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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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digs
Sophomore
Posts: 207
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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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Post by n00b on Feb 3, 2023 20:56:52 GMT -5
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Post by definitelymaybe on Feb 3, 2023 23:40:09 GMT -5
Due to some upsets today, pools B & C look stacked tomorrow. |
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Post by n00b on Feb 5, 2023 12:06:43 GMT -5
18 Open Bid winners: 1st Alliance (Florida Fest) A5 (Lone Star) Arizona Storm (Salt Lake City) Club V (Salt Lake City) Dallas Skyline (Lone Star) Drive Nation (Lone Star) Gainesville Juniors (Florida Fest) Mavs (Kansas City) Metro (Florida Fest) Mintonette (Windy City) MN Select (Northern Lights) Northern Lights (Northern Lights) Premier Nebraska (Kansas City) Sunshine (Windy City) Tstreet (Salt Lake City) Wave (Windy City) 2. Paramount 3. Academy Cleveland 5. Triangle |
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Post by definitelymaybe on Feb 5, 2023 13:08:01 GMT -5
18 Open Bid winners: 1st Alliance (Florida Fest) A5 (Lone Star) Arizona Storm (Salt Lake City) Club V (Salt Lake City) Dallas Skyline (Lone Star) Drive Nation (Lone Star) Gainesville Juniors (Florida Fest) Mavs (Kansas City) Metro (Florida Fest) Mintonette (Windy City) MN Select (Northern Lights) Northern Lights (Northern Lights) Premier Nebraska (Kansas City) Sunshine (Windy City) Tstreet (Salt Lake City) Wave (Windy City) - Paramount - Academy Cleveland Carolina Union and Triangle are playing for the final bid. Triangle wins in 2 |
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Post by westie13 on Feb 6, 2023 11:47:01 GMT -5
Does anyone know when Triple Crown will release the NIT power pools?
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Post by jcvball22 on Feb 6, 2023 11:48:59 GMT -5
Does anyone know when Triple Crown will release the NIT power pools? Probably the beginning of next week. Attempting to give people as little time to complain as possible... |
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Post by 4theloveofvb on Feb 6, 2023 12:17:13 GMT -5
Power Pools Teams for NIT are scheduled to be released Wednesday at NOON EST. Specific Pools early next week.
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Post by SayonaraTachikara on Feb 6, 2023 15:17:48 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. Interesting to note, A5 Jing lost twice this weekend at Beast of the Southeast. Decent pool of teams at the tournament in 17/18 open. The second loss was to the A5 2's team who swept them (which is a very solid team). May have been a bit of a bid hangover and resting a few players but still... |
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Post by westie13 on Feb 6, 2023 15:50:50 GMT -5
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. Interesting to note, A5 Jing lost twice this weekend at Beast of the Southeast. Decent pool of teams at the tournament in 17/18 open. The second loss was to the A5 2's team who swept them (which is a very solid team). May have been a bit of a bid hangover and resting a few players but still... That’s not that surprising. I was also at NLQ and found A5 to be a good but beatable team, especially during their first set. Several teams held their own against A5 but came up short. And Dynasty is very well rounded but I don’t know that I’d crown any team the “top of the country” this early on in the season, then again I don’t have a player on Dynasty. There are incredibly talented teams that weren’t at NLQ and could best A5 or Dynasty. Not to mention that there were plenty of other good teams at NLQ working out a few things and just getting started for the season. |
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Post by SayonaraTachikara on Feb 6, 2023 16:08:20 GMT -5
Interesting to note, A5 Jing lost twice this weekend at Beast of the Southeast. Decent pool of teams at the tournament in 17/18 open. The second loss was to the A5 2's team who swept them (which is a very solid team). May have been a bit of a bid hangover and resting a few players but still... That’s not that surprising. I was also at NLQ and found A5 to be a good but beatable team, especially during their first set. Several teams held their own against A5 but came up short. And Dynasty is very well rounded but I don’t know that I’d crown any team the “top of the country” this early on in the season, then again I don’t have a player on Dynasty. There are incredibly talented teams that weren’t at NLQ and could best A5 or Dynasty. Not to mention that there were plenty of other good teams at NLQ working out a few things and just getting started for the season. Yes, it is still very early for sure. I was not able to watch them a ton this weekend but A5 did seem to shuffle the deck this year with their 1's and 2's teams. I noticed a few of the 1's OH's from last years team, seemed to shift to the 2's and vice verca. To me, they did not seem to have the same depth they did last year. When Hannah Benjamin was out it was a whole different team definitely beatable. Triple crown will be telling. Quite a few teams still figuring things out, no question. |
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Post by definitelymaybe on Feb 6, 2023 19:06:04 GMT -5
Was Pierce playing 6 rotations at NLQ? I saw highlights from a DS on the team & Cisneros was at OH hitting & the other starters were in but Pierce was not playing back row. Could have been matches they had in hand and situations where they were getting everyone playing time.
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Post by dogmomx3 on Feb 6, 2023 19:27:24 GMT -5
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