18 USA Delivers Bids for Kansas and Missouri Squads

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last weekend, we had our first bids in the USA division from the Asics MLK National Qualifier in Kansas City. We shared how Kansas and Missouri-based teams returned home with Open bids earlier in the week. The same can be said for this division as one team returned to Southwest Missouri, and the other to the Kansas side of the state line set for Baltimore in April. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Memphis Volleyball Academy ran the gauntlet, dropping one set over three days to capture the gold ball. They had to take down a pesky 16 Open team in Pohaku. There were a lot of questions being asked about why Pohaku 16-1 was able to play in an 18 qualifier and potentially take a bid away from other teams. That's not exactly what happened. Pohaku went in knowing regardless of the outcome, they wouldn't accept a bid due to their potential of being one of the top 16-year-old teams in the country. Second, Pohaku was asked to play up in the division for the primary purpose of ensuring there were enough teams to allocate the three bids at stake. With only 23 teams, only two bids would go out. So props to Pohaku for accepting the challenge AND allowing a team to benefit from their unselfishness. Now back to the bid teams. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With Pohaku making the championship match, the two teams scheduled to play for third, and typically the final bid didn't need to play. 417 Juniors 17 Elite and HPSTL 18 Royal were the teams capturing the final two bids. 417 Juniors went 6-2 over the three days. The team features [player_tooltip player_id='150036' first='Reagan' last='Baade'] and [player_tooltip player_id='124850' first='Rilynn' last='Finley']. The first day saw them get off to hot starts against their first two opponents, having minimal difficulty along the way. They saw stiffer competition in the final match versus Alliance 18 Ren but won -22, -20 to win the pool. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The second day started with a quick turn of events. After winning the first set in commanding form (25-9), they dropped the next two including a 16-14 final set to Oklahoma Peak. They rebounded and beat the aforementioned Pohaku 16 team in three sets along with [program_tooltip program_id='428892' first='PVA' last=''] 18 Elite. With the head-to-head win over Pohaku, they were able to win their second pool in two days. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On the final day, one win would prove to be all that was needed to earn a bid and they took care of business knocking out Alliancee for the second time in the tournament. A Pohaku win over Premier Nebraska 18 Black guaranteed a bid for the other three teams in the semifinal found. Even with a bid in hand, Juniors played a tough contest with Memphis, losing in straight sets to the eventual champion.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>HPSTL 18 Royal were perfect in the tournament until their loss to Pohaku in the semifinals. The St. Louis-based team returned familiar faces with [player_tooltip player_id='150037' first='Grace' last='Killion'] and [player_tooltip player_id='150035' first='Audrey' last='Small'], plus with the addition of Morgan Dumm, they were clicking on all cylinders throughout the tournament. Opening day saw three sweeps but the highlight was the 25-23, 28-26 slugfest with CIA 18 Black out of Iowa. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After keeping their perfect set streak going to start day two, it was finally interrupted by that same pesky Alliance team mentioned above who had numerous close contests throughout the weekend. 18 Royal would win the first set before dropping the second -21. Solid defense and timely kills were key in the third set 15-7 win. There was little breather as the next match against Shockwave 18 Black was also entertaining. The same story, first-set win followed by a tough second-set loss that went extra points. The final set was a back-and-forth that saw both teams grab momentum but HPSTL would seal the deal 15-13. The win would prove to be huge as it would essentially give them their bid as they advanced right to the semi-final round and only needed to wait for the winner of Pohaku and Premier. It would be in the semis where they would suffer their first loss of the tournament to Pohaku 16-1 in three sets. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->