By Jamison Kruse
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It was the clash of the undefeated squads in Pool B! Both of these teams were coming into this one with two wins under their belt. Each of those four wins coming way of tie breakers, too! Michigan Elite would take down Dynasty and Excel with decisions going 17-15 and 15-6. For A5, they would go the distance to beat Legacy with a 20-18 third set before taking down Coast in a 15-11 decider. It was looking like this match would result in similar fashion. In a come from behind win, Michigan Elite would bring out the brooms for this win to put the cherry on top to a 3-0 day. Set 1 -- This match started off a little slow from both sides. Coming off of vigorous matches, there was some serve and pass woes to kick off the match. MIElite was particularly struggling to find a rhythm early and allowed A5 to grab a lead 4-7 early on. From her on out, A5 would have a comfortable lead ahead of Elite, leading as much as 14-20 late in the set. At this point, setter Abigail Li (SMU) was running a real efficient offense. Much of the time she was snagging her hitters, 1 on 1 opportunities at the net. However, it was at this point in the set that the tides began to change across the net. After a much needed side out from Elite, McKenna Payne (Utah) would go behind the line and bring her team right back into the mix. Payne would go on with a couple of aces in her run to force an A5 timeout at 18-20. The two teams would go side out for side out. This welcomed Addison Newblatt (Fordham) into the match. With a gnarly top spin serve, she would tie up the match at 21s, forcing A5 to burn their last TO. From here on out, it was a blow for blow kind of match. With eventually, the prowess of Jessica Costlow (Toledo) would secure this come from behind win. Set 2 -- Riding that wave of momentum, this game seemed to be all in the control of Michigan Elite. A Katerina Stout solo roof to open set 2 would solidify the vibe for the remainder of the match. Much like how the opener ended, we'd see set 2 begin the same way. It wasn't until 7s that we'd see Elite make the jump ahead. Behind two stellar runs by both Costlow and Newblatt behind the line, Elite would storm ahead by as much as 18-12. Ella Craggs' (Illinois State) offense was absolutely cruising at this time. These two teams would go on to back and forth action, but Elite was leading by as much as seven points after hitting the 20 point mark. This is where we saw some new life breathe into A5. Kendall Newbold (North Florida), on the right pin, had the Midas Touch. Closing the gap down to three points off of a Newbold frenzy, Elite would call their first TO of the set. After a few more A5 points, Stout would be the one to end the eight point run to set up match point for Elite. 17 Mizuno would take the match in a sweep, earning the lone undefeated start in Pool B. Michigan Elite Highlights -- Despite the early passing struggles, this team managed to bring it all together quite nicely. Costlow and Isabelle Busignani (Cincinnati) are easily one of the best outside hitting duos in this age group. Their ability to play the complete game at such a high level is incredible. Both were finding great success scoring. Alongside them, Gabriella Babinski (Georgia Southern) is continuing to bring the heat on the right pin. Much like Stout, Babinski comes up in crucial moments with bombing swings. A5 Highlights -- With Li running such an efficient offense, it was really impressive to watch. While Newbold found a lot of success on the right pin, I was really impressed with the middle production for A5. Both Ellis Crawford (Maryland) and Kaia Easterbrook (Providence) were finding a lot of success on their opportunities. But more importantly, they were slowing down the hardest of swings. This allowed the defense, led by Francesca Popescu (Cal-Berkely), to operate at a really high level. |
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