Teams spread out this past weekend taking over Wisconsin! Some teams got their first championships victories and others continue their streak!
10 RED
10 Red played in the River City Open this weekend, and ended up taking 2nd in the silver bracket! If I could use one word to describe our team at this tournament, it would be RESILIENT. We only had seven players for the day and faced five talented 11s teams, but the girls didn't let that phase them. They went into every match ready to fight and
determined to beat the older girls! We had some tough close losses in pool play that put us in the silver bracket, but I was so proud of how the girls responded with their play in the final two matches. They stayed confident and had fun which earned them a 2 set win in the semifinal game! We had many serving runs from numerous players that helped us out, as well as fantastic communication which has been a big focus for us this season. The silver bracket championship game was a nail biter against a team we have played many times this season, but unfortunately we weren't able to come out on top. We took over early on in the first set with a massive serving run from Abbie and finished the game out quickly. The second set, we started slow and were down over 10 points but with a serving run from Maddie K and great defense from the rest of the team, we closed the deficit. It was a great team effort, but we weren't able to finish out set 2 and struggled to find our groove in set 3. I know that the girls were disappointed as they really wanted to be silver champions, but I was extremely impressed by their attitudes and efforts all day! They have been working so hard every week in practice to better their skills which makes it a joy to watch them accomplish their goals during games! We have grown to be more consistent with our serving, more aggressive with our passing, and more comfortable with communicating on the court. I am looking forward to watching the girls continue to show off their growth at our next tournament - Badger Region Championships!
13 WHITE
This past weekend, 13 White participated in the Corn Husker Challenge. Overall, our set record was 5-8 for the weekend though we started out with a couple of close losses in pool play. We struggled with serve receive and energy on Day 1, but ended the day with a big win against MVP 13 White winning 25-14 and 25-13.
Day 2 we started out stronger. We took our first opponents to 3!! In the end losing the battle. We won in 2 against MVP 13 Black and fielded a compliment from the other team's parents on how fun it was to watch our team! One of our favorite kinds of compliments to get! We ended the day rematching MVP Silver from the day before and we fell short again, but we had some great plays. The girls are also starting to read their opponents a little quicker and that's helping to improve their defense! Way to go girls!!
14 WHITE
14 White took on the JR Challenge down in Pleasant Prairie on Sunday! The girls had a great start to the day and finished 25-6 and 25-11 in the first match. The girl's energy was high, and it was a fun game to see them dominate. The second game was also a win, which we won both sets 25-16! This allowed us to win the pool and sent us straight to the championship game in gold. The girls once again played super well and got the dub with scores being 25-15 and 25-19. It was great to see the girls finish and play great all day. Aubryn led the day with 11 aces, Kennedy led with 15 kills, Malia with 20 digs, and Lania with 5 block touches/blocks. We gave out two ace pins to Aubryn and Leah, and an overpass kill pin to Josie!
#Shoutout to Malia who got tournament MVP. Her all-around defense and offense helped the team so much!
14 BLACK | 1st Place
This weekend we played at the MVP tournament. We were the number 1 seed going into the tournament and for sure defended that title winning the tournament. The first two games on Saturday were quite easy, however the last two that day were more difficult, both matches going to 3 sets. We had our setter Izzy going all the way around because we were missing one of our right sides, she played a really smart game and was a very dependable player.
Day 2 in the gold bracket was not easy. The girls battled out every point. These girls have grit, when we are down by several points they never give up and are always making the other team work hard. Both matches this day went three. We had both our setters going all the way around because we were missing both our right sides. Shoutout to Izzy and Avlynn for stepping up and working hard.
Overall these girls work so hard every day and it does not go unnoticed. Congrats girls one another tournament win!!!
15 RED
We've played 3 weekends in a row and we are on a hot streak! We won our 3rd tournament of the year all back-to back-TO BACK! We played in the Husker Challenge this weekend in the 16's Division. Day one we played against some cross town friends and some out of state visitors. Paige Proefrock played with us and rocked it playing DS and RS. Sierra Hoeft ran an awesome 5-1 getting kills, blocks, and awesome saves all from the front row!
We were hoping to have an I AM vs I AM battle for the championship and that's exactly what we got! We made it all the way to end and played our own 16 Black team. We had a fun competitive match and we were able win in 2 and took 1st place! We didn't drop a set all weekend as we are rolling into the Badger Region Qualifier next weekend to try and earn a bid for a higher division for Nationals!
15 BLACK
Coming Soon
15 GOLD
Coming Soon
16 BLACK
16 Black joined several of our IAM clubmates at the Corn Husker challenge this weekend. We entered the tournament with the number 3 overall seed and 1st in our pool. We set ourselves a goal to get into gold bracket and play in the finals.
Saturday the girls started quickly by serving aggressively and completed the first match with a quick 2 set win. This was a great warm up match for us and set the tone for the rest of the day. The team really stepped up with the on court communication as the setters were calling plays early and liberos were audibling to hitters while covering. Our next match was against the I AM 16 Gold team. For this match we tested a slightly different rotation as Alayna stepped into the middle hitter position and Lily took over the outside hitter spot in this match. Both girls accepted the challenge and performed well for our first time playing that rotation. Watching the 2 girls take the leap, and the support and enthusiasm from the rest of the team during the match was a personal highlight of the day. We finished the day with a challenging MVP team that refused to quit. The team stepped up their defense and rallied behind some strong serving from Ava and Reese. Defensive effort was the key to this victory as we had several long chase rallies that would have earned hustle pins (if we had some). Also cannot forget 2 huge digs from Ava in the middle back that kept rallies alive and allowed us another attack attempt. Nor the successful kill running the Stack attack.
