Final finishes from 16 Open and my opinion whether they are a contender or a pretender next club season
1 Spectrum 16's - Contender (best setter in age group, best coach in age group, and hitters just understand what they need to do to win. libero very solid and they are also adding 6'6 opposite / outside hitter Colin Bailey for next season who played with them 15's year)
2 Balboa Bay 16Asics - Contender (Pender is arguably best player in age group and he is a true 2018 so he could play 16's next season, solid setters and middles, could add 6'8 middle blocker Kyler Presho from San Clemente)
T-3 MB SURF NIKE 16's - Contender (JP Reilly and Chris McBee might be best 1-2 punch at the pins in the entire age group, have one of the best liberos in the age group in Louis Murray, could get SMBC setter Chris Hall)
T-3 Roch PaceBootleggr161 - Pretender (although they have one of the best libero in the age group in Spencer Wickens and one of the top recruits in Charlie Siragusa, the pins and middles are not that big and their setter is 5'6. still should do well in 17 Open but tied for 5th in probably the ceiling for this team)
T-5 SMBC 16 Black - Pretender (very solid team with a great libero in Gerson Lima, setter Chris Hall is solid but rumors are going around that he might move to MB Surf, pins are solid but not great. Similar situation to Pace where they are a very good team but medaling is probably not gonna happen for this team in the 17 Open age group)
T-5 A`o A Koa Volleyball 16-1 - Pretender (Hugh Hogland is one of the best up and coming recruits in the class of 2017, but their setter is small, their middles are non descript and their outside Ethan Siegfred did not have a good nationals. good but not great)
T-5 NCVC Asics 16-1 - Pretender (solid team but no standout players so they will most likely fall off the radar in 17s and 18s)
T-5 BORINQUEN COQUI 16-1M - Pretender (Gabi is a monster but the rest of the team is done growing and small. they should still come in the top 10 at nationals but probably will not place much higher than that)
Other Teams To Watch:
Bay to Bay (if they find a way to keep Joel Schneidmiller)
Eden (Devin Joslyn and Matthew Payne are both very solid pins, if Griffin Schmidt decides to stay down this team could be deadly)
HPSTL (Leo Henken is a big time pin hitter, and Kade Bontrager Ethan Bell and Jacob Swyers are all very solid players)
Pacific Rim - Contender - team centered around Gage Worsley possibly Eli Gabriel Irizarry Thomas Nelson Zevan Williams Akash Dkothar Evan Thelen Kyle Merchen and maybe even Joel Schneidmiller this team could definietly challenge the likes of MB SURF Spectrum and Balboa.