18 Open Preview: Chicago Girls Winter Championship
MLK weekend was always the big start in the live evaluation period for Division 1 coaches, but they are still quiet for another month until Presidents Day. The show must go on for 18s, with national qualifiers in Chicago and Kansas City this weekend, more teams will be going after bids to Dallas. The Winter Girls Championships in Chicago will feature some of the top talent in the Midwest as well as the East Coast. Circle City will be one of the early favorites as well as MN Select, but Metro out of the Washington DC area brings in a roster full of Power 5 talent. FC Elite out of the Appleton, Wisconsin area finished 6th at NLQ last weekend dropping three set matches to Northern Lights 18-1, MN Select 18-1, and Sunshine out of Californa while defeating KC Power. Milwaukee Sting will look to bounce back after tough start in Omaha, but will have Michigan Elite 18 Mizuno in their pool which is always a powerhouse at the national level. Here is a quick glance at each pool heading into the Girls Winter Championship this weekend in Chicago.
Pool 1
Circle City 18 Purple (IN)
Uno Girls 18 Elite (IL)
Mizuno M1 18-1 (MN)
Eastern Iowa Xtreme 17 Teal
Circle City out of Indianapolis is always one of the top clubs in the country, this years 18s crew will feature 6’4 outside hitter Caitlin Baird who has committed to play at Stanford. Uno which comes out of the Chicagoland brings in their strong batch of athletes led by Lauren Hatch, a South Florida commit, Regan Trueblood, a setter going to IUPUI and Bella Zeman, an outside hitter committed to Wofford. Mizuno M1 is out of the Minneapolis area and will be led by one of the top outsides in the state of Minnesota in South Dakota commit, Elizabeth Juhnke. Eastern Iowa Xtreme out of the Cedar Rapids/Mount Vernon area may be a team that could sneak up on some people comprised of a few members from the Iowa High Performance team in Aliyah Carter, a springy outside hitter committed to K-State, Kacia Brown committed to Mississippi State, Sydney Dennis who will be staying close to home and playing for Iowa, and middle blocker Justyus Jackson who is heading to Tulsa – all from the Class of 2020 (Dennis is from 2021).
Pool 2
MN Select 18-1
FC Elite 18 Navy (WI)
1st Alliance 18 Silver (IL)
NO Name VBC Chris (FL)
MN Select 18-1 will be one of the top teams competing for a bid this weekend.MN Select was one match away from claiming a bid last weekend at NLQ in Omaha and actually defeated FC Elite to advance to the Gold Pool. Izzy Ashburn, winner of the Andi Collins award as the top pure setter in the country will lead the team and will be playing at Wisconsin next year along with her high school teammates Emma Schmidt (Northern Iowa) and Kaitlyn Weimerskirch (Illinois State). FC Elite has a few new pieces to the puzzle this year that include Class of 2021 setter, Brooke Mosher (Illinois), and Maddie Koch, the Purdue recruit who was just named the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year. 1st Alliance which is from the Southern part of the Chicago metro is led by Joslyn Boyer (Iowa) and Mary Lopez (Oregon State). No Name is not a typo, it really is No Name VBC out of Spring Hill, Florida with Sarah Merritt going to NJIT and Gabby Koenig to Wake Forest.
Pool 3
Metro 18 Travel (M
Michio 18 National (IL)
Adversity 18 Adidas (IL)
1W 18-1 (WI)
Metro out of the Washington DC area will be bringing a lot of Power 5 talent with Class of 2020 star Sydney Reed who will be heading to North Carolina along with Morgan Fingall (Tennessee), Madison Bowser (Texas A&M), Janyna Francis and Josi Williams (Virginia). Michio may have one of the most powerful attackers in Temi Thomas who is heading a few miles North to Evanston to play for Northwestern. Adversity 18 Adidas comes from the Chicago area as well, competing in the Windy City Power League. 1W is out of Green Bay and has Gabby Murray (Marist) in the middle, Lily Welti (St. Louis) on the outside, and libero Makenna Krause (Creighton).
Pool 4
Milwaukee Sting 18 Gold is looking to bounce back after NLQ in Omaha.Milwaukee Sting 18 Gold (WI)
Michigan Elite 18 Mizuno
C2 VBC 18U (MO)
Eastern Iowa Xtreme 18U Teal
Adversity G18 Purple Adidas (IL)
Milwaukee Sting Gold will be coming off a tough start to their season going 2-6 at NLQ in Omaha, but has plenty of talent with Kayce Litzau (Wichita State), Ari Miller (UW-Milwaukee), and plenty of other mid major commits along with Dru Kuck, a top unsigned libero. Michigan Elite is an extremely tough two seed in this pool with two high level pin players in Purdue commit, Maddy Chinn and Natalie Risi (Ball State). C2 VBC 18U comes out of St. Louis with an international flavor to their team with athletes from Brazil as part of the Gateway Sports Academy, outside hitter Julia Bergmann has committed to Georgia Tech. Eastern Iowa Xtreme will be led by top recruit out of the middle in Kenzie Mantz who will be heading to Iowa State.
Looking for a great way to prepare your team for Nationals or end your season on a high note? Look no further than the Prep Dig Gauntlet!
The Gauntlet will provide exposure and media coverage to players at all levels!
???? 5/31 – 6/2
????Madison, WI
???? https://t.co/5HsmtBvAN6 pic.twitter.com/CrfNFr53nf— Prep Dig Events (@PrepDigEvents) January 16, 2019