Top of Utah Classic Recap and Takeaways

By: Owen Egger

The Fifth Annual Top of Utah Classic concluded this past Saturday in Logan more or less as we expected; the Nomads (4-0), the sole community representative, swept the WCC competition, followed by Utah State Quidditch Club (3-1) with their third consecutive second-place finish, Cal Quidditch (2-2) coming in third, and the NAU Narwhals (1-3) and Utah Raptors (0-4) rounding out the bottom of the field.

Though the standings were expected, our first look at the 2018-2019 Cal and NAU rosters, along with the first official WCC showing of USQC and the Raptors, gave some insight into where the WCC rankers will benchmark these teams in the coming rankings.

Utah State

Utah State did the work we expected them to at their annual home tournament. After a comfortable cruise through the rest of the WCC teams on-hand, the Aggies dropped their only match to Noah Turner and company in the final match of the tournament against the Nomads. This year looks to be USQC’s long-awaited season of retention; they only lost two pieces from last year’s squad and even tacked on some players-away-from-the-game to bring what looks like the most put-together D1 team so far (read: we have not yet seen UCLA or ASU this season.)

Cameron VomBauer and Kellan Huber were deadly as always quarterbacking a drive and dish offense targeting Amber Zehner and Taylor Groth that looked clinical through the first three matches of the day. The Aggies’ consistency in their go-to offensive strategy, however, seems to be what prevented them from stealing the tournament title from the Nomads. Against a team that has done its homework and is prepared to handle the drive and dish, USQC looked slow to advance to an option B.

And an option B (and maybe even C) is available to this talented group of experienced college players and MLQ Hive contributors. Their bludger-throwers, led by workhorse Anthony Snapp and Aaron Varga, have the knowledge and depth to compete with any D1 team, and when the Aggies start taking advantage of this with a consistent dunking offense expect their quaffle scores to skyrocket.

USQC could also be served well by shoring up their physical game on defense. With Ryan Pfenning cutting minutes in favor of rookies in their game against Cal, the Aggies didn’t have to deal with a keeper playing 18+ minutes with a head full of steam directed straight at the hoops until their last match. It was apparent that USQC could use a brush-up on funneling and wrapping in the quaffle game. There’s no question it’s doable for this experienced roster.

The reason for Utah State’s SWIM success last season can be summed in two words: Kellan Huber. Huber is my pick for the best seeker in the WCC, and this past weekend he showed that there’s no intention of slowing down this year. USQC has the beater confidence and seeker consistency to continue its SWIM prowess, and the only thing that could cement it more is developing more offensive threats that would allow Huber to focus exclusively on seeking, as comfortable as he looks ballhandling.

UC Berkeley (Cal Quidditch)

It’s an open secret that when you invite the Golden Bears to a tournament outside of Northern California, it’s a gamble on just which roster will show. For their top of Utah debut, Cal threw 15 rookies into their first official match experience. The only returning players to make the trip to Logan were keepers Ryan Pfenning and TJ O’Hanlon, chaser Matt Thura, and captains Ardin Lo and Michael Seraydarian. Cal started the day 0-2 against the eventual runners-up and champions, Utah State and the Nomads, before bouncing back to finish even with convincing out-of-range wins against the Raptors and Narwhals.

Part of this, simply, can be attributed to Cal’s recruits getting better throughout the day. Cal’s recruiting class as a whole entered the tournament looking comfortable with man-marking and sticking onto offensive chasers. New female faces to the quaffle game like Dara Gaeuman and Catherine Condit filled roster spots the Golden Bears have traditionally had trouble fielding. Returning chasers Thura and Seraydarian set an example that took only a game or two for the freshmen on Cal’s defense to pick up.

Speedy chaser Eric Shen looked comfortable pressing on offensive players outsizing him while showing flashes of footwork that lead me to believe he’ll slot in nicely to the Golden Bears’ drive and dish offense centered on Pfenning, Elijah Phipps, and Maddi Erdall. Matt Walker looks to be a potent quaffle carrier behind Pfenning and O’Hanlon, ensuring that the Golden Bears will have options as the long 2018-2019 season progresses.

On the bludger side of the pitch, the expectation that Lo would be eating minutes all day was extinguished early, as the junior beater sustained a pulled muscle in the first match of the day. Cal rotated a few rookies through the position throughout the course of the tournament, but coming up against the Raptors’ Nathan Liou, Utah State’s Anthony Snapp, and the Nomads’ Brenden Bixler is a handful for any experienced college beater, let alone players only a month into the game. It’s open knowledge that Cal has powerful beaters ready and waiting in the wings, and the depth problem come regionals and nationals season should be a distant memory.

