Tawa’s Club Volleyball Dots: Column this week comes with a Qualifier

This is “Dots,” VolleyballMag’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.

• Last week was the busiest by far of the qualifier season, with events in Chicago, Spokane, Las Vegas and Atlanta.

Let’s start in Chi-Town and the 17 Open division, won by home towners 1st Alliance 17 Gold with a 10-0 record.

“This accomplishment was truly a team win, with 17 Gold passing a 2.41 and attacking at a hitting efficiency of .343 as a team,” said coach Danielle Mikos.

A familiar quartet led the team on the weekend: OH Abby Vander Wal had 102 kills over 25 sets. Addy Horner contributed in several categories, with 62 kills, 57 assists, 13 kills and a team-high 21 blocks. Aniya Warren accumulated 92 digs and, passing half the court, received serve at a 2.5 clip. And setter Hannah Kenny, the “heartbeat of the team,” took over in big matches and had 175 assists, nine blocks, 10 aces, 43 digs and passed a 2.6.

After being taken to three sets in five of its first nine matches, 1st Alliance swept previously-qualified Circle City 17 Purple in the final, winning 25-6, 25-20.

“The championship match against Circle City was one of the best I have coached in a while,” Mikos said. “In set 2, both teams were aggressive but also low error. Rallies lasted for what seemed like minutes. After each team alternating scoring, you could look at both sides and see the girls trying to regain their energy to compete for the next rally. We really battled and made each other earn our points.”

This marked the third straight year that a 1st Alliance 17 Gold team won Windy City.

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MAVS KC 17-1 and Nebraska ONE 17 Synergy tied for third to take home the other two 17 Open bids.

Logan Parks and Maddie Mitchell made the All-Tournament Team for MAVS

“Both were both integral to giving our offense key opportunities to score,” said coach Kelley Kelley. “Maegan Mills also helped us close out Day 3 in several key moments from the pin.”

Nebraska ONE was one of the five teams to take a set off of 1st Alliance. That set win was crucial, because it allowed the team to advance to the Gold pools.In…