Format

The standard format for most divisions is two rounds of pool play (day 1 and day 2) followed by single elimination play-offs on day 3 for all teams.

Depending on the number of teams entered, some divisions may utilize pools of 7-10 teams in place of two rounds of pool play and playoffs.

All matches will be best 2 out of 3.

Open Divisions may have a third round of pool play with the top teams advancing to a final single elimination bracket.

All Open Divisions will accept at most a maximum of 48 teams.

All USA/Liberty/American/National Divisions will accept at most a maximum of 128 teams dependent on space available.

Awards

Awards are given to the top three teams in the Gold Championship brackets as specified in the Qualifier Manual.

The entire team must report to the awards area to pick up the awards and have a team picture taken.  Due to COVID, it may be possible that we may not offer an awards area.  If this is the case, teams should report to the Championship Desk to receive their awards.

No awards are given to any Silver, Bronze or Flight Division winners.

Coaches Meeting

There is no coaches’ meeting at the Mizuno Northern Lights Qualifier.

Warm-Up Balls

Warm-up balls are not provided.  Each team should plan to bring their own set of warm-up balls.  We have no balls or carts on hand for rental or sign-out.

Practices

Teams may come to the convention center to practice.

Practice courts will be available on a first come basis on the day before the tournament weekend from 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm (this means a practice will END at 8:00 pm).

For safety reasons, our set-up has to be 100% complete before we will allow any courts to be used.

For safety reasons, we reserve the right to cancel or delay the start of practice sessions should we deem it necessary.

National Anthem Singers Needed

If you have a player with a great voice that would like to sing the National Anthem on one of the days, we would love to have them!

Please have the singer submit an audio recording, or a video of themselves singing the National Anthem.  It may either be submitted as a link to an online video, or attached as a file and sent to our office manager Barbara Beamer via e-mail (barbara@midwestvolleyball.com).  You may also contact Barbara with any questions via phone, 952-808-0110.

The deadline to submit this is Tuesday before the tournament weekend.