Tawa’s Girls Club Dots: Volleyball loses to gun violence in Illinois; volleyball wins in Florida, Minnesota

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.

• We open today’s Dots with tragic news.

The horrific mass slaying of seven family members in Joliet, Illinois on January 21 claimed a member of our volleyball family.

Alonnah Nance, a 16-year-old high schooler from Joliet West HS, was among the victims of the crime allegedly perpetrated by her older brother.

The killing spree also took the lives of Alonnah’s two sisters, a brother, her mother and aunt and uncle. The suspect, Romeo Nance, shot himself to death one day later after being confronted by police in Texas.

Alonnah was a member this season of the UNO Volleyball Club, a prominent club situated in Chicago’s West Suburbs.

“Alonnah was the epitome of perseverance,” UNO club director Terri Baranski told Phil Brozinski of IllPrepVB.com. “She was a phenomenal teammate and worked so hard for everything, not just in volleyball.”

UNO also released this statement on its Instagram account:

“Words cannot begin to express the pain and sorrow our Uno family is feeling after learning of the tragic passing of one of our own, Uno Girls 16 Elite player Alonnah Nance.

While it is impossible to comprehend how something like this could happen and painful to enter the gym knowing she won’t be there, not a day will go by where we won’t honor her, play for her, and find the love and joy in the game like she did. Alonnah’s passion, genuineness and spirit will live on and she will surely never be forgotten. We play for you #31 and miss you more than you could ever know.”

Rest in peace, Alonnah, but may your presence and spirit be felt by those who knew and loved you for all the years to come.

• There were two national qualifiers last weekend, one for 18s in Ft. Lauderdale and one for 15s, 17s and 18s in Minneapolis.

We start first with Florida Fest and the 18 Open division, which saw Triangle 18 Black, Madfrog 18’s National Green and Mintonette m.81 punch their Open tickets to Baltimore.

Triangle 18 Black found Florida to its liking in 18 Open

Triangle’s run to the title included a revenge win over Metro 18 Travel in Gold pool play, Gold play wins over two previously-qualified teams, Rockwood Thunder 18 Elite and OT 18 O Roberto, and a finals sweep of Madfrog.

“Florida Fest was an amazing opportunity for our team to compete for a bid and win a qualifier,” said Triangle coach Tonya Holmes. “Our motto for the weekend quickly became. ‘Keep going,’ in every situation. Being seeded fourth in our Gold pool on Championship Day only fueled our will to stay locked in.”

The team from North Carolina’s Research Triangle received outstanding play from setter Avery Scoggins. She pursued every ball with her hands and gave 18 Black a chance to stay competitive at the net. RS Ryan Hunter, a junior committed to Nebraska, was a difference maker on a pin. The team also got sparks on the offensive and defensive end from Ashlyn Philpot in the middle and both Asia Thigpen and Laynie Smith used their explosive arms to threaten the defense.

“It was truly a team win, pushing through and trusting one another to simply keep the ball off the ground on defense and make the smart play in the big moment!” Holmes said. “I’m so proud of these girls really pressing the issue all weekend and grinding their way to a first- place finish.”

• Madfrog was undefeated before the championship match but showed great resilience by winning four of its final five matches before the final in three sets.

The weekend before, at Lone Star, Nicky Bramschreiber’s squad found itself on the wrong end of a Day 2, three-way 2-1 tie.

“Madfrog 18 National Green earned the bid to Nationals because they did not want a repeat of the weekend before at Lone Star,” Bramschreiber said.  “The team was very motivated to leave with the bid.  I think we improved our serve receive game and involved our middles more offensively, which allowed for more one-on-one situations for the pins.  I also think we applied more pressure in our serving game and with out-of-system play.  We did not take enough risks and played it safe at Lone Star, while this weekend the girls were taking bigger swings and trusting their teammates.  Great team performance, super proud of their composure.”

Mintonette snagged the third and final bid by being on the right end of a three-way 1-2 tie for second in one of Sunday’s Gold pools. The Ohio squad began its run in Ft. Lauderdale with seven straight sweeps, then lost consecutive Gold pool matches to OT 18 T Tony and the Frogs. But because of Mintonette’s dominating sweep of Tribe 18 Cardinal and extending OT and Madfrog to three in their losses, m.81 was able to come out of Gold Pool 1 second. The third-place match for the final bid was unnecessary because Rockwood already had a bid and the bid would have trickled to Mintonette even in the event of a loss.

