Badger Power League Week Two! Teams move up and down in their divisions to set the stage for week three in April.
13 RED
This past weekend we played in weekend 2 of the Badger Region Power League U14 division. Once again we came away with a winning record going 4-2. On Saturday we ended up winning our pool with 3 match wins. This placed us in the Elite Playoff bracket on Sunday. On Sunday morning we found it challenging to play as clean as we did the previous day and that is tough to overcome against stronger competition. We dropped our first 2 matches, but bounced back to win our final match of the weekend. In our final match Leilah Pritchard played very well in a position that she doesn't have much experience in to propel us to the win.
The entire weekend, Milli Krief served extremely well and ran a balanced offense. Our weekend MVP was Avery Pierce. Her confidence continues to grow and her athleticism really shined through for the team. She has become increasingly aggressive as a middle hitter/blocker. Her serving was also an effective tool this weekend as she consistently delivered strong serves with more pace as her attempts grew. Now that she gets several digs per match after she serves, her larger skill set is really coming into shape. Our team is eagerly preparing for the National Qualifier in 2 weeks. If we play at our best, we can come away from that event feeling really good about ourselves.
13 BLACK
The girls battled until the end this past weekend. We took first at the end of day 1 (played 4 matches until 930pm at night-Phew!). Even though the girls were tired and exhausted, they played really well and were excited going into the Gold bracket. This has been a goal of ours! Our results on Sunday weren't what we expected, winning our first match was, but losing the 2nd match wasn't. We had to flex our mental muscles as we finished 2nd, but we learned how to battle through some of the tough times that come during a match. Overall, the girls played well with each other and even with 1 key player missing we were able to make it that far! Super proud of their adaptability and efforts!!
Our MVP of this tournament was Paige Clearwater! Paige earned this award due to her consistent libero passes to our setter and amazing digs. Paige was a great role model for what a Champion's mindset looks like as she pushed through even when things weren't going the way she planned. And our traveling team trophy went to Carly Wille who has come such a long way in the back row with her defense and her serving. Again, it takes a team to win and all contributed in some way throughout the Crush tournament! A shout out to the best parent section ever- Choo, choo!
14 RED
The 14’s Red team finished the second weekend of Badger Region Power League going 3-3. Even with inconsistent serving throughout the weekend, they managed to compete at a high level against all of the teams, with all games being close in score! As they continue to learn more about game strategy and anticipating what the other team is doing, they continue to improve upon small skills that make a huge difference throughout matches.
A huge #Shoutout to Rylee for getting multiple kills from the right side in every set throughout the weekend!!
14 BLACK
I AM 14 Black competed in Badger Power League in New Berlin. We started Saturday with two wins against pretty evenly matched opponents and fought hard in a 3 set loss to complete the day. These wins earned us a seat at the Elite bracket in the early am. #BringItOn
#ShoutOut - on Saturday Morgan Winkler earned her 1st of 2 Ace Pins for the weekend.
On Sunday we hit a rough patch in our early match, but recovered nicely for a big win in the second match. The final match of the day was another hard fought 3 set loss.
This weekend we changed a few positions around to play to strength of the players by running a 5-1 offense and added a 2nd Libero. The girls repeatedly demonstrated the skills and attitudes worked on in the previous two weeks of practice. As a team, the level of volleyball chatter while on the court increased dramatically and was a positive influence throughout the weekend. As coaches we are loving the improvements we are seeing with all positions: Middles working hard on transition and close to blockers, Pins swinging high and hard, setters making good choices and defenders covering and chasing.
14 WHITE
Coming Soon!
15 RED
For this tournament 15 Red was at the second weekend of the Badger Region Power League. Saturday we finished up pool play. Of the 10 teams in our pool the top 4 would move up to the Elite division, the rest would go to the Select division. We were currently in 4th place, so 3 wins would guarantee we move up. We were short one setter, so we got to shuffle things around and run a 5-1 all weekend.
