Previewing 16 Open Gold Bracket at USAV Nationals
July 4th marks the final day of the 2022 club season. Champions will be crowned in 16s and 17s. Let’s make it a holiday to remember. Round 2 action in 16 Open had its share of memorable moments, too. I’ve…
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Continue ReadingJuly 4th marks the final day of the 2022 club season. Champions will be crowned in 16s and 17s. Let’s make it a holiday to remember.
Round 2 action in 16 Open had its share of memorable moments, too. I’ve been lucky enough to cover this talented division throughout the weekend, and we’ve now pared the field down to eight teams in the final Gold bracket.
So, as we’ve done since the start of the weekend, let’s preview the matches to come tomorrow and look back at how these teams put themselves in championship contention.
(1) A5 Mizuno 16-Gabe
vs.
(8) Colorado Juniors 16-Sherri
These teams have taken some interesting paths to fill out the top of our 16 Open championship bracket.
A5 Mizuno 16-Gabe came out of the gates quickly in Indianapolis and was surely one of the event’s most intimidating teams in the opening round. When Sunday arrived, 16-Gabe scored a quick win against Capitanas before falling in three sets to a surging MADFROG squad.
That loss in Round 2 put A5 in second place in its three-team pool. Clearly, this is a second-place team that no first-team would ever want to see in the challenge round. To make the Round of 16 even more stunning, it was TAV 16 Black that ended up with that scary A5 pairing. A5 and TAV went from winning the opening round of pool play to facing off for a right to be in the championship bracket. Sometimes it just goes that way.
A5 pounced on the opportunity and took a commanding two-set win to claim the bracket’s #1 seed.
A5 is moving on!
In front of a big audience, @a5volleyball 16-Gabe locks in a trip to bracket play with a win over TAV. #GJNC pic.twitter.com/WLw5gmRI0I
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) July 3, 2022
Colorado Juniors has been steady throughout the weekend, quickly bouncing back from losses to stay in contention. That was especially important on Sunday when 16-Sherri dropped an early-morning matchup to 1st Alliance. With that match going to three sets, though, Colorado Juniors would be in good shape if it bounced back with a sweep victory. The team did just that against MKE Sting to move on.
A challenge battle then ensued between Colorado Juniors and Vision. We’ll mention a lot of three-set challenge matches in this feature, and this was one of them. 16-Sherri pulled away in the end and earned every bit of its bid to the bracket.
A late rally in set two lifts Colorado Juniors 16-Sherri past MKE Sting.
Margin for error is so small right now. #GJNC pic.twitter.com/jgHBrvaZTD
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) July 3, 2022
(5) Dynasty 16 Black
vs.
(4) NKYVC 16-1 Tsunami
This contest is good enough to be a championship match. In fact, it was the championship match at one of the season’s biggest events–Triple Crown NIT in mid-February.
NKYVC may carry the #4 seed in this bracket based on original seedings and pool designations, but this squad has made a compelling argument for being the best 16 Open team in Indy. Being undefeated heading into GJNC’s final day is a good way to stake that claim, and 16-1 Tsunami is the final team left unscathed in this division. Wins over Top Select and KC Power in Round 2 pools were followed by a triumph over Club V in challengers to reach the Monday gauntlet.
Still perfect!@NKYVC 16-1 Tsunami sweeps through its Sunday pool and builds on an undefeated weekend.
Nice designed first-ball play to MB Julia Hunt on the left. #GJNC pic.twitter.com/hyj4hEqddq
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) July 3, 2022
Meanwhile, Dynasty 16 Black has quietly been rounding back into its own championship form. After suffering a couple of tough losses in the opening round, 16 Black responded by not dropping a single set in Sunday’s second round. This was particularly impressive given the Round 2 draw that 16 Black was given. Metro and OTVA were Dynasty’s pool partners, with each of these teams carrying #1 seeds in initial pools. Even still, 16 Black took care of business in a big way.
