Adidas President’s Day Spectacular: 15/16 Premier Preview

Breit Nelson February 15, 2019 @ 05:01 PM

President’s Day weekend is a big one for club volleyball. There are a lot of big tournaments across the Midwest. While Chris is trying to visit them all, I will be camped out in Wisconsin Dells keeping an eye on the Adidas President’s Day Tournament. Later we will take a look at interesting match-ups happening in pool play across divisions, but right now we will take a peek at some potential upsets and the players possibly making that happen in the 15/16 Premier Division. Seeding can always be interesting when combining age divisions and regions. Pool 1 Midwest Penguins 15-Black 414 – 16 Elite I AM VBC 15 Red I think I AM VBC 15 Red may be a bit underseeded in this case. 15 Red previously beat Midwest Penguins 15-Black who has the top seed in their pool. They also lost to a solid Milwaukee Sting 15 Burlington who is the top seed in Pool 4. A key player for 15 Red is Helena Ashley (2022 – Defensive Specialist – Cedarburg) WI Performance 16UA Pool 2 MKE Sting 16 Silver RVA G16 Navy MKE Sting 15 White I am predicting 15 White to take a 2nd place in Pool 2. They have a number of tools, including [player_tooltip player_id="57262" first="Abbie" last="Stigler"] (2022 – Outside Hitter – University School Of Milwaukee), [player_tooltip player_id="81315" first="Halie" last="Markovic"] (2022 – Middle Blocker), and [player_tooltip player_id="81283" first="Tatum" last="Kebisek"] (2022 – 5’8 – Setter – Brookfield Central). I certainly don’t think RVA would go down without a fight though. This could be a really good match. Wisconsin Ice 15 Purple Pool 3 MKE Sting 15 Silver Wisconsin Ice 16 Purple Wisconsin Premier 15Teal I think this pool will be quite interesting; their teams are from 3 different age divisions. Premier has beaten Midwest Penguins 15-Black and RVA G16 Navy already this season, and while they aren’t in the same pool, they will play Wisconsin Ice 16 Purple a 2nd time after beating them last weekend in the Badger Region Power League. Premier has a plethora of weapons including: [player_tooltip player_id="81311" first="Alyssa" last="Gaeth"] (2022 – Middle Blocker/Right Side Hitter – Kettle Moraine Lutheran), Caitlin Johnson (2022 – 5’7 – Outside Hitter/Defensive Specialist – Kettle Moraine Lutheran), [player_tooltip player_id="81308" first="Taylor" last="Larson"] (2022 – 5’6 – Outside Hitter – Menomonee Falls), and [player_tooltip player_id="81337" first="Autumn" last="Daute"] (2022 – Middle Blocker – Cedarburg) MKE Sting 14 Black This team looks to be a lot of little sisters of some pretty successful players. This particular team hasn’t seen much action playing against 15s or 16s, but with a 16-2 record, this should be a good challenge. They have risen to most challenges so far this club season. Pool 4 MKE Sting 15 Burlington Don’t underestimate this group under the direction of UW-Milwaukee’s head coach Susie Johnson. They are led by her daughter, [player_tooltip player_id="81272" first="Josie" last="Johnson"] (2022 – Setter – Waterford), Emily Glembin (2022 – Outside Hitter – St. Thomas More), and Katie Heidenrich (2022 – 5’7 – Outside Hitter – Nicolet). FDL Fusion 16 Purple Midwest Penguins 16-Red WILD 16s Pool 5 Club Synergy G16 Red Synergy has a 17-4 record, so far taking 2nd in the NVC Tournament as well as placing 8th in the 16 Silver division of the Big City Luau. Their key player is Kailey Ertel (2021 – Middle Blocker – Northland Lutheran). MKE Sting 16-1 Madison Wisconsin Premier 16 Teal This will be a great tournament and a fun division to keep an eye on!