As we approach the end of the 2024 season are teams compete in their last tournament before heading to Orlando or Las Vegas! The momentum is going strong!
12 RED | 2nd Place
The 12 Red team ventured to the Navy Pier Asics National Championship over the past week hoping to get some good competition before heading to nationals on June 20 - 24th.
I AM outmatched their opponent in the 1st two contests of the tournament winning easily 25-8, 25-15 against Adversity G12 Adidas and 25-3, 25-12 against The Edge 12 Maroon. This set up a very anticipated match against Sky High-Adidas 12 Elite and the winner would make the Gold Bracket the next day. In a highly competitive 1st set, I AM took the lead late and held on for the close 26-24 victory. In the second set, I AM played with confidence and aggressive serving and won 25-11. I AM's ability to side out quickly in game 2 gave them a big advantage and the ability to stay aggressive with their serves. During this game Charlotte unleashed her jump serve which was unreturnable for most competition.
During this match Londy also achieved an unbelievable milestone of 200 ACE's for the season.
Congrats ladies!
I AM was excited to face some better competition on day two and it would start off with the cross town rival Sting White. I AM took a very competitive game 1, 25-21 and in game 2, I AM became more aggressive with their serves and improved their 1st contacts winning that set 25-14. This battle over that past couple of years has developed into quite a fun and friendly rivalry and was a very fun match.
I AM then moved onto the Semi-finals to face Sky High-Adidas 12 Onyx (their 1's team), In a great battle back and forth, I AM took a late lead and held on for the victory 25-22 in game 1. In game 2 Sky High got the early lead and I AM continued to battle however would eventually lose 21-25. In game 3, I AM fell down early 5-0 however after a time-out they refused to lose and battled every point and ended up winning 15-10. Up to this point, this was the best volleyball that 12 RED has played all season!
12 Red would then play Lions 12-1, a top 20 team ranked nationally. In what would be the best match of the season with two 12 year old teams battling blow after blow, I AM would take a tough fought game 1, 25-23 and lose another very close game 2, 23-25. In the 3rd game both teams again battled back and forth and I AM would eventually lose 15-10. This match had players diving all over the court, swinging as hard as they could (some players getting hit in the face with the ball, not us!), and the communication and understanding of responsibilities was impressive to watch.
This tournament was exactly what we needed before heading to nationals at the end of next week. We are playing our best ball, there is no team that we feel we cannot beat, and we pick up a couple of things we can improve on as we head into the final week of practice. As a coach, I've been so impressed on how hard these girls work every day, how much they Believe, Encourage and Trust each other every time we go on the court. What a great season and let's just enjoy the rest of the ride!
14 RED | 2nd Place
14 Red came into the Navy Pier tournament ready for their final test before nationals. In the previous tournament, even though we didn't finish with a winning record, we played an extremely tough field of times and finally made it through some big hurdles that we have been working on for some time. As the #2 overall seed the girls were ready to continue to push forward with this added momentum. On day 1, the girls cruised through their competition. Besides a sloppy set #1, the girls did a great job controlling their play on their side of the court. A change that we have seen over the past few tournaments is recognition of what our opposition is doing and how that affects what we do. The girls are not just growing with their skill but also their knowledge and that is so fun to see!
On day 2, because of our seed we were able to receive a bye into the semifinals. We played a tough team from the Chicagoland area and through some very tough back and forth points and sets we were able to grind out the win. In the final match of the weekend, we matched up against the #1 overall seed. After a very sloppy and slow set 1 we came out firing in set 2. The girls played their best set of the season, especially when it pertained to their toughness. Grit is something that is hard to acquire and learn without tough experiences and some of the tough moments of the season prepared them for this moment. After a slow start in set 3, we fought rally to rally with them but unfortunately ran out of points. A 2nd place finish in this tournament is something that we are so incredibly proud of and even though we have tried to move past moral victories this definitely is not one of them. We just know this means one thing...we are ready to hit our peak at the most important time...NATIONALS!!!
#Shoutout to Ella Miller and Brooke Zoromski for their steady play defensively and in serve receive. It set the tone of the whole tournament.They are the Navy Pier MVPs!!!
15 RED | 3rd Place
We headed down to IL for a 2-day battle at the Great Lakes Center which had a very similar build to the building that would what we are building in Cedarburg! Very cool! We kicked off our pool with pure domination! We were the 2-seed in Pool A and we should that we could be the 1-seed overall!
During day one our serving was too hot to handle and leading that was Abby Barthelomy with 16 Aces in 3 matches while only allowing 1 missed serve! Huge accomplishment for us!
Match One vs GLC Elite 25-6, 25-7
Match Two vs Balance 15 Black 25-11, 25-14
Match Three vs Epic United 16 25-15, 25-16
Day two we have a bye and played against a winner of the previous match which happened to be Sports Performance 16 Blue. We were excited for the challenge and it was a battle all the way! We won 28-26, 25-23. That's as close as it could get!
Big #Shoutout to Hannah Heitzkey for big offensive plays and solid serve receive!
Now we are in the Semi-finals and it was a wild game where a team that was discipled in their attacking and defense gave us fustration as we were not able to stay consitent on live adjustment. This has been a learning curve for this Freshman team that will pay off in the long run when we see these types of teams. It was a fun battle with opportunities to win but it didn't fall our way this team. We lost 16-25, 20-25 and that team eventually won the tournament.
A solid 3rd place finish and some really cool moments throughout our stay! Loved the team dinner speeches :) Our last stop for this season before we say goodbye is Las Vegas! Hoping to end on a high note!
16 RED
Coming Soon!
16 BLACK
The Land of Lincoln tournament was 16 Black's last before we leave for Nationals. We started ranked in the bottom 5 of the 40+ teams in our division. In Sunday we finished 3-2 and in the top 15. Another great finish by the girls.
Game Recaps:
16 Black win in 3. OPK - Alayna. 4 blocks, 12 digs, 10 aces.
Loss in 2. OPK - Olivia, PANCAKE - Katie. 5 blocks, 10 digs, 6 aces
16 Black win in 2. (#DFA) 1 block,13 digs, 8 aces
Loss in 3. 2 blocks, 21 digs, 4 aces
16 Black win in 2. OPK - Alayna. 3 blocks, 13 digs, 6 aces.
Outside of the pins handed out, I want to call out some team and individual highlights:
Free ball conversation rate was around 90%. The Triple Stack was almost automatic.
We were able to be pretty successful with a 2 person receiving rotation. Katie, Khiah and Reese pushed to try it, and then executed it well. Looking forward to fine tuning that opportunity.
Olivia can be a serving machine. She delivered a timely serving run with a few big aces to lift spirits and keep us in the game. Great pressure serving.
Morgan and Sam continue to be effective as offensive options in addition to leading offense and assisting hitters to look good.
And finally, we are excited to have Elyse join us for the last 2 tournaments. Welcome and we are glad to have you.
We unfortunately say good bye to Ava after this tournament. We will miss you, Big Burt!
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