Ohio Anyone?

Now that we’ve completed power league competitions across the state and some 17s and 18s teams have played in a qualifier, let’s take a look at who have punched their tickets to nationals! The 18s are set to convene in Columbus, Ohio April 23-25 for nationals. There are five divisions at the national tournament and in order of "competitive" levels they are; Open, National, USA, American, and Patriot. Patriot is the one division teams do not have to qualify to participate.  Open Division To date, we have one team qualified in the open division in Mavs KC 18-1. Near the end of January, they captured the open division title at Northern Lights after an 8-1 weekend. They have since followed that up with an HOA Power League championship, going 9-0 over the playdates and dethroning the three-time defending champion in KC Power. They have been getting solid play as of late in the middle from Justine Bichelmeyer Justine Bichelmeyer 6'2" | MB St. James Academy | 2021 State KS (Central Missouri) and Leilani Elder (Alaska Anchorage). Bichelmeyer has been good offensively with a strong slide attack. Elder’s blocking and touches have been important defensively. On the right side, both Olivia Lovett Olivia Lovett 5'11" | OH St. James Academy | 2021 State KS (Loyola-Chicago) and Madelyn Ehlers (NW Missouri St) have provided a viable offensive threat.  National Division Three National bids have been awarded with the conclusion of Power League. In the Heart of America region, the top two teams are awarded the regional bids to the national championships. The interesting piece in the puzzle was two of the final four teams in the "gold" pool previously earned bids. As mentioned above, Mavs would win the championship so the bids would trickle down to the 2nd and 3rd place teams. The newly formed Pohaku club would claim the first bid, after a runner-up finish and going 6-3 overall. They received impressive defensive play from Aly Gurtiza Aly Gurtiza 5'8" | DS/L Lee's Summit West | 2021 State MO (Central Michigan) and Kalia Morris Kalia Morris 5'2" | DS/L Staley | 2022 State MO (Staley-Uncommitted). Like the Mavs, their play from their middles caught our attention. Both Jenna Zydo (West Florida) and Bonnie Hegarty Bonnie Hegarty 5'11" | MB Manhattan | 2021 State KS (Missouri Southern) were active in the scoring department. The other bid went to 3rd place finisher PVA 18 Elite. They were the only other team to go into the final play date undefeated after a 5-0 day 1. They went into Saturday shorthanded missing a couple of key players. They suffered back-to-back defeats to the Mavs before splitting their final matches with Pohaku and Dynasty to earn their bid. Not to sound like a broken record but PVA also had heavy production from their middle duo of Kelly Ann Greene Kelly Ann Greene 6'0" | MB St. Teresa's Academy | 2021 State MO (UC-Santa Cruz) and Carley Spachman Carley Spachman 6'2" | MB Blue Valley North | 2021 State KS (Johnson County CC). Between their slides and quick 0’s, they were effective in keeping the defenses guessing.  In the eastern part of the state, Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite became the Gateway League Champions over the weekend. They captured their National bid in early February at their region bid event. They are starting to gel at the right time heading into a heavy qualifying season. They made their first attempt in Columbus in January. They will go for their open bid at the MidEast Qualifier (MEQ) this month and the Big South in early April. Taylor Beaven Taylor Beaven DS/L Seckmann | 2021 State MO (Stanford) and Jordan Iliff Jordan Iliff 6'1" | RS Mehlville | 2021 State MO (Missouri) highlight this team.  USA Division We have three teams having clinched their spots among the 48 scheduled to battle it out for a national title. The first to capture their bid was 417 Juniors at the Winter Championships. They finished 8th at HOA Power League. They continue to display many offensive weapons in the play of Maddy Bushnell Maddy Bushnell 6'3" | MB Willard | 2021 State MO (Missouri St.), Salma Lewis Salma Lewis 5'8" | OH Carl Junction | 2021 State MO (Drury), and Jaycee Fixsen Jaycee Fixsen 5'11" | OH Nixa | 2022 State MO (Missouri St.), along with high-quality setting from Sydney Golden Sydney Golden 5'9" | S Nixa | 2022 State MO (Northern Iowa).  Dynasty 18 Black was the fourth-place finisher in Power League and ended with an overall record of 4-5. They grabbed their USA bid at the Northern Lights Qualifier after a runner-up performance. Libero Kayla Smocks Kayla Smocks 5'3" | DS/L St. Teresa's Academy | 2021 State MO (Ottawa) has been a bright spot defensively. Lauren Halverson (College of Holy Cross)  and Aleisha Jones (Leavenworth - Uncommitted)  provide a 1-2 punch for this team offensively. Jones is a high-flying pin who hits a heavy ball. She has a high ceiling and can be an immediate scoring threat for the right small program.  Mizuno Club North 18 IB walked away from Northern Lights with a bid also and completed power league in the 9th slot. Recent commit Helena Eubanks Helena Eubanks 5'11" | OH Staley | 2021 State MO (Virginia State) and Hannah Graves Hannah Graves 5'10" | MB Park Hill | 2021 State MO (Rockhurst) have been consistent the last two months. They have also been getting good play from a couple of uncommitted players. Aly Anderson Aly Anderson 5'9" | OH Platte County | 2021 State MO has proved she can wear many hats on the court over her career. She played six rotations as a pin on the high school scene. She sets and hits on this team. She can play defense. Teams looking to still fill a roster should definitely look into this All-State performer.  Katie Kasten (Smithville ) has caught our attention this winter. The athletic middle can score and affect a game defensively. She has good length and a high volleyball I.Q. She is a player who could possibly move to the right side to fulfill roster needs.  American Division One of the toughest divisions to earn a bid in is the American Division. On the qualifier level, only one team can walk away with this coveted bid, unlike the USA and Open which generally awards three. This division also typically has the most amount of teams accepted to participate in. After two days of pool play, a team has bracket play where it’s win and advance. It takes a special weekend to complete this feat. The other way to earn an American bid is through region play. Thus far, two teams have earned the right to compete in Columbus, with more to come. Topeka Saints 18-1 was the first team in the Missouri/Kansas regions to complete this difficult task, winning the Northern Lights Qualifier going 7-2. In Power League action, they finished 10th and 6-3. Their 10th place finish shows 7 of the top 10 teams in the Power League standings have earned their bids to date, with Shockwave (5th), KC Power (6th), and Invasion (7th) the final three teams on the brink. Dejah Miller Dejah Miller 5'8" | OH Hayden | 2021 State KS (Johnson County CC), a talented pin has shown her ability to rise over the defenders to score points. Alyssa Dinkel (Hayden - Uncommitted)  has been a bright spot along the back row. Her defensive skills and passing have been clutch in helping her team stay in system. She is an uncommitted player who can no doubt help a team defensively or as a serving specialist.  The other team to capture a bid is Rockwood Thunder 18 Navy. They were close to upgrading that bid recently in Atlanta and will continue to make that their goal moving forward. They finished runner-ups in the region’s bid event to get the American bid. We shared recently in our uncommitted Rockwood article the play of Maureen Matthews in the middle. She has elevated her play this winter and will be a great late find for a small program. Alexis Basler Alexis Basler 5'4" | DS/L Lafayette (Wildwood) | 2021 State MO (Drury) and Chloe Kaimann Chloe Kaimann 5'7" | DS/L Winfield | 2021 State MO (Quincy) have continued to showcase their defensive prowess behind the blockers.