VB Adrenaline's Midwest Battle July 23-25 2023 (Sioux Falls)

[kiyoat]

I thought this deserved its own thread, since it is a pretty large event.  If you are a USD Volleyball fan (or a High School or College VB fan in general), or just a resident of Sioux Falls, (it's held at the Pentagon), you won't want to miss it.

There will be 3 "all-star" HS player teams from South Dakota, two from North Dakota, and one each from Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.  Typically 2024 and 2025 (Senior and Junior) kids. Invite-only for the players, and there will be a ton of high-profile recruits there, some already committed to elite programs and local programs.  Lots of kids USD is interested in.

Here are the announced teams:

[kiyoat]

And as a side-note:  VB Adrenaline, the sponsor of this tournament, is a news site that reports on regional (Midwest) volleyball, especially recruiting.  They are based (I think) in Sioux Falls, so SD kids and clubs get a nice platform.  Worth a social media follow.

[kiyoat]

Here's a tweet from a week ago, highlighting the liberos that will be playing in SF in a couple of weeks.  The two in this image that haven't committed anywhere yet (Maggie and Sierra) are both major targets for USD (based on twitter follows).

[kiyoat]

Some tweets on individual players on Team Nebraska (of note for USD VB fans) playing in SF this weekend:

[kiyoat]

I will mention something that irks me a little bit about this tournament:  All matches will be played on courts 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the pentagon.  If you are familiar with the Pentagon, court 2 is the main court in the center.  Courts 1 and 3 are only there when the bleachers are pulled back.  Courts 4-9 are in the outer concourse.

As both a spectator and a player, courts 1 and 3 really suck.  The courts are bounded by walls on three sides.  Seating is very limited.  You can see maybe 3/4 to 2/3 of the court from the end bleachers, if you can't squeeze into the handful of chairs next to the court.  Maybe there will be more seating in there for volleyball as opposed to basketball, but I doubt it.

For such a promoted event, the fact that half of the matches will be played on courts with limited viewing is disappointing.  Maybe it will be fine.

I will say that the Pentagon's taraflex flooring that they have used in the past for volleyball on the main court is pretty impressive.  Not sure if that will be used, though.

Here's a view of "court one" with the stands pulled back:





And here's the taraflex floor:

[kiyoat]

Don't get me wrong, I think the Pentagon is a great venue for hosting basketball and volleyball tournaments.  I've been to a lot of AAU tournaments for BB in the surrounding states, and there are a lot of advantages of the Pentagon, including the fact that they can have nine games going simultaneously in the same building.  Pretty unique.  I just hate trying to watch anything on courts 1 and 3.  Never enough seats, and the seats are way too close to the court.  Just a personal thing for me.

[marco]

The Pentagon is OK don't like the seats but when College teams play I like their bar what is nice Sioux Falls has hotel space and lots of restaurants so teams like going their

[kiyoat]

What a great photo!  SDSU recruits vs USD recruits at the Midwest Battle...

[kiyoat]

Looks like it was (predictably) Nebraska vs Iowa in the championship:

Team Nebraska won:

[kiyoat]

some more local coverage of the event: