division at MLK and also leading the way in the bid weekend tournament. Setter and Troy University pledge [player_tooltip player_id='102462' first='Addison' last='Kersting'] will keep the ball moving and put her attackers in a position to be successful. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>18 Premier</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mizuno Club North 18 Sam</strong> picked up a bid themselves at the Northern Lights Qualifier and will be the top seed in this division. Reaganne Reed has been steady for this team as one of the setters and Sydney Stanfield has shown the ability to make plays when teams dial in on the other attackers. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[program_tooltip program_id='428760' first='Core' last='STL'] 18-1</strong> we discussed a couple of weeks ago. They will be the 5th seed in this tournament. They finished 4th in the bid weekend for the Gateway League a few weeks back. Keep an eye on setter Mary Kate Mulvaney. <strong>HPSTL 18 Orange </strong>is the final team in our coverage area in this division. They had a first-place finish also in bid weekend. Kayla Kohnen, Gabby Hipp, and [player_tooltip player_id='150013' first='Avery' last='Scheiner'] are a trio of middles on this roster looking to make an impact.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>18 Club</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This division will host the most representatives from our coverage area and most call the Gateway Region home. <strong>HP South 18 Premier, STL Crossfire 18 R1, 417 Columbia, [program_tooltip program_id='428797' first='Pursuit' last=''] 18 National, and 417 Juniors 18 National Royal</strong> are all preparing for first-serve Saturday. 417 Columbia has the highest seed (5) of the bunch.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>17 Open</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Missouri Jrs. 17 Black </strong>and <strong>[program_tooltip program_id='428820' first='Team' last='Momentum'] 17 Navy </strong>will represent the state of Missouri in the 17 Open showdowns. Missouri Jrs. have been solid early in the club season and will be the second seed in pool 7. Keep an eye on the middle combination of [player_tooltip player_id='216472' first='Miliana' last='Sylvester'] and [player_tooltip player_id='342441' first='Delaney' last='Hope']. Team Mo had a 9th-place finish at Central Zone in the 17 Open division and looks to build on that play this weekend. Abbey Freund is one of a trio of solid back-row defenders on this roster.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>17 Premier</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[program_tooltip program_id='428820' first='Team' last='Momentum'] 17 Org </strong>will be in pool 2 when the tournament gets going Saturday. They finished 26th in Kansas City last month in the 17 Club Division. <strong>BSVBC 17 Blue </strong>ends up in pool 3. They showed they can be competitive with a 3rd and 5th place finish in league play events. Middle Morgan Overby is good both offensively and defensively at the net. <strong>BSVBC 17 Black</strong> joins their sister club in the division in pool 6. Like the other squad, they finished in the top 5 in their last two events. Madeline Calvert is one of the featured pins on the roster. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>HP South 17 Premier</strong> is the top team in their pool with the 8th overall seed. Taylor Jones is an opposite who can affect the game with the attack and block. <strong>[program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 17 White</strong> will stay local this weekend and join the party. They have a couple of top-ten finishes under their belt in regional play. Setter [player_tooltip player_id='207280' first='Margaret' last='Scher'] makes things happen for their offense. <strong>HPSTL 17 Orange </strong>started their club season with a tournament championship and has had little letdown since with two additional top-ten showings. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>17 Club</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pool 1 will feature <strong>HPSTL 17 White </strong>who sits 14-12 on the year. <strong>417 Juniors 17 National Royal</strong> will set up shop in pool 3. The highest seed from a Missouri team will be <strong>Top Notch</strong> in pool 4. They have been very good this year with good showings in regional play. Britni Walters and Ruth Becker are a couple of outsides who can find the floor. <strong>HP South 17 Diamond </strong>and <strong>Momentum 17-1 </strong>for Heart of America round out the bunch. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->