Mintonette did not comment on its achievement in Florida before we posted.

• Other qualifiers at Florida Fest included A5 18-1 Boba, TVA 18 Smack Katie and Rockwood Thunder 18 Navy in the 18 USA division, MAVS 18-2 and Gainesville Juniors 18 Bailey in the 18 Liberty division and Ocala Power United 17/18 Adidas in the 18 American division.

OPU, led by our old friend, Jeff Reavis, was unbeaten heading into the 18 American final, but had to regroup after dropping its first set of the tournament to Downstate 18 Black in the championship match. Ocala rallied to dominate the next two sets to capture the division’s lone bid.

“We have a team with very good ball control and defense and won the serve and pass battle a lot,” Reavis noted. “We are on the small side but very fast and athletic.  We have great competitors who know how to win.  It was fun to watch them compete and play at a high level consistently.”

• In Minneapolis, Northern Lights held a national qualifier last weekend for 17s and 18s, as it has the last weekend in January for a few years now. But it also conducted, for the first time, a January qualifier in the 15s divisions. This, even though the tournament they were qualifying for remained more than five months away.

In the 20-team 15 Open division, two qualified: Nebraska Elite 151 and Houston Skyline 15 Royal. Both lost twice over the three-day tournament, but did enough to reach the championship match and earn bids.

“I was proud to see how resilient our team was,” said Nebraska Elite coach Dr. Andrew Wehrli. “We started slow in multiple matches but fought back and finished matches against some great teams!”

Standouts for the victors included OH Kayla Brown, setter Kherington Snider and OH Nora Herian. Herian, who stands 6-1, had 83 kills in the tournament is a future big-time recruit.

Houston Skyline started off 5-0, then won tough Gold Pool matches on Sunday against KC Power 15-1 and Peak 15 Black Bryar, from Fort Worth; to reach the championship match.

“15 Royal came ready to go and took care of business both Day 1 and Day 2, with solid contributions from pretty much everyone on the team,” said coach Amy Burk. “We sided out at a high level, applied pressure from the service line, and attacked aggressively.”

The team played its best during Sunday’s Gold pools, led by setter Tinsley Welker distributing the ball extremely well, lefty RS Aspen Brown attacking with great efficiency, OH Jordan Morrow showing off her heavy arm and middles Arayah Watson, Jacey Carroll and Gracie Hobin getting involved in transition. Skyline also had very solid defensive play from Pearson Noone and Caylee Young.

“Overall, I’m extremely proud of the efforts and changes our team made at a high level this early in the year,” Burk said. “We are definitely a team to watch and will only go up from here, especially with a bid in our back pocket!”

Note: PVA 15 Elite split matches with Nebraska Elite and defeated Houston Skyline, but it lost two other times, including to Kairos 15 Alpha on Day 3 to knock itself from bid position.

• In the club divisions, Premier Nebraska 15 Black, OK Charge 15 UA and Arete Navy 15 Telos captured bids in 15 USA, Iowa Power Plex 15U Henkleman and MAVS KC 15-1 took home bids in 15 Liberty and MN North 15-1 Navy snagged the lone 15 American bid. Kairos 15 Gamma went undefeated to win the division, but declined the bid because the club did not want to be playing in mid-July. It will attend AAU Nationals instead.

Premier Nebraska 15 Black won 15 USA. Is basket weaving next?

Premier Nebraska dropped one match on each of the first two days in 15 USA, but went 3-0 when it mattered most to take home the trophy.

“I wish I could pinpoint what we did well, but it was truly everything,” said coach Josh Adams, who coached a qualifier winner for the first time. “Each game had different line ups to go face to face with teams who showed different strengths. The girls bought into our game plans, and proved they can each show up when called upon. All 11 athletes played in every game, contributed in different ways to took what was theirs.”

“Our motto all weekend was ‘our game, our bid.’” Adams added. “After we secured the bid, we decided… ‘our game our gold ball’ had a cute ring to it.
We saw a lot of great competition over the weekend, even lost 2 games, but what got us to the podium with gold medals around our necks was that we were the most balanced and disciplined team on that court.”

In the finals, OK Charge had two big hitters that Adams called, “frankly unstoppable.”

“They showed off in the warm up crushing 10 foot line after 10 foot line, literally putting dents into the floor,” Adams explained. “We huddled up, regrouped, and I explained to them, win or lose, we are here for each other, with each other. That yes they may be bigger, yes they may hit harder, and yes they may shock us with some explosive kills, but the team that’s going to win this, is the team that stays together. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly. The team that puts their heart on the line, and plays for the group around them, is the team that will prevail.”

