SEATTLE, WA - Mar. 30, 2007

PNQ Weekend #1
Three teams were in action last weekend in Spokane seeking a bid to the 2007 Junior Olympic Championships for USA Volleyball in Minneapolis. All three teams competed in the Open Division which is the highest division offered. There will be only 28 teams from the entire country in the open division in Minneapolis and the only way to qualify is through an open division qualifier. This year is the first year that the Spokane qualifier has offered the open division.

WVBA Mizuno 17 played in a 16-team field and started the tournament as the #4 seed overall. The 17s played very well at times, and at other times, not so much. They did however finish with a 2-1 match record on Friday to force a one game play off with Tacoma Ice for second place.

Despite their good play and the momentum from the last pool play match comeback against Blue Ice of Mukilteo, Mizuno 17 came up short in the playoff game to finish 3rd in their pool and drop into the bottom half. Their chance to secure a bid in Spokane was now over.

The Academy 17s did play well enough to finish 2-1 once again on Saturday, only to fall to 3rd place again in a 3-way tiebreaker for 1st. This time the tiebreaker was settled by set record and point percentage.

This left Mizuno 17 in the bottom bracket for Sunday where they went 2-0 to finish 13th overall. They finished the tournament with only two match losses but still finished 13th.

Mizuno 17 will get another shot at a club division JO bid on April 7th at the Prime Time event at Bellevue Community College and their final shot at an open division bid at the Far Western JO qualifier in Reno the last weekend of April.

WVBA Mizuno 16 played in a 20-team field and started the tournament as the #3 overall seed. The Academy 16s dropped their first match in 2 to Golden West of southern California. They took care of the next two teams to finish 2nd and move up into the top 12 for Saturday.

Saturday's pool featured Puget Sound 16 Gold and KJ 16 Baden as well as Capital City from Carson City, NV (from their day 1 pool). Mizuno 16 came out firing on all cylinders to roll over Puget Sound 2-0 in the opening match. KJ upset the Academy 16s in 3 with some great serving and unbelievable defense. Mizuno 16 took care of a feisty Capital City team to force a 25-point tiebreaking set with KJ. The set was close until 21-20 when WVBA pulled away winning four of the last five points. This moved the Academy 16s into the top six.

Saturday night was the first match of the gold pool against Sunshine Hot Shots from southern California. After a slow start, WVBA pulled to within 2, but failed to close the gap and dropped the first set. Set 2 had a different start with WVBA jumping all over the California team and building a 15-6 lead. A string of errors and a couple questionable ref calls allowed the Hot Shots back into the set at 17-15. Mizuno 16s handled the ball better for the rest of the set and finished with a 25-20 win.

The deciding set was a barn burner. The teams traded side out points to 7-7 when finally a short run gave WVBA the advantage it needed to win if only they could continue siding out. This worked up to 13-11 when the wheels came off and the Hot Shots scored the last four points to beat the Academy 15-13. This loss was very tough, as the win would have put them in a very strong position to win the pool and assure themselves of a 1st or 2nd place finish and a certain open division bid.

Sunday morning started with a rocky match against the #1 16s team in the northern California power league, Golden Bear 16-1. WVBA outlasted the Golden Bear to win in 3 and finish 2nd in the pool. This set up a showdown with Puget Sound 16 Gold for the 3rd place finish and only remaining bid. Puget Sound out served and out passed the Academy to win in 2. Congratulations to Puget Sound on their open bid to JOs. Mizuno 16 will have a shot at a club division bid on April 7 in Darrington and their final shot at an open bid in Reno at the end of April.

WVBA Mizuno 15 played in a 12-team field and started the tournament as the overall #7 seed.

Mizuno 15 had a rocky start on Friday which included a match against a very solid Sunshine Hot Shot team from southern California. Alas, their first day results dropped them out of bid contention for Saturday's play.

The Academy 15s played well for the rest of the tournament and finished on a high note by beating Spokane Splash in the finals of their extended silver bracket to finish 9th overall.

Mizuno 15 will have an opportunity to win a club division bid on April 7th at Washington High School in Tacoma. Their last chance to win an open bid will come the last weekend of April in Reno at the Far Western JO Qualifier.

PNQ Weekend #2
All matches during weekend 2 in Spokane are being played on the campus of Eastern Washington University in Cheney. The previous weekend had all of the open division competition held at the new convention center in downtown Spokane and connected to our hotel! Next year they assure us that both weekends will have access to the new convention center.

WVBA Mizuno 18, along with WVBA Mizuno 18-Red, WVBA Mizuno 14, and WVBA Mizuno 13 will all be in action this weekend in Spokane.

All results will be posted within a short time after play finishes on a regular basis over the weekend here.

Mizuno 18 will begin play Friday night in the PM wave. They came into the tournament as the #2 seed in Pool 3 and the overall #6 seed out of 16. They share the pool with #1 seed Delta Valley 18 Blue (Stockton, CA), #3 seed Ohana 18s (Olympia, CA) and #4 seed TOCA (Utah). There will be three open bids available in the 18 open division.

Mizuno 18-Red began play Friday morning in the AM wave. They came into the tournament as the #3 team in pool 5 and the #17 seed overall in a field of 35 teams. They are playing in the 18 Club division. There is one club National division bid available in the 18 Club division.

18-Red shares a pool with #1 seed NVWVBC 18 Gold (Wenatchee, WA), #2 Narrows Purple 18-1 (Gig Harbor, WA) and #4 Spokane Sky Airborne (Spokane, WA). The Academy 18-Red team went 0-3 in their first pool and will be dropping into the bottom half for Saturday pool play.

Mizuno 14 began play Friday morning in the AM wave. They came into the tournament as the #3 seed in Pool 2 and the #10 seed overall out of 16. They share a pool with #1 seed Puget Sound 14 Gold (Fife, WA), #2 seed Tacoma Pink Panthers (Tacoma, WA) and #4 seed Mavericks 14 Black from southern California.

Their first pool resulted in a 3-way tie for 1st with #1 seed Puget Sound and mis-seeded #4 Mavericks. Mavericks ended up in 1st place and WVBA moved up to 2nd place while Puget Sound dropped into the bottom half by finishing 3rd. Good luck Saturday!

Mizuno 13 begin play on Saturday morning and continue until Monday morning. They come into the tournament with the #1 seed in pool 3 and the #3 seed overall out of a field of 19 teams. There is one Club National bid available in the 13 Club division. There is not a 13 Open division offered at JOs in 2007.

Our youngest Academy team shares a pool with #2 Hang 10 13-1 (northern, CA), Spokane Splash 13-1 (Spokane, WA) and Sudden Impact 13 Monsoon (Redmond, WA).

Good luck to everyone in Spokane this weekend and please follow along back here at home and cheer your teams on through the Internet!