5 Quick Thoughts Looking At Iowa Regional Pools – Ready for a “Bid” Weekend
The scheudle is out for Iowa Regionals this weekend with teams looking to qualify in the 16s-18s Division. With the champion receiving and National bid and the runner-up receiving and American bid, teams will be vying for the chance to…
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Continue ReadingThe scheudle is out for Iowa Regionals this weekend with teams looking to qualify in the 16s-18s Division. With the champion receiving and National bid and the runner-up receiving and American bid, teams will be vying for the chance to punch their ticket to Reno (18s) at the beginning of May or Dallas (15s-16s) at the end of June. Matches will be played at the Knapp Center of Drake University and Prep Dig will be there to take in the action. With schedules being out, here are a few initial thoughts taking a deeper look into bid weekend!
Yes, There Are a Couple Teams Missing
Six Pack 18U at NLQSix Pack 18U and Club Ignit 16 Blue will not be at Iowa Regionals this weekend. Two big names and top teams. This might be confusing for most people why they wouldn’t be playing, but for Six Pack 18U, they most recently qualified for an Open bid to USAV 18 Nationals last weekend in Baltimore. This is the highest possible bid a team can receive. For Club Ignit 16 Blue, they won the Triple Crown Tournament in Kansas City, the top tournament in the country racking up wins against other top teams in the country. They will be going for an Open bid at National Qualifiers where this group of athletes has played at the USAV Open level the past two years, last year earning an At-Large Open bid due to the quality wins they had throughout the season. The best analogy I can think of would be comparable to an NCAA Division 1 Conference Basketball Tournament. Gonzaga is a team that no matter what happens in their conference tournament, they are getting a bid to the NCAA Tournament due to their record and quality wins. However, if another team were to win their conference tournament instead of Gonzaga, that would give them two bids to the NCAA Tournament instead of one to only Gonzaga.
This is not uncommon for teams out of a region to not play in their own regional qualifier tournament. Mostly recently, I was at the Badger Region Qualifier in Milwaukee and the teams who have already qualified and could not improve their bid, did not play. This allows more teams to get a chance at bids and the greater chance of a trickle down (the USAV bids and trickle down of bids is another article in itself). Club Ignit Select 16 Blue still has to qualify for an Open bid. If they do not qualify for an Open bid, they would have a strong chance of an At-Large Open bid due to their high quality of wins or they would be able to play at AAU Nationals at the Open level.
Adrenaline 18 Austin received an American bid at the Northern Lights 18s Qualifier earlier this season, but can upgrade their bid to National if they were to win the tournament.
18s Up For Grabs
[player_tooltip player_id="78436" first="Liz" last="Pierce"] setting for Club Ignit.The 18s pools are extremely intriguing to me. This is wide open with CIA 18 Black having the top seed, but there is a large depth of talent in all the pools. The top two seeds in each pool you could possibly just have a coin flip. The matchup that I think will be really fun to see is Club Ignit 18 Blue and Iowa Select 18 Mizuno. Both teams are extremely scrappy, athletic, and will be a back and forth battle to get the upper hand into crossovers and bracket play come Sunday. A battle between setters in Olivia Curry Olivia Curry RS West Des Moines Valley | 2020 State IA and Liz Pierce Liz Pierce OH Southeast Pollk | 2020 State IA of Club Ignit and Brooke Mulholland Brooke Mulholland 5'7" | MB Clinton | 2020 State IA of Iowa Select. These athletes have been seeing each other across the net for years and this weekend could be the last time to see these athletes compete as high schoolers in Iowa.
SWI – The Secret Weapon
SWI Third Degree out of Council Bluffs has a few teams who are sure to pose a threat this weekend. Their 18s have plenty of the top athletes out of Southwest Iowa in Elaina Bohnet Elaina Bohnet 5'10" | OH Council Bluffs Lincoln | 2020 State IA (Iowa Western) and Sam Christensen (Midland) who were key pieces to the Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln run to state last fall. Other athletes part of this club who are ones to watch would be Macy Vanfossan Macy Vanfossan OH Underwood | 2021 State IA , a powerhouse pin hitter out of Underwood and Tatum Carlson Tatum Carlson 5'6" | DS/L Tri-Center | 2022 State IA , a libero who could also score points on the pin.
The “Not” Basketball Factor
There are plenty of athletes who were putting in double duty this past winter with club volleyball and basketball. With basketball over, teams will be at full strength. For Six Pack 17U, plenty of their athletes were playing basketball, including Dani Johnson who played in the state championship for Osage. Iowa Select 16 Mizuno will pick up a big boost from Ava Schubert Ava Schubert 6'1" | RS Assumption | 2023 State #153 Nation IA , one of the top Class of 2023 athletes who was the top scorers for Davenport Assumption’s state tournament team. Iowa Select 17 Mizuno is going to be a team that should be ready for a strong second half of the season with a healthy Emma Schubert Emma Schubert OH Assumption | 2021 State IA and Abbi and Maddi Barickman, the setter hitter twin combo. Many of these teams have seen each other earlier in the season, but plenty can change with a full squad.
Flight 17U at NLQThe Deepest Division?
The 17s age division has plenty of teams who could be playing in Dallas this summer with a really deep Class of 2021. Six Pack has depth and weapons at every position while Iowa Power Plex and Club Ignit have had a similar resume of wins from the Northern Lights Qualifier and Triple Crown. These two teams are probably the most battle tested, along with CIA 17 Black who recently competed at the Sunshine Qualifier at 17 Open in Orlando. I have not seen Iowa Rockets 17R play yet as they will be a factor with the likes of Katy Garrison Katy Garrison RS Xavier | 2021 State IA , Sydney Beasley, and Martha Pace Martha Pace 5'11" | OH West Liberty | 2021 State IA . One team who is a bit of a wildcard is Flight 17U. A lot of athletes at all positions, but Paige Kisley Paige Kisley OH Osage | 2021 State IA on the outside can score a ton of points along with Belle Weber Belle Weber OH Union | 2021 State IA . This team was in the Gold Bracket of the 17s USA Division at Northern Lights.