Our teams traveled all over WI this weekend and we have a lot of top finishes and handful of 1st place winners!
12 RED
This weekend 12 Red played in the Jr’s President Day tournament at UW Parkside. Day one was an early start but the girls came out with energy right from the start which lasted through most of the day! In all four matches, they played their best ball of the season so far. Movement and communication on the court became more natural which resulted in clean playing! Serve receive was on point all day long which was a big help in winning us three out of our four matches on day one! Losing one match in pool play kept us out of the gold bracket for day two, but the girls showed extreme fight through all matches! Day two we were in the silver bracket and lost our first match of the day in three sets. It was a tough loss as the girls had the skills needed to win, but lost some confidence and energy. In the final match of the tournament, they were able to get some of that confidence back to finish with a win. It was great to see our blockers being aggressive at the net! Overall, it was our best weekend of volleyball so far which makes us excited to see what improvements can be made for the next tournament!
#Shoutout to for Abby, Avlynn, Nora, Brooke, Sophie and Addi for earning serving pins this weekend!
#Shoutout to Addi for earning tournament MVP. She absolutely killed it playing as our all-around outside!
Her serve receive was consistent and she did a great job of communicating with her teammates!
13 RED
This past weekend we played in the Badger Region National Qualifier. On Saturday afternoon we started off by handling a team from Oak Creek before we faced off against Milwaukee Sting Black. This would be an incredible challenge given their height and strength at the outside hitter position. We were pushed around a bit in the first set. We played hard, but just couldn't get out of our one way at times. We battled in the second set in a back-and-forth affair and eventually pulled out a 25-23 win led by grit and determination. In the 3rd set we started off once again very even with them, but fell behind 12-8. After our final timeout, Milli Kreif did an excellent job hitting her serve zones with the strategy of eliminating their outside attackers and to make them force it to other hitters. When they attacked we made smart play after smart play. We went up 14-12 before they were able to win a rally. Up 14-13, we were able to get into system on our initial serve-receive attempt and Hannah Heitzkey used a perfectly placed tip over the outstretched hands of their 6 foot middle to land directly behind her to secure our match win. These are the matches that make it clear that we have a special group this year. We won our pool and gave ourselves an opportunity to play for something bigger the next day.
We began the morning against Sting White, who we defeated earlier this year. We didn't play nearly as sharp as we did the previous afternoon. We lost to start our day and found ourselves playing catch up for the rest of the event. We weren't able to secure one of the 3 national bids in the end. But, the girls proved to themselves that they can play with anybody. There are about 130 U13 teams in the Badger Region (not to mention the teams from Iowa and Illinois that we have beaten) and we find ourselves in the top 5 of them all at this point in the season. We are incredibly proud of these players and their dedication and willingness to do the hard things, even if they are uncomfortable. One of those players was mentioned specifically by other coaches. Sierra Hoeft's incredible effort on defense this past weekend was instrumental to our team's success and growth. She has also become more adept at keeping all of her hitters involved when she sets. Her serving percentage was also outstanding as she continues to be issued tougher zones to attack. Therefore, Sierra is our MVP.
13 BLACK
I AM 13 Black finished on top at the Blaze Battle in Appleton, earning our team's first Gold Bracket gold medal!! Yippee! Lots to celebrate this week! We had 4 ace pin achievers, including first time achiever Cedar Racer. Congrats to Paige, Brooklyn, Summer and Cedar!! We awarded MVP to Ruby Kelly for stepping up on her attacks on the ball and her controlled overhand passes. It was great to see the confidence grow throughout the day. Ruby also had a positive attitude all tournament long! Congratulations Ruby! The team's traveling trophy went to Kaylee Gunville for her amazing attitude while being in the front row. Kaylee has played middle and right side and has done so with a smile on her face and is ready to go where she needs to help the team. Thank you for being such a team player Kaylee!
14 RED
The 14’s Red team had a competitive weekend participating in the Badger Region Qualifier. The finished the weekend 3-4, competing against numerous elite teams from Wisconsin. Although they didn’t finish the weekend with a winning record, they learned that they need to push themselves harder at practices to continue to grow and stay competitive against other elite teams! They also learned that they can compete with any team that they play against, as long as they all stay focused and determined!
#Shoutout to Ambryn and Delaney for always communicating about the game on and off of the court, helping their teammates locate opponents’ setters and attackers to ensure that our team was ready to put up a big block!