We started out winning in 3 against Juniors 15 Elite. We were not as clean or error free as we can be, but we got the job done in the end. Our next match was against Madtown 16-1 Select. We took control of the match early in set 1 and never looked back, winning 25-12 & 25-20. Our last match of the day was against Wi Jrs 16 - Elite. Down to 8 players we ended up losing in 3 sets. But winning one set in match 3 was all we needed. It gave us 4th place in a 3 way tie and a trip to the Elite division.
The girls wanted to make it to the Elite division of the Power League. We knew it would be challenging, our main goal was to play some competitive volleyball. Sunday we were in the 8 team "B" bracket. We started out with a very good 262 16-1 team. We jumped out to a 7-1 lead with our first server.
#ShoutOut to Sophie for serving up 5 aces on 7 serves to start the game.
262 slowly crept back and tied the game at 23. We didn't give up and won the set 28-26. 262 did win the next 2 sets, but we were the only team to take a set from the eventual bracket winner. Our next match was against Southwest's 16-1 team. We played good aggressive ball and won 25-14, 25-17. Our last match was against a tall, very good, FC Elite 15 White squad. We fought hard and played some very good volleyball, falling just short, 21-25 & 26-28.
On the weekend we went 3-3 and ended up in the upper level 16s division for the final 3 days of league. The girls understand this means wins will need to be earned, and will be hard to come by. But every point we play is going to help us improve. I know they are hungry for more!
15 BLACK
This weekend kicked off week 2 of power league. 15 Black came out swinging against Valley Velocity. The girls did a great job transitioning on defense and putting the ball away. The girls fought hard but couldn’t pull off the win losing 28-30 in the first game. They then struggled serving in game 2 ultimately lost the first match. The girls corrected their serving in their match against Milwaukee Jrs and walked away winning both sets. After a long break the girls wrapped up day one against WIsconsin Premier 16black- we dropped set one but turned things around quickly in set two. Our middles were hot and continued to put the ball away while our outsides found all the open spots on the court. The team was firing on all cylinders for set 3 and finished the night with a win!
Moving onto day 2- the girls were ready to play and easily took our first match against 262 Attack 15s. We then again struggled with serving and couldn’t get in our groove for match 2 with WI Juniors. The girls came together for our final match of the weekend and left everything on the court. They did a great job reading the other team and swinging away. We finished out the weekend 4-2.
#Shoutout to Maddie R who jumped in and played outside when we needed her to! Also props to both our setters Audrey and MJ who also played all the way around.
15 WHITE
Coming Soon!
16 RED
Short handed once again but this team continues to fight with everything they got. There is no question in our efforts and sometimes we become a little too nice when competing but over all we put ourselves in a good spot for the 3rd and final weekend of the Power League. Starting 6-0 in the first week allowed us some wiggle room to make it to the Elite Division. We player another 6-0 teams, 414 Elite, and even though we lost we did compete to the end. Missing some key offensive weapons definitely showed but is promising for when we eventually get to full strength. We still needed a win to move up and we player another teams that was 4-2 coming in and we were able to take care of business! The girls served tough and passed well to keep control of the game. Our final match was a grind and we came out on top in a close match. Finishing the day 2-1 and going into the upper Elite Division.
Day two we had our hands full still being down offensive players but we competed through it all and ending up winning our last match in a 3 set victory. We will move to the lower Elite Division for the final weekend but hoping we will be at peaking in our season to come through on top!
#Shoutout to Bri and Maura for coming in just one match before they had to take off. Every little bit helps!
Our Tournament MVP is....
16 BLACK
16 Black went 4-2 this weekend at the second weekend of Badger Power League. After losing a three-way tie and missing out on the Elite brackets, they ended day 2 of the weekend 3rd in the gold bracket of Select. We handed out 2 serving pins this weekend to our setter and DS. Despite two tough losses we had some amazing leaders on our team who were a constant source of positivity for the whole team and put all their effort into every match.
