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Post by clob on Jan 28, 2023 17:10:11 GMT -5
News from Minnesota. 18's Gold Pool tomorrow (2 bids):
Premier Nebraska (already has bid) MN Select Iowa Rockets Northern Lights
17's Gold Pools (three bids):
A5 1st Alliance Rockwood Thunder
Dynasty OT Felix Premier Nebraska
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Post by definitelymaybe on Jan 28, 2023 18:52:01 GMT -5
1st Alliance having an impressive weekend so far. 18’s are the top seed in Florida, 17's have a good shot at a top 3 finish at NLQ, & their 16's are the top seed at the Central Zone Invitational.
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Post by n00b on Jan 29, 2023 10:24:46 GMT -5
This Day 1 format at Central Zone Invitational is ruffling quite a few feathers. Lots of people in the convention center for 12+ hours. Is it your first time there? This has been their format for a while to get everybody at least 6 matches over 2 days. In my opinion, it’s great for an early season event. The tournament would make a lot more money if it went with a more standard 3 matches on Saturday for everybody. So I’m sure if that’s what club coaches and directors want, they’ll be happy to oblige for next year.
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Post by definitelymaybe on Jan 29, 2023 10:59:41 GMT -5
Not sure if the score is correct but MN Select loses the first set 25-3 then comes back to beat Northern Lights 25-21/15-11 at NLQ.
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Post by n00b on Jan 29, 2023 12:50:04 GMT -5
18 Open Bid winners: A5 (Lone Star) Dallas Skyline (Lone Star) Drive Nation (Lone Star) Mavs (Kansas City) Mintonette (Windy City) Premier Nebraska (Kansas City) Sunshine (Windy City) Wave (Windy City) Florida Fest: 2. Gainesville Juniors 3. Metro 5. 1st Alliance Northern Lights: 2. MN Select 3. Northern Lights Salt Lake City: 1. Club V 2. Arizona Storm 3. Tstreet
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Post by definitelymaybe on Jan 29, 2023 14:13:49 GMT -5
18 Open Bid winners: A5 (Lone Star) Dallas Skyline (Lone Star) Drive Nation (Lone Star) Mavs (Kansas City) Mintonette (Windy City) Premier Nebraska (Kansas City) Sunshine (Windy City) Wave (Windy City) Florida Fest: Gainesville Juniors 2. 3. Northern Lights: MN Select 2. Salt Lake City: Club V Arizona Storm 3. Tstreet Northern Lights will get the 2nd bid at NLQ
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Post by outlaw on Jan 29, 2023 16:53:36 GMT -5
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Post by definitelymaybe on Jan 29, 2023 17:01:51 GMT -5
18 Open Bid winners: A5 (Lone Star) Dallas Skyline (Lone Star) Drive Nation (Lone Star) Mavs (Kansas City) Mintonette (Windy City) Premier Nebraska (Kansas City) Sunshine (Windy City) Wave (Windy City) Florida Fest: 1. Gainesville Juniors 2. Metro 3. Northern Lights: 1. MN Select 2. Northern Lights Salt Lake City: Club V Arizona Storm 3. Tstreet 1st Alliance gets the final Florida Fest bid. Looks like already qualified Mavs forfeited 3rd to Metro
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Post by coachdavid on Jan 29, 2023 23:06:36 GMT -5
17's Gold Pools (three bids): A5 1st Alliance Rockwood Thunder Dynasty OT Felix Premier Nebraska How does this work? Do they play their pools and then seed for bracket play, or do the bids just go to the pool winners and then highest set or point %?
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Post by OHVBKING on Jan 30, 2023 0:47:18 GMT -5
This Day 1 format at Central Zone Invitational is ruffling quite a few feathers. Lots of people in the convention center for 12+ hours. Have no issues with the format. I like that teams have to earn their way into the Power Pool and it is very obvious not all first round pools are equal. When you have three teams from the first round pools making their way into the Gold Bracket that is a clear indication the format works. I like Power Pools but they should be earned.
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Post by n00b on Jan 30, 2023 7:32:12 GMT -5
17's Gold Pools (three bids): A5 1st Alliance Rockwood Thunder Dynasty OT Felix Premier Nebraska How does this work? Do they play their pools and then seed for bracket play, or do the bids just go to the pool winners and then highest set or point %? They played their pools then played 1st vs 1st to win the tournament and 2nd vs 2nd for 3rd Place and the last bid.
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Post by OHVBKING on Jan 30, 2023 11:31:25 GMT -5
Not sure why they had the long break in between the morning pool games and the power pools/second pools. Seems like they could of done that back to back for both waves.
Our team went back to the hotel because we were within walking distance but I can see where others are not able to do that. I also think Indy has a hotel problem. There are not enough hotels downtown and a lot of the hotels in the surrounding suburbs are not good options.