14 BLACK
14 Black earned their first championship at Center Court in the Revolution Open. Strong serving led the way as the girls posted a serving percentage of 93% on the day. All servers were incredibly successful even when challenged by the coaches to serve specific spots all over the court. #54aces
Our first 2 matches were dominated by our serving. The final match of our pool was our toughest and we dropped our only set loss of the day to SouthWest Volleyball club. Once in the gold bracket the girls rallied together through a few lead changes in each match. We finished the day with a solid 2 set win over the same SWVBC we went 3 with in pool play.
#Shoutout to our pin hitters: Laila H, Maddie M, Jillian T and Elyse J.
We have been encouraging hitters to expand their attack tool box at the last several practices. This weekend each of the pins were able to score hits down the line for big kills.
Also, #Shoutout to Olivia Krell who stepped into a new role this weekend as a setter.
She played this role very well and guided the team through a couple tough spots during our gold bracket matches with strong serves and sweet dishes to the hitters.
14 WHITE
Coming Soon!
15 RED
This weekend found I Am 15 Red in two single day 16 team tournaments. We played a grueling 11 matches, and the girls loved every minute. Saturday was the Revolution Open, Sunday the River City open. Saturday we were short our libero, Nora, Sunday afternoon we were missing one setter, Anna. The changes didn't phase the girls, we tweaked our lineups and got down to business. Both days pool play was relatively easy. This gave us a chance to work on speeding up our game. Quicker passes to the setter and quicker sets to our hitters.
On Saturday, the quarter finals started out with an easy win which put us up against River City 15 Blue. This match had wild swings of good and bad play by both sides. They kept us off balance and out of system for most of the 1st set. We were down 14-23, but were able to come back and win 26-24. In the end we lost set 3 12-15 having missed 6 serves. We ended with a tie for 3rd place out of the 16 teams.
Sunday brackets started out against I Am 15 Black. I expected good play from 15 Black, but didn't expect them to score 23 & 22 points against us. They played great defense, put up a solid block and made us work hard in every aspect of the game just to get the win.
#Shoutout to I AM 15 Black, for bringing us their "A" game!!
The semi final match put us up against the River City 15 Blue, the team that beat us the day before. To say the girls were excited to have a shot at them again is a huge understatement. This match was nothing like Saturday. Both teams brought great play to the match and it was a fight the whole way. We started out set 1 with a 4 point lead and took it all the way into the 20's. River City fought back to tie up the game but we ended up on top 28-26. Set 2 started out even until about 15, where we took over and finished them off 25-17. River City is a team we needed to go out and beat, not wait for them to make mistakes. This match showed the girls they are capable of taking control and scoring the points needed to win a match against a very good team.
The championship match was against North Star. The girls gave it everything they had beating River City, so beating North Star wasn't going to be easy. Luckily, North Star was at the Saturday tournament as well! We had a relatively easy 1st set, taking the lead and holding it to win 25-19. At this point our energy and strength were fading fast. We fought hard in set 2 but came up short 23-25. The 3rd set was back and forth up to 11-11. Then Greta served out the set. We had a big hit from Lillie off the DS, a monster block by Makenna then an ace by Greta for the championship win. An awesome finish to a fun weekend!
15 BLACK
Coming Soon!
15 WHITE
15 White played in the Revolution Open Tournament. The day was difficult for us because we had our toughest competition right away in the morning. We were missing some key players, so everyone was working extra hard throughout the day. Although our team went 0-4, there were key breakthrough moments that happened. We’ve been working on aggressiveness on offense and our girls did a fantastic job of staying aggressive when the game was tight. Serving is continuing to improve, and we had multiple girls get an ace pin. Eden was our MVP this weekend! We are very excited to play again this Sunday and have some fun!
16 RED
We headed to Whitewater this weekend and what a day it was! Filled with with a drama and excitement! You don't always know what the competition will be like when you sign up for 1-day tournaments. Some days seem easy, others hard. This day was a mix of both. We won our pool of 3 with some solid work for all players. Being able to play loose through the morning pool was nice but doesn't always prep you for the more competitive part of the day. We head in to the Gold Bracket semi-finals and was able to win in 2 but it took the team a little time to get the tempo back up. I wasn't worried that they would find it and when we did we were able to close out.
We played a team that excelled in not making mistakes. They didn't have big hotels but they kept the ball up and forced our team to make constant tough shots. With some service errors and a few balls hit out of bounce made the difference. Along with some awkward reffing calls, or no calls, that seemed to fall one way this time... we came up a little short on in a 3 set lose. We were proud of the kids effort and we keep learning that if you want to be a top performer, you will need to be at your best when we play the best.