16 WHITE
The girls had a stellar weekend going 5-1 at the Rec Plex. They started the day out a little slow losing their first match against Eclipse Solar 16 but didn’t let that get them down. They came back the next game and beat Southwest Volleyball Club 25-22 and 25-14. They took the rest of the weekend by storm beating the next four teams out in two sets every time. The girls had an amazing serving day with multiple girls getting serving pins. The girls had to run a 5-1 rotation the next day and adapted so well with it. Even with the change they stayed on top and played great IAM Volleyball!
17 RED
Going on to the second weekend of Badger Power League, 17 Red was excited for the challenges ahead. The big goals of the weekend were to qualify for the top elite bracket and finish high enough in that bracket to stay there going into the final weekend. Through a lot of growth and gritty play they were able to accomplish both goals going 4-2 on the weekend. The highlight of the weekend was handing Premier 18 Teal their first set and match losses of Power League in the Elite Bracket semifinals. Both losses on the weekend were to the #1 ranked team and both went to 3 sets. The team continues to see the progress that is being made but stay hungry for the continued work that needs to be done. Truly and team effort all around.
17 BLACK
For 17 Black, this past weekend didn’t see as many wins as maybe we’d like to have seen – but there were positives for sure! We fought through some mental errors and I think everyone agrees that Sunday was better than Saturday. The team is learning what it takes to play at a consistent high level, as the teams we are facing all play at a pretty high level. We started to get more consistent in focus, fundamentals, and energy level as the weekend wore on and I think the girls could see the difference in results. While Saturday didn’t result in any wins, we were able to improve our level of play and energy on Sunday. It was fun to play against familiar faces and the energy in the match against the IAM White team was great- what a great match on both sides! There were times when we were hitting on all cylinders and really looked fantastic – Anna’s kill at the 10 foot line (and the look on her face when she celebrated) was the highlight of the weekend. Maddie Klumpyan continues to step up both in play (co-kill of the weekend!) as well as being an effective/positive leader – and continues to step up her level of play.
#Shoutout to Maddy Klumpyan for MVP of the tournament).
We got much more consistent in our serves and serve receive as the weekend wore on – with MC, Macey, EJ doing a nice job. Ava has done a nice job with the 5-1 the past 3 tournaments (shoutout to Becca for coming, cheering and assistant coaching!), and our blocking has gotten better with Nat and Molly, and Maddie Metke continues to grow in aggressiveness at the net. I know wins have been hard to come by recently, but Kevin and I see growth in all the players and we’re positive it’s going to pay off as we continue in the season.
17 WHITE
This weekend, the team ended up with a 2-4 record. We had another weekend of lineup adjustments due to players being out, which the team accommodated gracefully. We certainly had some ups and downs, but the team is continuing to build confidence in playing with each other. The serving strategy we’ve implemented is shining through and they are building consistency, which proved true as we were able to give out another serving pin to CJ Starke this weekend for 5 aces in a match - way to go! We are excited to continue improving and showing what our team is made of!
18 RED
This weekend 18R had Badger Region Power League. Overall, we finished with 4 wins and 2 losses, putting us in 6th place out of 32 teams and moving up to the top bracket for the 3rd session. On day one, we began the weekend with a loss against a strong team that caught us a bit off guard. The team was able to bounce back with 2 straight 2-set wins, owed largely to strong base defense and consistent, high-level service pressure.
Day two started with an intense 3-set match ending in a win followed by a 2-set loss. The lesson we harped on all day was consistency and not "going to sleep" for a run of points in the middle of the set or after losing a big point. The team did an excellent job of this in the 3rd and final match, not letting up for a single point during a 25-12, 25-10 win. Over the course of the weekend both of our middles ramped up and finally played their most active matches on Sunday, hitting at a high percentage and getting a number of block touches and roof blocks.
#Shoutout to Abby Proefrock for playing every point for all 6 matches and keeping the team steady throughout the weekend as a 6 rotation outlet hitter and solid passer.