by Jamison Kruse
KANSAS CITY, MO -- Coming out of the first day of the Triple Crown NIT, if you would've told me who we'd see in the finals of the 18 Open, I am not too sure I would've believed you. But as every year proves, that is the beauty of this tournament. It brings the best of the best and it's when you deliver in the right moments that matter.
That proved to be the case for this year's 18 Elite Triple Crown Champion, Wave 18-Juliana. They would begin their campaign in Kansas City a bit unfavorably. 1-2 on Day one with losses to a pair of Midwest teams in 1st Alliance and Munciana. From here, they would blaze the trail all the way to the end.
Day 2 saw a minor hiccup in Wave's second match of the day against Tulsa Power. After a rather convincing first set win, Power came back to tie things up. This not only woke the SoCal team up but fired them up pretty hot. Wave downed the Oklahoma team in a 15-2 decision before going on to manhandle Dallas Skyline for a 3-0 Day 2.
Here we are, the tides have changed and it's the Elite 8. Time to really put in the work. Wave would be challenged throughout the early goings of Championship Monday with a pair of three set thrillers. NPJ was playing a similar tune to Wave, after going an unpleasant 1-2 opener, they were storming in on three straight wins. The two west coast teams would battle it out, with the California team coming out victorious via a 15-7 decision.
Onward, Wave seemingly had an upward battle. Club V was the semifinal opponent and at the time, the only undefeated team in the tournament. This match would see each team blow each other out with Club V doing the damage in the first, followed by Wave responding with their own. The third and decisive set was nothing short of entertaining. Back and forth, blow for blow, Wave managed to edge out the favorite to advance to the 'ship.
Eight games in, only one to go, and this is for all of the marbles. The west coast powerhouse versus the one of the nation's most recognizable, Sports Performance, out of Chicago. This had all of the makings to be a showstopper. However, Wave had other plans.
Storming in like a tsunami, from first serve to the championship ace, it was ALL WAVE. 18-Juliana opened up the match with an immediate lead at 6-2. From here, it was seemingly side out volleyball. Sports Performance just could not find a way to close that gap and found themselves trailing from at least three points or more throughout the entirety of Set 1.
Set 2 would look to be a similar game, Wave busts out the gates to force an early SPRI timeout at 4-1. Here, we'd see a mini response from Chicagoland and a bit of a back and forth until around 11-8. From here, the separation would become ridiculous. The serve and pass game from the Cali kids was just all too much to contain.
Notre Dame Commit Maya Evens was passing lights out and putting on serving clinics. We'd see Wave come out of the media timeout, 15-11 and leave absolutely no question to everyone in Kansas City.
One Quinn Loper (Southern California) overpass kill and a Hannah Jonick (Rhode Island) monster block later, its 18-11 and SPRI calls its final timeout. Unfortunately, the waves are at high tide and there's no slowing down now. Wave would take the match and 18 Elite title on an ace serve by Lexie Richards (American).
While this was an overall team effort from the side of the victors, you cannot help but acknowledge the pin duo of Loper and Nia Thompson (George Mason). The two were absolute dynamite! Every ball they touched, turned into gold!
