2026 Season History

2026 Teams

It was the first year Northern Lights has ever had a 13-1 team qualifier in Open and compete in USAV Nationals at the highest division level!

AAU National Championships | June 16 – July 10, 2026 | Orlando, Florida | Girls 11’s – 17’s & Boys 15’s – 18’s

Northern Lights had multiple teams in the Gold Championship Brackets at the AAU National Championships and medaled 5 of them.

  NL had 21 AAU All-American / All Star selections. It was a great run at AAU Nationals 2026 for Northern Lights!

AAU All Star & MVP Selections

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Molten Cup 2026

A big congratulations to our teams that competed in the Molten Cup; Northern Lights had 19 teams medal!

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NL May Freebie 2026

Our Northern Lights May Freebie was a full and successful tournament!

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Northern Lights 16-Black | 1st Place

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Northern Lights 15-Red | 1st Place

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Northern Lights 14-White | 2nd Place

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Show Me Qualifier 2026 | Kansas City, MO

Congratulations to our Northern Lights Teams that competed in the Show Me Qualifier at Kansas City, MO!

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Team	Place	Division
17-1	2nd	17 Open
17-2	25th	17 USA
17-Black	5th	17 Liberty
17-Red	5th	17 American Blue
17-White	33rd	17 American Red
16-1	25th	16 Open
16-2	29th	16 USA
16-Black	5th	16 Liberty
16-Red	3rd	16 American Blue
16-White	17th	16 American Red
15-1	21st	15 Open
15-2	19th	15 USA
15-Black	19th	15 Liberty
15-Red	1st	15 American Red
15-White	27th	15 American Red
15-Xenon	5th	15 American Blue
14-1	14th	14 Open
14-2	5th	14 USAn
13-1	7th	13 Open
12-1	6th	12 National

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Northern Lights 15-Red | 1st Place

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MNL Challenge 2026

It was a successful tournament for our teams that competed in the Mizuno Northern Lights Challenge! We had 8 out of 16 teams medal, two of those being 1st place!

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Team	Place	Division
10-1	8th	12U
11-1	6th	12U
11-2	5th	12U
12-1	2nd	12U
12-2	1st	13U
12-Black	3rd	13U
13-1	1st	13U
13-2	6th	13U
13-Black	1st	13U
13-Red	4th	13U
14-1	2nd	14U
14-2	3rd	14U
14-Black	2nd	14U
14-Red	5th	14U
14-White	4th	14U
14-Xenon	9th	14U

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NL March Freebie 2026

Some of our teams competed in the NL March Freebie and it was quite successful for our club!

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Team	Finish
12-1	7th
13-1	6th
13-2	3rd
13-Black	6th
13-Red	14th
14-Black	5th
14-Red	2nd
14-White	1st
14-Xenon	5th
16-1	2nd
16-2	3rd
17-2	1st
17-Black	6th
17-Red	4th
17-White	8th

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Northern Lights 14-White | 1st Place

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Northern Lights 17-2 | 1st Place

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18’s Italy Trip 2026

Our 18’s traveled to Italy for competition and adventure! All three teams started in Rome, competing in a scrimmage against local teams, but then ventured off to their own tournaments in the following cities…

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18-1 to Venice then Pordenone

18-2 to Ancona

18-Black to Verona

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18-2 and 18-Black  finished the trip in Venice for a day of shopping and exploring.

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Mizuno Northern Lights 12’s Cup 2026

Eight of our Northern Lights teams competed in the annual 12’s Cup tournament!

Congratulations to our teams that medaled:

12-1 placed 1st in 12 Open

11-1 placed 2nd in 12 Open

12-2 placed 3rd in 12 Open

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Teams that competed:

10-1, 10-2, 11-1, 11-2, 11-Black, 12-1, 12-2, 12-Black

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Northern Lights 12-1 | 1st Place

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Northern Lights 11-1 | 2nd Place

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Northern Lights 12-2 | 3rd Place

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Mizuno Northern Lights Qualifier 2026 | March 13 – 15 and March 20 – 22

Over two back to back weekends, Northern Lights had 36 teams play in the Mizuno Northern Lights Qualifier in March! We had 6 teams medal. We are so #MNLproud!

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Northern Lights 15-Red | 1st Place

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Northern Lights 17-1 | 1st Place

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Congratulations to our Club Director!

A huge congratulations to our Club Director, Curt Glesmann, on receiving the USA Volleyball Indoor Junior Club Director of the Year Award!

Read the article here.

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Triple Crown Tournament (NIT) 2026 | Kansas City, MO

Our 1’s teams traveled to Kansas City, Missouri for the NIT to compete against the best in the country!

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Final Finishes:

10-1 finished 5th in 12 Club

10-2 finished 7th in 12 Classic

11-2 finished 2nd in 12 Club

11-Black finished 13th in 12 Classic

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Northern Lights 11-2 | 2nd Place

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Omaha Presidents’ Day Classic 2026 | Omaha, NE

Northern Lights sent 28 teams to Omaha, Nebraska for the 2026 ASICS Omaha Presidents’ Day tournament.  Congratulations to the 14 teams that placed in the top three of their divisions!  Thank you to the athletes, coaches, chaperones, and parents for a great weekend! It was a very successful weekend!

NCR Girls Regional Qualifier 2026

Congratulations to our teams that competed in the NCR Regional Qualifier 2026 and earned bids to the USAV Girls Junior National Championship in Indianapolis, IN!

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Team	Place	Qualification
12-2	5th	–
12-Black	9th	–
13-Black	9th	–
13-Red	8th	–
14-1	3rd	Qualified
14-2	1st	Qualified
15-1	1st	Qualified
15-2	2nd	Qualified
16-1	1st	Qualified
16-2	3rd	Qualified
16-Black	5th	–
17-1	1st	Qualified
17-2	3rd	Qualified

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Northern Lights 17-1 | 1st Place

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Northern Lights 16-1 | 1st Place

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Northern Lights 15-1 | 1st Place

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January Thaw and 17’s and 18’s Mizuno Northern Lights National Qualifier 2026

Congratulations to the Northern Lights teams that participated in our annual January Thaw and the 17’s and 18’s Northern Lights National Qualifier in Minneapolis! We had 9 teams medal in their divisions! #MNLproud

Mizuno Northern Lights Qualifier

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Northern Lights 15-2 | 1st Place

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Northern Lights 16-1 | 2nd Place

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Northern Lights 17-Red | 2nd Place

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Northern Lights Boys 18-Red | 1st Place

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Northern Lights Boys 18-2 | 2nd Place

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Brew City Battle 2026 | Milwaukee, WI

Our Boys teams competed in the Brew City Battle over two weekends, January 23 – 25 & January 30 – February 1!

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Final Finishes Weekend 1:

Congratulations to Mesa Jameson

A HUGE congratulations to our player, Mesa Jameson, on being named to the first ever 17U (12 athlete roster) for the NORCECA Continental Championship taking place in Costa Rica!

Read the announcement here.

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Congratulations 2025 Ms. Baden Finalists & All-State Players

Northern Lights would like to extend our congratulations to all of the High School Players in Minnesota who were selected for the MN Coaches Association All State teams. The MNVBCA sponsors All-State teams for the top players in each class (1st team and honorable mention). 19 players from Northern Lights were selected!

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Congratulations to our Northern Lights players, Rayna Christianson and Madi Kraft, on being named Ms. Baden Finalists!

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Congrats 2025 All-Minnesota Varsity Players – The Minnesota Strib