Premier Nebraska won because it served tough to get Charge out of system and stayed in system itself and was able to take advantage of its attacking prowess from all points on the court.

“In big moments, good teams have big players step up,” Adams said. “But here with Premier 15 Black, we had the biggest TEAM step up.”

• As this was Premier Nebraska’s first travel tourney, the team tried to get to know its coach better by asking him what he did for fun outside of coaching. He told them “underwater basket weaving,” that famous college course all the jocks took in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

“Most of them believed me,” Adams said. “I’m pretty convincing. I told them if we met at the pool I’d show them. Well none of them showed up as we were all busy, so a mom ran to Target and picked me up a basket. I brought it the next day to show off my amazing talent. Filled with goodies and snacks, they still think my secret talent is weaving baskets under water!”

Houston Skyline 17 Royal got ‘er done in 17 Open in Minneapolis

• Houston Skyline 17 Royal led the way in the 36-team 17 Open division, with ID Crush 17 Bower and Milwaukee Sting 17 Gold also earning Open bids.

Skyline lost to Sting on Day 2, but rallied from behind to win the rematch in the semifinals, then outpointed Crush, 25-19, 25-19, for the title.

Houston Skyline came to Northern Lights aiming to master the first contact, both passing and from the service line; and to be a strong defensive team, combining getting touches at the net and good defense to extend rallies and give setter Kassie O’Brien options time and again.

The Day 2 loss to Sting motivated Skyline, coach Alex Edwards said, because it knew the tough road that lay ahead.

Houston Skyline started off Sunday with a close sweep of the overall top seed, 1st Alliance 17 Gold. After defeating Club V 17 Ren Reed to clinch a spot in the semifinals, Houston Skyline secured its bid by taking out Sting in a “redemption match.”

“Those two matches [Alliance and Sting] pushed us to that next level of play, resulting in us being in system and dominate offensively against a physical Idaho Crush team,” Edwards said.

O’Brien, a Kentucky recruit, controlled the offense from start to finish for the victors. She led a dynamic offense that saw OH Bailey Warren and middles Bayleigh Minor and MacKenzie Collins flourish. Rebekah Pfefferkorn  and Ella Lewis were great complementary players on the offensive end, while libero Morgan Madison did a nice job patrolling the back row.

“Reflecting on the whole weekend, Houston Skyline 17 Royal progressively continued to improve in the details and aspects we have been focusing on in the gym,” Edwards explained. “The team has always impressed me with their work ethic and desire to win, but I was most impressed with our execution of our game plan on Day 3.”

Milwaukee Sting was seeded 10th starting the tournament and finished in bid position, making for a fun weekend for Coach Alex Wagner and her team, which gave a maximum group effort.

Tough yet consistent serving, a disciplined block and scrappy defenders contributed mightily to the cause.

“We have three outstanding liberos, Olivia Durst (MSU commit), Kati Berezowitz (Vanderbilt commit), and Natalie Powers (who someone needs to pick up quickly),” Wagner said. “I have them all in as long as my substitutions allow. Balls were not hitting the floor whether they were big swings or cagey shots. They stole points from hitters and allowed our hitters more opportunities to score.”

OH Madison Quest, one of the elite players in the 2025 class, benefited by the back row by pounding in-system sets as well as manufactured kills front row and back.

Jacksonville Skyline 17 Royal liked what it saw in 17 USA at Northern Lights

ID Crush did not comment on its achievement in Minnesota before we posted. Other 17s qualifiers included Jacksonville Skyline 17 Royal, Iowa Power Plex 17U Mendieta and PVA 17 Elite in 17 USA, Puget Sound 17 Legacy and Colorado Springs Altitude 17 Navy in 17 Liberty and Northern Lights 17-R in 17 American.

KC Power 18 Black won its second Open qualifier in as many starts

• The 17-team 18 Open field featured previously-qualified teams KC Power 181 and Premier Nebraska 18 Gold. Power, winners at the KC MLK qualifier, won again, despite losing one match on each of the first two days.

