Tawa’s Girls Club Dots: Fond MEQ memories; Bluegrass happenings

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.

• The Mideast Qualifier took place this past weekend in Indianapolis. I will always remember MEQ fondly, because it was the first national qualifier I ever attended after starting PrepVolleyball.com back in 2003.

Back in 2003, there were only eight national qualifiers that had Open divisions. Sunshine, Windy City, Salt Lake City Showdown and Show Me did not yet exist. The Pacific Northwest Qualifier in Spokane was for Club divisions only. Crossroads, which is no longer a qualifier, was in Kansas City, as the Colorado Convention Center in Denver underwent renovations. The Northeast Qualifier, now in Philly, was in Baltimore. Lone Star, now in Dallas, was in Austin. Far Westerns, now in Reno, was in Sacramento. The SCVA qualifier, now in Las Vegas and now known as “Red Rock Rave,” was in many locations across Southern California. The Tampa Bay Qualifier, now in Atlanta and now known as “Big South,” was in Tampa on the Gulf Coast.

Northern Lights was one of the last qualifiers every spring and has been in Minneapolis this whole time.

MEQ, one of the first qualifiers every spring, has always been in Indy, near the famous St. Elmo Steak House and its renowned shrimp cocktail, the convention center and other points easily accessible by a series of interconnected skywalks, the Big Ten basketball tournament inevitably taking hotel rooms and restaurant reservations from those of us there for volleyball…Those are my memories of my first MEQ qualifier, along with the outpost in the middle of the convention center where cheap hot dogs and chicken strips could be had, but be careful, because Krissy Brown, the 5-4 dynamo for Cleveland Volleyball Company; was launching salvos and your head was in play if not paying attention.

Good memories…

• Munciana Volleyball Club was a contender in those Open divisions at my first MEQ. So, too, was Circle City, the host club of the Mideast Qualifier. Those two were the first clubs organized in the nation’s heartland 40 or so years ago and, being located no more than an hour apart, were fierce/friendly rivals.

Without those two clubs, there would likely never have been PrepVolleyball.com, because those coaches were so entertaining with their swipes at each other that they built a following for volleyball at Student Sports, my first national sports gig. As more folks came to Student Sports to check out the “must read” message boards, they hung around long enough to read my volleyball articles. This led to my being recognized as an authority on girls volleyball and prompted the creation of PrepVolleyball.com with my good friend Kevin Laseau, who at the time was working in Indy and coach at Munciana. “So” is now the Associate Head Coach at Yale and still one of the funniest people I know.

• In 2007, Munciana stopped going to MEQ. Munciana, KiVA, Team Z and Sports Performance were key elite clubs that split from USA Volleyball to start the Junior Volleyball Director’s Association.

For 16 years, Munciana did not attend any national qualifiers, nor compete at Junior Nationals. It was still a dominant club, trading AAU National titles in 18 Open with Sports Performance over the years, but it wasn’t part of the USAV qualifier drama or the history of the Junior National championships over that time frame.

In 2024, Munciana returned to MEQ for the first time since 2007.

“I truly believe that when we first stopped playing in USAV events it was more about us not having the autonomy to host/run events in our region,” said Munciana 18 Samurai head coach and club director Mike Lingenfelter. “Even though that changed, we had become so locked into our ‘new’ schedule that we stayed status quo. This past year, I finally opened my eyes and noted that it’s a GREAT event (MEQ), with great competition and allows the majority of my families to sleep in their own beds. Bottom line…I’m a creature of habit and didn’t make the obvious change.”

• I think you could call Samurai’s return to the spotlight at MEQ a successful one. Lingenfelter’s team went 10-0, dropping just three sets, on its way to winning the 40-team 18 Open division. Muncie’s last five wins came over WAVE, FC Elite, Academy, 1st Alliance and Milwaukee Sting, a most impressive run to a title!

“It was a fantastic event with a veritable plethora of competitive teams,” Lingenfelter observed. “Our matches with Wave and 1st Alliance were tremendous growth events…both of those teams were incredible.”

Munciana needed three sets to defeat Sting for the championship. It was a great showing for both teams.

