In 18s Open, it was almost an all-Texas finals. In the match of the day, Austin and Nevada Juniors squared off Sunday morning for first place of their gold pool. The teams split the first two games of a match filled with spectacular defensive plays and huge kills. Austin took the opener 25-19 and was two points away from making it a sweep in game 2 when Nevada rallied for a 26-24 win. Austin was up 8-5 at the switch in game 3, but again Nevada rallied, reeling off nine straight then holding on for a 15-11 win.

In the other gold pool, meanwhile, Texas Tornados, Sports Performance and Circle City finished in a three-way tie for first. Sports performance advanced to the championship match against Nevada based on best game percentage. The Tornados then beat Circle City 15-7 in a one-game playoff to advance to third place match.

As it had all weekend, Nevada Juniors used its powerful inside tandem of Natalie Smart and Jennifer Todd to overpower Sports Performance 25-22, 25-21 to claim the 18s Open championship and go undefeated for the tournament.

In the third place match, Austin Juniors continued its dominance of the Tornados by fighting off several late Tornados rallies to earn the third place bid 25-17, 18-25, 15-12. As they had all weekend, Christi Hahn and Myanna Hellsten controlled the net while Amy Meyer and Lauren Galler chipped in a number of thunderous kills from the outside.

“If there is one match I’d like to have back it’s that Nevada match,” said Austin Juniors coach Jason Landers. “But we were very solid all weekend. We played well as a team and we had players step up and make big plays when they needed to.”

In 17s Open action, Texas Tornados completed an impressive Lone Star weekend by defeating St. Louis CYC for championship, 25-21, 20-25, 15-12.

Another Texas team that had a great tournament was Centex, which finished fourth, losing to Colorado Juniors 26-24, 10-25, 17-15 in the third place match. Since the Tornados had already qualified, Centex joined CYC and Colorado in receiving bids.

Both CYC and the Tornados went undefeated in Gold pool action Saturday night and Sunday to advance to the championship match. The Centex path to a bid included a 25-18, 25-13 win over Austin Juniors, who struggled all weekend. Alamo, which was the surprise team of the tournament for two days, just missed a spot in the third place match, losing a brutal 19-25, 34-32, 15-13 slugfest to Colorado Juniors.

The most dominating performance of the day, however, may have been in the 16s Open final where powerful 6'2" middle Kelsey Bryant led a determined Austin Juniors squad to a surprisingly easy win over Texas Advantage 25-14, 25-19. It was a dominating performance by Austin, which pounced early and never let TAV in the match. Any TAV rally was quickly shut down by Bryant, Natalie Peters, Kelsey Wood or Katieann Stevens who would come up with a huge kill to end the threat. Both TAV and Austin had breezed into the finals by going undefeated in pool play.

In the third place match, Sports Performance Soph defeated Gainesville Juniors 26-24, 17-25, 15-9. All four finalists earned Open berths since TAV had already earned a bid at two earlier qualifiers.

Austin Metro, Willowbrook Earn Club Bids

In Club action, El Paso Wildfire came with a game of a bid, falling to Sports Performance Red 25-12, 25-21 in the finals of the 18 division. Spri had advanced to the finals with a 25-18, 27-25 win over Spri White. Wildfire advanced with a 25-23, 20-25, 15-8 win over Austin Juniors Red.

Austin Metro earned the 17 Club bid with a 25-18, 26-24 win over Topeka Juniors. Topeka had advanced with a 25-17, 25-17 semifinal win over North Dallas while AMC knocked off Texas Juniors 25-13, 25-19 to advance.

Willowbrook Select Molten took home the final bid from Lone Star, winning the 16 Club championship 25-22, 25-13 over Texas Riptide. Riptide defeated Texas Juniors to advance to the finals while Willowbrook defeated AIM Miguel 25-18, 27-25 in the semis.

Lone Star complete final standings