“This qualifier was harder for a couple of reasons,” said Power head coach Dave Johnson. “We were a player short this weekend, with Rachel Van Gorp at home sick. We had to shuffle our line up a little bit, which is scary sometimes.  These ladies handled it wonderfully. Janelle Green and Mya Bolton were on point with ball control and distribution, We moved Jillian Huckabey (FIU) to the left this tournament and she was extremely terminal all weekend.  Zoe McDonald (Butler) spent most of the weekend as well as Tatum Tindle (Kansas State) on the right.  Alea Goolsby (Iowa State ‘25) continues to master her craft as an elite 6-rotation hitter.  Our middles, Cy Rae Campbell and Julia Headley did a great job transitioning and getting involved, but they were really good at policing the net.  Felicia Wu (NYU) came up big behind the stripe for us numerous times throughout the weekend.

“These young ladies truly enjoy playing together which is very apparent when they take the floor together.  I am humbled by the passion and determination every practice. It has been one hell of a ride so far this season.”

Milwaukee Sting 18 Gold punched its Open ticket

A5 18-Marc and Milwaukee Sting 18 Gold qualified on Saturday by going 2-1 in their respective Day 2 pools to qualify for Sunday’s four-team Gold Pool with two already-qualified teams.

The ride was anything but easy for second-place finisher A5.

“It was basically a survive and advance mindset and battling in each match with five of our nine matches going to three sets,” said coach Marc Jones.

A5 18 Marc showed off big talent in qualifying at Northern Lights

A5 won its pool on Day 1, despite a three-way tie for first. The .09 percentage advantage in points proved the tiebreaker difference. KC Power, defeating VC Nebraska 18 Elite, 16-14, in a tiebreaking set to stay alive.

A5 was paced by setters Isa Boyd and Cooper Abney, OH Hannah Benjamin, libero Maddie Burrough and MB Courtney Graham.

Sting qualified third, getting strong play from 6-4 middle Olivia Wyma and 6-0 RS Sophia Wendick. Longtime 18 Gold head coach Scott Blackmon called Wendlick the best right side attacker and blocker he’s ever had and said that Wyma, compared to last year, “is just different this season.”

“She has worked really hard at simply being better,” Blackmon added.

The team as a whole lost only to KC Power before securing its bid.

“We are struggling with hitting that power button and leaving it on all day,” Blackmon said. “The kids stepped up this weekend when they needed to.”

The final Open bid went to MN Select 18-1. It was an unconventional run. Select, which narrowly missed qualifying in Kansas City, went 4-0 in its Day 1 pool, but only 1-2 on Day 2. The team needed a Silver Bracket run on Sunday to grab that final bid, of the trickle down variety, and got past VC United 181 Elite and FC Elite 18 Elite to get it done.

“We’re very proud of the gritty effort this team displayed all weekend,” said Select assistant coach Phong Luong. “Playing scrappy ball with a focus on defense has been a constant theme for us all season. When it mattered most, that’s what got us to the finish line. After losing the first set to FC Elite in the final match, the players didn’t back down or let the moment overwhelm them. They knew they needed to clamp down on defense and have better first ball contact, and that’s exactly what they did. It was a total team effort in the final two sets – and frankly all weekend.” 

Northern Lights 18-1 won 18 USA but declined the bid. Premier Nebraska 18 Black and TAV Houston 18 Adidas accepted their bids. Texas Tornados 18 Mizuno and PVA 18 Elite qualified in 18 Liberty. Cedar Rapids Surge U18 won the lone bid in 18 American.

Ignite checked itself but did not wreck itself and won a local tourney in Ohio

• Ignite 16s Red American, an Ohio team, rallied back to win Game 2, 33-31, to force a third set in the semifinals of a tournament at Elite Sports on January 21. This happened after that team overcame extreme conditions of condensation on the floors, making it slippery, and running out of subs, which required defenders to stay in and play all the way around. The team handily won the third set to make the finals and brought the same energy in winning the championship in its season opener.

The team got outstanding work from OH Lauren Handschumacher and MB Ali Forgach up front and libero Cheyenne Welsh  in the back row and behind the service line.

Of note: “Check Your Shoes” became the motto of the day because of the slippery conditions.

***

Colorado Juniors 17Kevin competed in the Top-Flight Division of the Rocky Mountain Region over the weekend. The division pits the top 16 teams in the region regardless of age. CJ won the title behind great play from MB Erika Sayer, RS Anna Blamires and S Chloe Elarton.

ColoJrs 17Kevin is the best in Colorado right now after prevailing in power league play

The post Tawa’s Girls Club Dots: Volleyball loses to gun violence in Illinois; volleyball wins in Florida, Minnesota appeared first on Volleyballmag.com.

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