Sting came to Indy battling emotions, as one player was dealing with a significant loss coming into the weekend. Then, on Saturday, the squad received news that one of its players may have torn her quad at a track meet. On Sunday at match point of the semifinals, a Sting OH, Melia Johnson, went down.

“Melia was having a phenomenal tournament,” said coach Scott Blackmon (who by the way was an early, major contributor to the message boards at Student Sports and Prep). “The kid is passing nearly lights out right now and her defense has picked up a magnitude. Her offense was in a great rhythm all weekend until she went down.

“In the finals it would have been easy for the kids to pack it in. It was an emotionally draining weekend for everyone and they just kept fighting through it. We lost in 3 to Muncie, who always grinds you down but I couldn’t be happier with how the kids responded to everything this weekend.”

The extent of Johnson’s injury is unknown. She hit .328 on the weekend with 91 kills while passing a 2.2.

“She has come so far for her teammates,” Blackmon stressed.

“Our final with an outstanding Sting team was fun,” Lingenfelter said. “I hated the fact that they were down due to an earlier injury.”

Key players all weekend for Samurai included setter Macy Hinshaw (Santa Clara), who was “insanely steady.”

Lingenfelter also recognized MB Tiff Snook (Memphis) for having a breakout event and said that outsides Addy Tindall (Purdue) and Lindsey Mangelson (Mississippi St) started to truly show that they “can and will be game changers.”

• Team Pineapple, coach by former USA national-team setter Lloy Ball, also qualified by tying for third. Pineapple won last week’s 18 Open division at Bluegrass in Louisville.

Bluegrass used to be called the “Bluegrass Pre-Qualifier,” because it was used as a warmup for qualifier season before the host club, KiVA, became part of that original breakaway group.

The third bid went to Tri-State Elite, a club formed with many of the coaches and four former players from Team Z, another one of the breakaway clubs. Tri-State Elite 18 Blue, with Maria Drapp at setter, was one of the surprise standout clubs at Triple Crown in February. The team, coached by Matt Long, showed that it remains formidable by destroying FC Elite for the final bid.

Tri-State hit .363 as a team for the weekend and won by wider margins than any team in 18 Open. That’s a credit to Drapp, Long said. The Bradley signee set perfectly from anywhere and everywhere on the court.

Credit also goes to defenders Lexi Woolf, Dakota Henry and Kelsey Nielsen.

“They seemed to be one in the back row and didn’t let much hit the ground,” Long said. “Our team’s passing and serving was at its best this weekend, and with that we had some pretty fluid offense.”

On the pins, Addy Brus and Faith Young were efficient on the left and Sophia Adkins hammered balls from the right. The block from middles Anna Guard and uncommitted Molly Dorger was “absolutely formidable,” Long added.

• In the fully-subscribed 17 Open division, the top three finishers all qualified, OT 17 T Aaron, Coast 17 Rodrigo and Circle City 17 Purple.

All three qualified teams needed to overcome adversity to punch their tickets.

OT lost its opening Gold pool match to WAVE 17 Juliana and could have been eliminated had Wave won its next match over Legacy 17-1 Adidas. Legacy won, 15-13 in the third, to give the Orlando squad new life and it took advantage by rolling over Legacy to clinch first in its pool by set percentage tiebreaker.

Coast lost to CUVC 17 Open on Day 1 in straight sets and lost again on Day 2 to fall into a three-way tie for first (it came out first), but went 2-0 in its Gold pool to reach the semifinals.

Circle City’s run to the Gold bracket semis went through tough Michigan Elite and Triple Crown winner Milwaukee Sting 17 Gold.

In the semis, OT won two close sets from Circle and Coast swept the rematch from CUVC, clinching bids for both clubs.

OT then authored another sweep to claim the championship.

“We try to go to MEQ each year because of the level of competition and that was no different this year,” said OT head coach Aaron Harrison. “We came into the weekend focused on finding our rhythm faster. We run a quicker offense because we are never the biggest team on the court.”

OT’s three-set win over AVC Cleveland on Day 2 helped get the team ready to compete on the final day, Harrison ventured. But the team wasn’t ready for WAVE, which had a couple of new additions and was hungry to avenge a loss at Triple Crown.

