Tawa’s Club Volleyball Dots: Champions come from Northeast Alabama and all over

This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag.com’s weekly look at 10 things in club volleyball, past or present, that interest me and hopefully will interest you. Look for Dots every Tuesday through Junior Nationals this summer:

• This was such a busy volleyball weekend, with national qualifiers in Salt Lake City, Philly and Dallas, and the JVA World Challenge in Kentucky. We have it covered, provided that coaches responded to our requests for information. I sure hope they did!

We start today with the current top five teams nationally in the four age groups we cover. Hopefully, soon, you’ll be able to see the top 25s I’ve been doing since February but for now the top five will have to do. I am in the midst of a deep forensic analysis of my weekly rankings to make the list as accurate as possible. I have completed the 15s and 16s, with the top five as follows:

15s
1. Dallas Skyline 15 Royal (TX)
2. TAV 15 Black (TX)
3. Mintonette m. 51 (OH)
4. Legacy 15-1 Adidas (MI)
5. Boiler Juniors 151E Gold (IN)

16s
1. 1st Alliance 16 Gold (IL)
2. Surfside PV 16 Legends (CA)
3. Drive Nation 16 Red (TX)
4. AZ Storm Elite 16 Thunder (AZ)
5. A5 16-Gabe (GA)

Lots of changes to the 16s, with 1st Alliance,  16 Open winner at Lone Star on Sunday; overtaking yearlong No. 1 Surfside, which won the 16 Open title at NEQ this past weekend. The analysis in this age group also pushed down Houston Skyline 16 Royal a few spots and elevated Drive Nation, AZ Storm and A5 Gabe.

Here are the 17s and 18s, which have not yet undergone the same forensic rigor:

17s
1. NKYVC 17 Tsunami (KY)
2. Colorado Juniors 17 Kevin (CO)
3. Dynasty 17 Black (KS)
4. TAV 17 Black (TX)
5. A5 17-Jing (GA)

Note that Ping Cao’s team at Drive Nation is out of the top five for the first time this year after a shocking loss at Lone Star to CHAVC 17 Black, from the Carolina Region; and another loss to A5.