Great match by all. Saturdays Pins - Overpass: Reese:2, Alayna, Laila, Lily and Olivia all got 1.
Sunday we knew we were going to have to play hard as we set our sights on the championship match. Starting the day against the other NorthStar team, we struggled a bit with our serving and then battled back and forth for the first 2 sets. Defensive effort and some extra hustle was again the highlight here as we closed out set 3 to win the match. We did get to hand out our only pin of the day to Lily (Top Server). The next match was also a pretty even match. Entering this match the girls highlighted the outside hitters line hitting abilities. We decided to change our blocking posture a bit to better defend this attack. As it worked out while we executed the change, it actually had minimal effect. The aggressive serving right out of the gate led the way here as Reese kept the stars out of system for the first several points and completely frustrated their offense. Defensive effort continued to be the story of the weekend. MVP stuck around and made it a pretty stressful match, but the girls were able to finish in 2 sets. In the finals we met up with the Other I AM team in our age group. While we battled hard, we were not able to get any runs and may have run out of energy. We fought hard and had some outstanding plays throughout the match, but we could not finish with a win. However we achieved the goal of playing in championship and played well all weekend.
16 BLACK
Coming Soon!
16 GOLD | 2-4
This past weekend 16 gold took on the CornHusker challenge in Milwaukee! On Saturday we went 1-2. Starting the day bright and early at 9 am we played MVP 16 black. Although we started slow, we battled back from a point deficit. In the second set, we struggled to build off of the momentum from the first set and ended up on the wrong side of that one. I want to point out how the girls responded to this loss: instead of taking their frustration out on each other, they came together as a team to chat about what adjustments they can make as players for the next match!
Next, we were challenged by our very own 16-Black team! Despite the results of the game, the girls worked extremely hard to keep battling against a very strong team. We adjusted our strategy throughout that game and each person on the court worked hard to maintain their competitive drive. One thing we have been focusing on practice is not making the same mistake twice, and instead fixing that mistake right away by trying something different. We have started to understand what that looks like and how to hold each other accountable when playing tougher teams.
In our last game, we faced NSVBC 16 taking the win in 2 sets! They used their motivation from the first two games to push through this last one. Sometimes we play teams and have lots of ups and downs throughout the set. Against his team, we played consistently throughout the entire game and worked hard to speed up our offensive. Such a great way to end day 1!
Day 2 we also went 1-2. We started the day off strong, taking a huge win against G-force 16 green! We got to try some new things and tried to focus on earning as many points as possible. We went on several service runs. Unfortunately, we struggled to find consistency in the next two teams we played. Against the last team, we tried a new rotation we practiced, trying to highlight the strengths of our team! Recently our serve receive has been very consistent, we ran a 4-2 which made it a lot easier to pull back our pin hitters to pass instead of getting stuck on a rotation. Sometimes we just need a quick little change like that to mix things up and reset as a team! Being able to experiment with this helps our girls become more versatile players who are willing to take on adversity as a team!
Overall we took a lot of key points from the weekend that we can bring into practice to work on! Looking forward to applying these new ideas we came up with in our next tournament!
#SHOUTOUT to our MVP Lojo Hansen this weekend!
Lojo’s constant drive to work hard and bring positive energy to the team makes her such a valuable player and a guiding light that all her teammates look for.
17 BLACK | 3-2
16White participated in the Just A Game Oshkosh event last weekend with very positive results!
Pool play started with 2 convincing victories against Madison Elite 16-Black and 1W Door 16Black. After a long break we took on Spiketown Reign for a chance at the Gold Bracket, starting out great with a 25-11 win in set 1. Set 2 was a back-and-forth battle but Spiketown pulled away late, and they gained enough momentum to take set 3 as well. This put us 2nd in our pool and into the Silver bracket.
The Silver semi-finals gave us great competition against Breakout 16-1s. Offensively it was our most balanced match of the weekend, and with great service pressure (14 aces) we earned a 3-set win and a spot in the Silver finals against FVP. Another hard fought match but this time fell a bit short, losing 24-26 and 20-25.
Overall a solid performance for girls, I love their ability to continue fighting until the last point. You can see the girls love competing and playing together, lots of good things to build on for Prep Dig next weekend!
17 WHITE
The 17White team traveled up to Green Bay this weekend for a one day Green Bay Bash tournament. We saw some very good teams in our pool play grouping (Heat 18s and 1Wisconsin 17 National) and went 1-2. We stayed calm and knew the last game of the day after pool play would be ours. We played another home team in 1Wisconsin 17 Onyx and won in two sets! Overall we took first in the Silver bracket. The spirits were good throughout the day and we shared lots of giggles.
We ended the day with happy tacos and nachos at the Rick house in Sheboygan! Many thanks to them for hosting all of us and serving an amazing dinner!
Excited to have all teammates back in action next weekend for the Prep Dig Championships in Appleton.