Concerningly, Pfenning looks to be Cal’s best seeker at the moment. And it’s not close. Though there are talks of a trump seeker coming out of the recruiting pool, the fact remains that for the time being Cal’s most essential quaffle player is the go-to option for the Golden Bears to reliably catch a snitch. The Golden Bears played no game in-range this past weekend, but a reliable seeker needs to emerge sooner rather than later if they hope to put up any significant number of wins against the WCC competition this season.

NAU Narwhals

Collin Statt was sorely missed this past weekend in Logan. The aggressive, formidable quaffle game that upset the favored Arizona State Sun Devils at last year’s WRC failed to materialize the scoring we’ve come to expect. Corban Stevens and Jacob Davis, while showcasing their speed and intensity, didn’t have much to work with when it came to running behind a beater line that looked awkward and inflexible.

Spacing issues and lack of communication between the quaffle and bludger game proved to be the Narwhals’ downfall; the team has graduated its experienced beaters and simply didn’t have the utility this early in the season to compete with the other WCC teams’ first lines. Don’t expect this to be a persistent issue, as the Narwhals are undeniably an athletic group that seems to develop at least a couple potent names each year.

The one bright star for the Narwhals in Logan was their utilization of the Baylito defense. Having recognized the midrange shooting prowess of Utah State’s VomBauer and the Nomads’ Nick Vandy, it was evident that the Narwhals have put time into the defensive half of the game. Thomas Reeker has one of the longest reaches of any keeper in the WCC, and his ball-hawking at the hoops prevented the Narwhals from digging an even deeper hole than they found themselves in. Though one would like to see the Narwhals focus more on man-to-man skills and tackling (concepts that should be no problem for their sizeable, athletic quaffle players,) their defensive focus was impressive. As their beaters mature, this sort of system will lead to the consistent fast-breaking energy we’ve seen NAU utilize to deadly effectiveness in years past.

Photo: Shirley Lu

Reeker doubles as an intimidating seeker. His reach, strength, and wrestling experience make him the sort of SOP threat essential to the college game today. As with the rest of the Narwhals’ system, beater development will allow NAU to capitalize on Reeker’s talents wearing the yellow headband and shorten the gap between them and the rest of D1.

Utah Raptors

After grabbing a 250*-30 win over the run-down University of Northern Colorado two weekends ago at the three-team Crimson Cup V, the Raptors looked to start stringing together some wins in Logan. It didn’t happen, but it’s apparent that the Raptors are improving.

Nathan Liou continues to be the anchor we expect in the beating game, and the lanes he’s able to open should soon be filled by less-knowledgeable but athletic quaffle carriers like the quick-footed, confident Ibrahim Quraishi. And keep in mind, former Crimson Elite keeper Luke Steining was missing this weekend. Danika Liou and Jensen Risko showed up for bludger play too, but the Raptors need to start building some depth behind Nathan Liou if they hope to steal some more wins from D1 this season.

Photo: Cullen Clark

Between Liou and Alex Cervantes, the Raptors bring seeking experience to the table but need to shore up the snitch-on-pitch game. We may be getting ahead of ourselves here though, as we still need to see the Raptors ready to beat and score through the first 18 minutes of the match for their seekers to be able to do anything meaningful.

The Raptors’ work rate was impressive this past weekend. All too often a team getting blown out will throw it in by the end of the day, but the Raptors kept their heads down and continued to work until the whistle blew on their last match against Utah State. This grit will pay off through the course of the WCC season and may be that which catalyzes a separation from the rest of D2. Coupled with the early and often matches against strong community and D1 teams, the Raptors have shown themselves to be willing to schedule, the Raptors have the pieces in place to start building a solid identity and system, as long as they develop them properly.

5 Takeaways

1. If there was ever a year for Utah State, this is it. Expect to see them near to or at the top of the WCC in the conclusion of its inaugural season.

2. Cal’s recruiting class has both quality and quantity. The bookish Bears should be able to fill a serviceable roster for the tournaments they attend, even if it is a rotating cast.

3. NAU needs to find an identity if they hope to avoid relegation. It’s in the realm of possibilities, but someone (preferably wearing a black headband) needs to step up.

4. The Utah Raptors’ woes will not continue for too much longer. The team looks hungry and the kinks are already being ironed out. Expect them to look comfortable in D2 competition, and maybe even steal a few valuable wins from D1 programs.

5. It appears that even the top WCC teams will struggle against the West Region’s premier club teams. It's up in the air as to which college program will be the first to pull some wins off the likes of the Nomads, Los Angeles Gambits, and Long Beach Funky Quaffles.

Catch the next WCC action on October 20th at the 7th Annual Lumberjack Invitational hosted by NAU, with Arizona State, Sun Devil Quidditch, and the Utah Raptors in attendance.