After Legacy did OT a solid by beating WAVE to keep its hopes alive, “the girls had a ton of energy and excitement knowing we still had a chance to win the pool if we won in 2, which we did,” Harrison said.

OT’s semifinal sweep of Circle City required a comeback from down 17-7 in the first.

“The finals match versus Coast was very similar to the Circle City semis,” said Harrison. “They got up on us early and kept the lead until we got the serve at 20-24 and Lily Hayes went on another serving run for us and got it to 25-25, and we got the win 27-25.

We got after it in the final set, riding a lot of momentum from the comeback win in the first, to win 25-19.”

“Overall, the team played hard all weekend,” Harrison added. “Like I mentioned earlier, MEQ is always one of the toughest qualifiers each year and we had to go through some really good teams to win it. We talk every practice about being disciplined and the teams that can stay disciplined the longest will win at this level. Ten matches at this level is a lot for any athlete, both physically and mentally.”

Every player on OT had moments that really impacted its success this weekend. Six-rotation outsides Hannah Hankerson and Maggie Dostic were huge for the team all weekend and came up clutch both at the net and in the back row. Setter Izzy Mogridge and Hayes, the libero, set the tone for every match.

“Lily’s relentless pursuit of the ball defensively gives us so many extra touches, and Izzy’s athleticism as a setter allows us to look in system even when we don’t get a perfect pass,” Harrison said.

• After Triple Crown in February, Coast head coach Rodrigo Suelotto challenged his team to get 1% to 3% better at every practice leading up to the loaded field at MEQ. After a month of practice, they agreed that they were 13% better.

The team started off hot on Day 1, with a 10-point service run from Joey Salas to start its first match. Coming in seeded 14th, Coast, seeded second in its pool, held seed on that first day, getting great play from freaky MB Ariel Chime and OH Juliet D’Eliseo.

Day 2 started off with Coast playing KiVA 17 Red, the No. 2 overall seed. Coast swept behind exceptional play from its rock, OH Ava Poinsett, a Yale commit destined to do great things in the Ivy League (and for Coach “So”). In its second match versus local rival WAVE, terrific setting from Ava Zamora and exceptional work off the bench from OH Ryleigh Short fueled a Game 2 comeback win, 32-30, in another sweep that clinched first in its pool before the last match.

Coast won its Sunday pool by beating Academy Cleveland in three and Elevation in two. Savannah Simpson helped out with timely blocks.

The key match for the bid came versus CUVC and Coast was revenge minded and super motivated. The San Diego squad won the serve and pass battle and had great serving and defense from Milli Villarreal and a big back row swing from Poinsett to win in two.

***

Circle City’s bid came at the expense of CUVC, which had an exceptional showing.

The eighth seed starting the tournament, Circle City’s motto for the weekend was “dig or die.”

“Our goal was to try to get a touch on every ball regardless of the outcome and not let it hit the ground without someone making an effort for it,” said coach Chris Due. “I thought the girls took that to heart and it really showed.”

Circle City started the tournament strongly with a 3-0 (6-0) first day but fell victim to Dynasty 17 Black (Reese Messer; Abigail Mullen) to start Day 2 and needed to win out to advance.

The second-place finish put Circle into a tough pool with Sting and Michigan Elite, which made going 2-0 all the sweeter. MB Reese Dunkle, who broke a finger on Day 1, came up with a big block to clinch the sweep of Sting and send the host club to the final four.

With no qualified teams in the semifinals, each team needed one win to claim a bid. After losing to OT, Circle started down CUVC knowing that one team would leave the tournament disappointed.

The first set was back and forth, but Circle City ended up pulling away at the end with some scrappy plays from libero Avery Freeman and some big swings from outsides Logan Bell and Raegan Durbin.

Circle found itself down early in the second but grinded its way back to a slim lead before the serving of MB Ellen Zapp made it 24-16, putting Circle City on the cusp of the bid.

“We ended up winning the match on a big swing from Reese Dunkle,” Due said.