After such spectacular displays from both teams this weekend, it’s a shame that one squad’s bracket journey has to end in the Round of 8.
It wasn’t an easy road, but @dynastyvbc 16 Black is in the championship hunt tomorrow!
…after a sick dig kill from Reese Messer 😅 #GJNC pic.twitter.com/vD5ccexGoq
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) July 3, 2022
(3) Top Select 16 Elite Blue
vs.
(6) Premier Nebraska 16 Gold
Here are two squads that kept defying the odds en route to a championship bracket appearance.
Top Select 16 Elite Blue’s journey to the championship bracket is mind-boggling, so I want to address it here. It all started in the opening round of pools, where Top Select finished with a 2-3 overall record. If you’ve been following our 16 Open coverage this weekend, that 2-3 record came in the Pool 6 “mixing bowl.” Top Select was tied with fellow 2-3 teams Alamo and Mizuno Long Beach, and only the top team in this trio could advance to the next round. It just so happened that Top Select’s two opening-round wins were against Alamo and Mizuno Long Beach, so the head-to-head tiebreaker kicked in to send 16 Elite Blue into the next round.
Sunday was about as intense for Top Select, as the Florida team scored a 20-18 win in the third set of a must-win match with KC Power to advance to challengers. To top it all off, 16 Elite Blue punched its ticket to bracket play with a 16-14 win in a three-set thriller against WAVE, the event’s third-overall seed entering the tournament.
What a match!@TopSelectVolley 16 Elite Blue takes an intense battle in the third set to advance in tomorrow’s championship bracket! #GJNC pic.twitter.com/vnx6DGJNiZ
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) July 3, 2022
Phew. That’s a lot, but it seriously blows my mind. I’m interested to see if Top Select can keep up that momentum against Premier Nebraska 16 Gold, another team that has broken out near the end of the season. Perhaps Premier’s most impressive moment of the tournament came on Sunday, going from 0-to-100 in Round 2 pools. After dropping a three-set battle to Gainesville Jrs, 16 Gold came right back and swept Triangle in the pool’s final match. This instantly propelled Premier from last to first in the pool with three set wins over two from its other competitors. Finally, a challenger win against OTVA kept the championship dream alive for this incredibly resilient bunch.
Celebrate, @Premier16_G!
Bracket play awaits. What a resilient team. #GJNC pic.twitter.com/aI29pAt3Wd
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) July 3, 2022
(7) 1st Alliance 16 Gold
vs.
(2) MADFROG 16’s N Green
Standout performances came at just the right time for both of these teams.
1st Alliance 16 Gold has been stout since the event began, earning a 4-1 record in the opening round. The team was then part of a nail-biting Round 2 in which each team scored a win to force a triple tiebreaker. Despite falling in three to MKE Sting to end the round, the set victory in that match was enough to give 1st Alliance the set-win percentage advantage over Sting to move on to a challenge match. 16 Gold completed the trifecta with a third three-set Sunday match, where a victory over Seal Beach locked in the team’s bracket spot.
How about another third set?
Grace Nelson crushes set point to send @1stAllianceVBC into a third with Sting! #GJNC pic.twitter.com/o258uOlZfl
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) July 3, 2022
Look out, though, because MADFROG 16’s N Green has seemingly saved its best volleyball for the very end. The best evidence of this is probably MADFROG’s three-set win over A5 in Round 2 pools. This was preceded by another tiebreaker slugfest with Capitanas, so 16’s N Green certainly joins 1st Alliance in the distinction of playing a lot of extra volleyball on Sunday.
In the challenge round, MADFROG took care of business against close neighbor AJV to reach the Monday bracket. After seeing the positive momentum from this group lately, it might be best not to mess with Texas.
Fittingly, we have another Texas versus Texas match on Court 23 today. @PrepDigTX @AustinJuniors and @MADFROGVBALL facing off for a spot in the championship bracket. #GJNC pic.twitter.com/7GZPAGMYds
— Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) July 3, 2022