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Post by n00b on Jan 30, 2023 13:53:03 GMT -5
Not sure why they had the long break in between the morning pool games and the power pools/second pools. Seems like they could of done that back to back for both waves. Our team went back to the hotel because we were within walking distance but I can see where others are not able to do that. I also think Indy has a hotel problem. There are not enough hotels downtown and a lot of the hotels in the surrounding suburbs are not good options. If you don’t take a break between pools, you are stuck waiting for ALL of the pools to finish to create the second round of pools. I was at a tourney once that did this (I think it was an SAT date so they put the older kids in the PM). It’s a mess. If one court is behind it throws everybody off. So you kinda have to alternate Group A is on at 8,9,10 then Group B is on at 11,12,1, etc. And while Group A is off, you publish the new pools for the afternoon. It’s also very tough to guarantee that a team wouldn’t play four consecutive matches if you have back-to-back 3-team pools.
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Post by latebloomer on Jan 31, 2023 10:47:47 GMT -5
One person’s view of the Salt Lake City Showdown. Overall, I thought the quality of teams at this tournament was pretty solid and there were a few pleasant surprises to come out of the weekend from the Open Division. A team that should now be on everyone’s radar is NPJ Forefront. They showed that their win over Sunshine at Windy City was no fluke. They overcame a rough Day 1 where they lost their opener to Seal Beach Black and then needed 3 sets to survive Norco 18 Black before rebounding and making it out of their pool. Day 2 started with a loss again, this time to eventual champs Club V Ren Reed. They then blasted through AZ REV Premier and beat A4 Joaco to stay alive for a spot at a bid. They showed a lot of quality play in a 3-set loss to Sunshine before running out of gas and getting steamrolled by Arizona Storm Thunder. Their 1-2 punch of Alexandra Acevedo and Kyleene Filimaua (who is playing OH during club season) gives them a chance against anyone. They play with a lot of energy and that can be half the battle for 18s teams. Speaking of playing with energy, Arizona Storm brought it throughout the 3 days. Their one true head-scratching loss was a 3-setter to South County Darice to open play on Day 2. They rebounded with three straight 2-set wins against Absolute Black, Mizuno Long Beach Rockstar and NPJ Forefront, with the final victory locking up their Open bid. However, they then put themselves in the conversation for an Open title by beating Sunshine 25-23, 23-25, 15-10. Their championship match against Club V Ren Reed was an epic 3-setter, with Jordyn Harvey providing some late-match heroics to pull her team to a 24-26, 25-17, 18-16 victory. Storm had a few match points go awry before falling to a very talented Club V squad. Storm featured the best middle that I saw in the tournament, Ella Lomigora, who was almost unstoppable on day 3. Storm was led by two high-quality OHs in Avery Burks and Ali Wiest, who stood their ground against some of the best OH’s in the nation, getting victories over Acevedo, Mele Corral-Blagojevich, Torrey Stafford and Olivia Babcock before ultimately falling short against Jordyn Harvey’s squad. Storm’s setting (Gabi LeBlanc) is very good and its defense may have been the best in the division over the weekend, based on the time I was able to see them. Watching 18s for a few years, you can definitely see the difference when teams have players still engaged and enthusiastic about playing together and that’s what made this Storm team perform so well. With a bid already in pocket, Sunshine played its bench against Tstreet in the third place game and Tstreet is definitely talented enough to take advantage, winning in two sets to earn the bid outright. Tstreet brings size and length in the front row and when clicking, they were formidable. 2024, 6-3 lefty opposite Molly McCluskey has made great progress and can keep up with Tstreet’s fast offense. Setter Nicole Feliciano is strong and distributes the ball across the court to OH’s Lois Hansen and Ella Irwin to give Tstreet plenty of offense. Their defense got better as the weekend went on, which helped them survive each day and stay in the hunt for a bid they ultimately earned. Despite finishing fourth, Sunshine still has to be considered one of the favorites when nationals comes around in late April. There’s too much talent on the floor for them to fade out of the picture. Again, it’s 18s, so some players may have stretches of not being focused, so Sunshine can be forgiven for stubbing its toe once in a while, especially since it already had one qualifier championship in tow. There’s much more I could cover, but I think this will do for now. I’ll respond if anyone asks about any particular team or player that I might have seen. Was bouncing around when I could, so I did get to see a few of the Open squads.
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Post by digs on Jan 31, 2023 13:09:16 GMT -5
News from Minnesota. 18's Gold Pool tomorrow (2 bids): Premier Nebraska (already has bid) MN Select Iowa Rockets Northern Lights 17's Gold Pools (three bids): A5 1st Alliance Rockwood Thunder Dynasty OT Felix Premier Nebraska A5 and Dynasty dominated the rest of the field and look like to me like the top two 17’s teams in the country. A5 won the championship match in three (15-12 3rd set.) Premier got the third bid and was very solid. Great defense and ball control but not as much firepower as A5 or Dynasty. 1st Alliance looked very good, have two strong attackers and have added a top Libero. But they’re just not as deep as A5 or Dynasty.
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