Adding another 1st place finish to the list! Our 10's and 11's headed to Fond Du Lac this past weekend.
10 RED
Saturday the 10's were #PlayingUp in a pretty competitive 11s tournament.
I am so proud of these girls! They played so well, stayed positive and never stopped battling. - Coach Dickmann
They took a few matches to three sets and all of the sets were really close. It is great to see how the team is coming together, using all of the skills they are learning in practice and playing with purpose.
#ShoutOut to the incredible serving runs by Avery, Milli and Paige and to Ava for some excellent net play.
We predict great things for our next tournament - stay tuned!
11 RED
The 11's team finally broke through! The girls were so excited to get their first tournament win and it was certainly a challenge, making it more fulfilling. The team was able to keep their opponents out of sync with aggressive serving, clean first contacts, and utilizing 3 contacts effectively. We were to do this while also switching defensive positions post-serve for the first time this year. The coaches were nervous about the girls' ability to handle this live, but they did a great job, and it worked to our advantage. Once again, we won our pool, which was our 3rd straight pool win and embarked on our quest through the gold bracket. In the finals, we faced a very tough Oconomowoc team, who we defeated in our own pool.
Our opponents challenged us quite a bit by handling us pretty cleanly in the first set. We regrouped, got our energy and communication to the necessary level and took game 2. In the decisive 3 set we came out very strong! After the switch at 8, our opponents made their run and we found ourselves in 14-14 tie. The tension was finally released as we put together the final two points. The joy that came across the girls' faces was incredible to witness as was the outward exuberance of our parents.
The coaches look forward to communicating further the responsibilities of specific defensive positions, incorporating more precise free ball movements, and tightening up our serve receive.
We asked the girls on Thursday: "Why do you think we are teaching you how to switch positions outside of your rotational position?" After a variety of answers, one of our wise young players finally responded: "Because we're ready!" She was right, they are ready for so much more, too.