Setter Ava Hunter did a really good job putting her hitters in great positions all weekend. She averaged 11.1 assists per set and really stepped up with her blocking and defense as well.

“I was really pleased with how the team responded after the semifinal match,” Due observed. “We could have easily given up after that defeating loss and our kids were gassed going into the finals, but the girls dug deep and showed resilience to pull off the win to earn the bid.”

Due lauded his reserve players for bringing a ton of energy throughout the tournament.

“I would highlight individuals; however, I thought it was a total team effort,” Due added. “If everyone didn’t step up and do their part, then we would have never been in the position we were in. We were really proud of the girls on their performance and look forward to making more big improvements come nationals.”

• Mintonette m.61 won its second straight qualifier with an undefeated run through 16 Open. Coupled with its second-place finish at Triple Crown, Max Miller’s team has to be considered the favorite to win Junior Nationals in an absolutely loaded age division.

Mintonette’s path to the title was made easier when 1st Alliance 16 Gold lost its setter to injury on Day 2. Mintonette was able to go 2-0 in its Gold pool to reach the Final Four. They then took out A5 16 Gabe in the semis.

Miller called A5 “talented” “very athletic” and “probably the most improved team from where they were at the beginning of the season.”

“They had us two steps behind all of the first set,” Miller said. “We made adjustments to blocking and serving angles and found our stride in sets 2 and 3.”

The team started down Boiler Juniors in the championship match. The Boilers got there by taking down Triple Crown champion Legacy 16-1 Adidas in Gold pool play, then knocking off Madfrog 16’s National Green in the brackets semis.

Boiler Juniors won the first set of the final before m.61 grinded and competed its way to the title in three sets.

“Alia Schoonover came up with big blocks in both the semifinals and finals at key moments,” Miller observed. “That swung the momentum and outcome in our favor.”

• Because Mintonette had qualified previously, the three other semifinalists all clinched Open bids. We did not hear from the Boilers or the Frogs before our deadline, but we did hear from Gabe Aramian at A5 about his team.

“The team has really come together in tackling the experience issue on the team,” he said. “With several new players and coming off a difficult season last year, we put as strong of a schedule together as we could to allow them to adjust to the 16 Open jump and be confident in playing under the pressures within. As I said to the team in an email today, we have condensed years of training and experience into months, and the result was their dominant performance at Mideast.”

A5 got to Day 3 riding a win over Boiler Juniors that Aramian called “one of the best of the season.”

That match was wire to wire, with A5 down in each set until the 20-point mark before winning 25-23, 25-23.

The Day 3 highlight was avenging a loss at Triple Crown to Winter Park to win the Gold pool and clinch a bid.

Key performers for A5 were six-rotation OH and primary passer Clara Briley, libero Ruby McDermot, setters Olivia Siskin and Kalyssa Taggart, and right sides Simone Searles and Sofia Wilson.

• Fusion 18-1 Apex played in 18 USA at MEQ after previously qualifying in Liberty at the Windy City qualifier.

The team, after undergoing major lineup changes, finished third out of 62 to eanr its first-ever USA bid.

“The girls never lowered their expectations for how they should play with the new lineup,” said coach Henry Graack. “There were a lot of close matches, with five of the nine matches going to a third set, six sets going into extra points, and two more sets that ended 25-23.”

The highlight of the weekend saw Fusion rally from down 14-10 in the third set of a quarterfinal with TVC 18 Black to win, 20-18. That win clinched the USA bid.

Fusion lost another battle, in the semifinal, to Circle City 18 Black — the eventual champs — 16-14 in the third.

“It was a tough loss because it was such a good match, but I am really proud of how the girls dealt with the adversity of a new lineup, new roles, a higher division, and a lot of big comebacks by playing their best when it mattered the most,” Graack said.

***

JJVA 17 Teal went 6-2 this past weekend in the 17 USA division at MEQ.

This team has improved so much, said JJVA’s CJ Sherman.

After JJVA defeated Circle City 17 Black to stay in Gold, libero DD Banton’s little sister, Annie, ran out onto the court to celebrate with the team.

“The pure joy that this little one shares with her sister’s team is how the word ‘celebration’ is described,” Sherman said.