First weekend of Badger Championships and we have great news!
12 BLACK
Badger Region Championships were what we worked so hard for all year and the girls rocked it out!! From our first tournament to this one, the girls have grown by leaps and bounds. So fun to watch them. We ended up placing 4th in our first time trip to the Gold Bracket!! We were super proud of them. :) The games were exciting too. Until our very last match up, we took all our opponents to 3 sets! Exhausting, but rewarding! The girls played well overall as a team this weekend which resulted in many great volleys. Looking forward to seeing more growth by our April tournament! Go 12 Black!
12 RED
The girls were so excited to play at the Badger Region Championships for 2 reasons: Because they were cancelled last year and because we were scheduled to play in the Open Division. It was an honor for the girls to be placed in that division and they felt that way. I think when the bar is set high for young athletes, and when they expect good things from themselves, they will work to meet them. The coaches have pushed them all year and they have responded by working hard on the challenging aspects of this game. We tell them that if it is easy then it isn't worth it. This mentality allowed us to have a very successful weekend.
We faced a gauntlet of tough teams and respected programs in our pool on day 1. We dominated the Penguins 12 Red and Wisconsin Juniors 1's teams with smooth play, incredible serving, and efficient freeball execution. When we met up with an extremely talented, and TALL, FC Elite team, our effort was led by our confidence. We were smaller on paper, but our intensity and attention to detail was greater. We consistently kept a powerful team out of system with aggressive serves and strategic attacks; even tipping on nice sets to make their attackers play defense out of sync. It may be the most impressive win I have been a part of for quite some time. In the final match of pool play we met up with Sting Gold. We came out very flat and lost the first set rather quickly. The second set we played much better and fell 21-25 to the eventual champion. On day 2, we lost a hard fought match against our newest rival, Sting White (split 4 matches this season). We had too many uncharacteristic mistakes to overcome a team that was playing quite well. In our final match, we played Sting Black. Instead of hanging our heads from our previous disappointment, we played very spirited and came out on top. We rediscovered our style of play and the coaches couldn't have been prouder of how this group played. Going 4-2 in our first Open experience was special. These girls are talented players, and when they play together, they play an exciting brand of volleyball. They left the weekend knowing they truly can play with anyone in this state.
13 BLACK
We took third up at Bay Bash this weekend. Started off the day strong by playing good clean volleyball, great passing and plays from the whole team. Phoebe and Ava got some touches on blocks, and Laila and Mia got some great passes in. Our stamina dwindled in our third match, but thankfully after a game off and food in our stomach, we came out hot in the semifinal game. Played strong defense, but the other team played stronger offense. Still a great end to the tournament, the girls were proud of the effort they left on the court.
14 RED
This weekend we had a lot of great success at the Jr. Red Knights tournament! Aside from taking 1st place in the tournament, many of the girls had to play in positions they are not used to playing. We were down a couple players which allowed others to play all around or in positions they were not used to playing in.
#Shoutout to Gillian for stepping up and playing all around outside!
The team did not let this phase them and embraced We played three games total and the girls won all three games. They played consistently and aggressively. Their ability to shake off mistakes and move on to the next point was impressive. There were times where the other teams would go on runs but they stayed calm and continued to play aggressively to stop the other teams. All the girls did an amazing job and we cannot wait until Badger Region this weekend.
15 WHITE
Coming Soon!
15 BLACK
Saturday was tough, we were in a pool with a lot of good teams. We played a very tough Sting team to start off our afternoon. After losing, our confidence starts to slip away, but we are continuing to work on that plus our energy and communication.
Day 2 was much better and we had to play so early I was impressed. We won against Capital, 25-17 and 25-21. We were missing our middle for the day so we did struggle on getting some blocks, but our back row did a nice job. We went on and lost to WI Premier however, they were both close games 24-25 and 23-25. We tend to not be able to finish those close ones. Finally, ending the weekend on a good note and winning against 360 in 3 sets.
Back in the gym this week with a weekend off preparing for our next match up and working on those skills we lack. I’m confident that we can only move up from here.
#Shoutout to Madisyn for filling in playing MB all day and being awesome at it. Hailey for doing a great job as always RT side. Natalie and Jade for setting all weekend and hustling when our passes were off.
