This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag’s weekly look at 10 things in club volleyball, past or present, that interest me and hopefully will interest you. Look for Dots each week through Junior Nationals this summer.
• It’s hard to believe, but we’re two-thirds of the way through qualifier season! Show Me in Kansas City and the start of Salt Lake City Showdown in, well…Salt Lake City…were last week’s headliners.
More Salt Lake and some Far Westerns in Reno are on the agenda this weekend.
• Show Me took place on Saturday through Monday, which meant eclipse watching for some teams on the final day. Houston Skyline 17 Royal was one such team. They had the appropriate glasses for outdoors, but needed goggles for the figurative champagne bottles uncorked after their third qualifier win of the season in the 17 Open division.
“The team was excited to compete as a full squad as we have been battling some lagging injuries,” noted coach Alex Edwards, whose team went 10-0.
With Houston Skyline now a familiar foe to many, the team had to expand its range to defeat scouting reports and did just that.
“I was impressed in our ability to continue to use our range in our shot selection, perform in the red zone and our middles’ abilities to produce points against solid blocks,” she said.
The team saw libero Morgan Madison and setter Kassie O’Brien take care of the first two touches, as usual, with strong offensive controbutions coming in the middle from Mackenzie Collins and Bayleigh Minor and on the pins from Taylor Porter and Bailey Warren.
• Michigan Elite, Game Point and Northern Lights took home the Open bids in 17 Open.
Northern Lights rallied from a 15-13 Game 3 loss to Houston Skyline in its final match of Gold Pool play to sweep Rockwood Thunder in the bid match for fifth place overall.
Qualifying was special for Dave Manka’s squad, because the team won on Monday with only seven able to play, including MB Carly Slusser, who had just returned from six weeks off because of a back injury. Lights played in the bid match without star hitter Mesaiya Bettis (calf pull on Day 3 versus Dynasty) and RS Elli Tufto (Achilles strain versus Rockwood).
The win over Rockwood came in two sets and was catalyzed by the move of Kate Holthaus to outside from her normal position on the right. She collected 12 kills and eight digs. Libero McKenna Garr also was outstanding, with 13 digs and 2.8 passing.
“To earn this bid in this manner is such a tribute to this team and what a team win really means,” Manka said. “It really was a special weekend.”
• Perhaps inspired by Purdue’s run to the NCAA men’s basketball championship final, Boiler Juniors kept its hot streak going by winning 16 Open at Show Me. The team, which has a superb freshman RS in Caroline Ward, has sandwiched a second-place qualifier finish around wins at Bluegrass and Show Me over the past four weeks.
• Premier Nebraska, Pohaku and Vital claimed the three bids to Junior Nationals.
Vital punched its ticket thanks to a 2-0 Gold Pool, which included a 21-19-in-the-third win over Iowa Rockets.
“The Vital 16-1 Gold team definitely doesn’t pass the eye test at the Open level, when it comes to physicality; they’re just a scrappy and resilient group,” said director Ryan Stuntz.
The team struggled in qualifiers last year, but returned nine of 10 players and used their team chemistry to take a step forward in 2024. A strong finish at Triple Crown gave this team confidence and it paid off in a big way at Show Me.
Setter Harper Goldsmith made the All-Tournament team by using her smarts to find the hot hands, which included MB Hailey Laffond and RS Lauren Barker. Libero Cora Bicknese and DS Kira Brundage were essential to team success by being consistent with the first touch all weekend.
• Dallas Skyline 15 Royal roared unbeaten through 15 Open in Kansas City. Mark Flores’ team, which was second at MEQ, won its last five matches, including all three on the final day, in straight sets.
• Open bids were extended to Rockwood Thunder, KC Power and PVA.
PVA finished just 4-4 for the event, but got a critical win over OT T Randy, one of the best teams nationally at this age; to advance to the Gold pools.
The Kansas City-area team got solid weekends from Morgan Hampton, Presley Kreter, Evie Ignbenebor and Lochlar O’Bleness.
Hampton, a 6-1 pin, passed a 2.1 on the weekend and scored at will at times. Kreter, a 6-1 middle tabbed one of the best in the country, showed off her extreme physicality and hit .333 while averaging more than two blocks per set. Igbenebor, a 5-11 middle, was a strong leader as well as an explosive presence in the middle. O’Bleness, a DS, was a rock playing left and middle back. She passed a 2.0 on the weekend and dug more than six balls per match over the weekend. O’Bleness also has been consistently one of the team’s strongest servers.
This now marks the second straight year for PVA to qualify in Open. The team finished 24th at Junior Nationals last year in 14 Open.
• In Salt Lake, at the Showdown, AZ Storm affirmed its place among the elite nationally with another 15 Open win. Storm has two tremendous middles and an efficient outside in Tessa Larkin.
• Club V, another elite team; Vision and Madfrog snagged the three Open bids.
The Frogs, who went 7-1 at Sunshine but did not bid there; got their bid by avenging a Day 1 loss to 1United. A little team pep talk had the players focused to take care of business on Monday versus 1United and that’s precisely what happened.
Stand-out players for the bid match were Vanessa Glen (OH), Siena Ebert (libero), Dakota Richards (setter) and MacKenzie Radcliff (MB). Ebert, especially, raised her game to a whole new level.
Richards, one of the best setters in the division all weekend; Radcliff, Richards and OH Audree Hughes played strong for Matt Sipes’ team all weekend long.
• ICYMI, the [too-large] 48-team 18 Open field for 18s Junior Nationals at the end of the month has been completed with the addition of three At-Large selections, Six Pack, Absolute and San Gabriel Elite. Now, I admit to now knowing as much about club teams as I used to, but I can GUARANTEE that the three At-Large teams will not be among the worst in the field.
Six Pack boasts twins Jadyn and Payton Petersen and several other nice players. San Gabriel is fronted by Stanford-bound setter Taylor Yu. And Absolute has stars in Anaya Thrower and Jaden Hendrickson.