15 RED (Winners)
The Badger Region Championships is always a tournament to be excited for. It especially was a big deal this year because of the canceling of the tournament for this team last season. Throughout this season, 15 Red has been playing up in all of their tournaments. Each tournament has had its own rewarding challenges and the team has been chasing down many teams in the process. Being the #1 overall seed Badger Region, this team finally had the experience to know how it feels like to be chased by the rest of the field. On day one the girls got off to a slow start, playing down to their competition but still were able to get two 3-set victories to start their day. They finished Day 1 on a positive note by taking down the 2-seed in their pool by playing smart, error-free volleyball in 2 sets and even winning the second game 25-6. The team knew they needed to step up their game for Day 2 if they wanted to finish first and get the golf medal. Knowing that they needed to go undefeated on the final day they responded in spectacular fashion. More mistake and error-free volleyball in match 1, scrappy defense and huge blocking in match 2, and tremendous serve receive and in-system play in match 3. All of that brought home a Badger Region Championship for this team. This team has persevered through so much this season and they deserved a moment like this and I (Coach Jimmy) couldn't be more proud that they were able to be clutch and confident when it mattered the most. Excited for what this championship can do for our future!
16 WHITE
Heading into this weekend, our team was ranked in 4th out of 24 total teams in our group level. The team had our pool play games early in the morning on Saturday with the first game at 7:30am. The team showed up and showed how strong they were so early in the morning and won 3 straight matches in just 2 sets. The third game really tested the team
mentally and physically with a bunch of long rallies and having to come from behind to win the second set. We ended up top of our pool undefeated and wanted to get into the gold bracket the next day. On championship Sunday, we played in a gold challenger match, again at 7:30am, to determine if we would play in the gold or silver bracket. We won the hardfought match and made it into the gold bracket ready for tougher competition. We faced two very strong opponents and showed real grit to compete and elongate the matches as much as we could. We finished the weekend in 4th place overall with plenty of great highlight plays and memories.
16 BLACK
The 16 Black team completed a successful weekend at Badger region with a 6th place finish - the highest we’ve finished. We competed at a high level and beat teams we had previously lost to.
#Shoutout to Ava Patty and Becca Arendt who led the team in aces, Grace Rochon in kills, and a special shout-out to Maddie/EJ for all out effort on this play.
Everyone played at a high level and brought their never give in attitude as usual. Scott and I are so proud of not only the skill, but the attitude of this team!
16 RED
Coming Soon!
17 WHITE
Coming Soon!
17 RED
We played in a single day tournament hosted by River City in Lake Mills. It was nice seeing our 18 Red and 17 White teams play. Our first matchup was against our own club, 17 White. They put the pressure on us but we ended up taking this one in 3. We took 2nd in our pool and advanced to the Gold Bracket! We played Sting 18 White team and they got the best of us this time! That team ended up winning the tournament so I say we got a solid 3rd place! We were really impressed in our defensive rallies. We did a great job keeping it the play alive. These girls continue to build on their skills and setting new goals to achieve. We have our Badger Region Championships in two weeks and we are looking to prep for that to make an impact.
#Shoutout to Abby Proefrock for coming straight to the tournament after landing from her trip! That is dedication!! :)
18 RED
This weekend 18 Red had a one-day tournament in Lake Mills. We began the day with 6 players but showed up ready to play and beat the first team we played with a combination of excellent service pressure, sharp blocking, and a bigger, stronger offense. All-around the team played incredibly consistent despite the circumstances. We then faced Sting Silver, still playing with 6. Despite some of the best team-wide effort I've ever seen (we were up 17-5 at one point!), Sting won the match with nonstop offensive tempo. The team played with 7 from then on, and showcased some strong middle play in the 3rd match of the day against a scrappy River City team. A close loss in the third set landed us in third place in pool play, but we then went on to win the silver bracket with two 3-set wins in a row. It was certainly a rollercoaster of a day but all things said, I'm proud of how each player performed and being able to win in any playoff bracket down personnel is impressive.
#Shoutout to our middles for playing all the way around without a single complaint. Both Ashlynn and Kaleigh had some perfect digs and a couple of fantastic assists as well, all while executing on their offensive and blocking responsibilities.