#ShoutOut to Clara Corbett for crushing the hard cross cut shot I have been so desperately trying to teach! :)
16 WHITE
The girls were back at the RecPlex for this interesting one-day tournament. The girls didn’t have their whole team for this tournament but held their own! They kicked off the day at 7:30 am sharp and played against Stateline Volleyball 16 - 1 first and although it was a hard-fought battle taken to 3 sets they just fell short. They won the first set 25-19 but lost the second and last set 26-28 and 15-17. They pushed for every point until the end! They brushed off that loss and picked themselves right back up and won their next 3 games. They took third of 9 teams! They played their last game against Rolling Thunder 16 Crimson and went to three. Taking the third set 17-15!
#Shoutout Belle for stepping in to play middle! And Julia for stepping in to play outside!
16 BLACK
16 Black went 5-0 this weekend to win the Jr Red Knights Cardinal Competition. Our setter, Megan Lacke, led the team in aces and earned herself a top server pin. She also made smart setting decisions that put her hitters in the best position to score. Lizzy Pieper, our outside hitter, led the team in kills and earned herself the tournament MVP award for her strong performance. Our other outside Izzy Butler had a strong day both offensively and defensively and earned herself yet another pancake pin this season.
17 RED
17 Red went into the Jr Pride Tournament with a much smaller roster than normal but ready to compete as usual. Getting to the tournament they found that level of play was not going to be as tough as most of their other matches/tournaments so far this season but they knew it was a day where many goals could be set and competitive contacts is always a plus. The team did a great job of playing to their high standard of play, being humble, and staying focused throughout the day. Through that they didn't allow a team above 15 points for the day and won the tournament. The positivity and maturity that this team continues to develop and show is something that will carry them in the biggest moments later in the season.
#Shoutout to Sydney Hoeft and Emily Dickmann
Not only did they set great matches throughout the day but they both got to swing from the right side for the whole day for the first time this year. Their kills, blocks, and front row efforts were awesome moments that the team could rally around all afternoon. They are your Jr Pride Tournament Co-MVPs!
17 BLACK
This past weekend, the 17 Black team competed in Green Bay at the Bay Bash. The team really played well and had a great time in doing so! We were seeded 11th of 12 teams in the tournament, and ultimately finished 3rd – with our only losses to the #1 and #2 seeds. The team was able to consistently play at a high level in all phases of the game – as great defense/serve receive: Macey leading in service receive % as usual and shoutout to Maddie Cadieux for her first pancake pin, and EJ for her second- with Nat and Molly combining for 8 blocks. We had great serving (a 2 to 1 ace to error ratio!)- shoutout to Maddie Klumpyan earning her second Ace ace serving pin and Anna Rosewitz for a team leading 13 aces!. And our offense was really clicking – as Becca spread the ball around very well. The Maddies totalled 67 kills (Klumpy 34, MC 23, Metke 11) and Becca herself chipped in with 13! Due to her great play as well as her leadership on the court (with a heavily taped ankle)-
#Shoutout to Becca Arendt for the Tourney MVP! She brought the energy and really inspired the whole team.
Overall, the team really stepped up in our level of play and had a great time in doing so. It was fun to get back on track and play at a consistent high level. We look forward to building on that in the rest of the season!
17 WHITE
Coming Soon!
18 RED
This past weekend, 18 Red played at Bay Bash and brought home first place! We ended the day 6-0, only dropping one set in the championship match.
To start the day, we battled back from a 6-16 deficit in order to win our first match of the day against Spike Town. Though our team tends to start slow, we're able to pick things up and play clean volleyball when put to the test. Throughout this season, our girls have continued to prove themselves in challenging situations. We finished pool play with two more two-set wins against both One Wisconsin 17 Momentum and Wisconsin Ice.
To start bracket play, we took on Howard Suamico Inferno, who we were able to beat 25-14 and 25-9. The girls took care of business against One Wisconsin 18 Momentum with another match of consistency and determination. The championship match was played against One Wisconsin 18 Mizuno, where we played a clean first set but fell short in the second. In set three, the girls came out strong and started with an early lead. Our energy fueled us through this final set, where we were able to finish on top. Overall, it was a fantastic day of volleyball for 18 Red!
Our tournament MVP is Jenna Butschlick; she remained consistent throughout the entire day and was an incredible asset when it mattered most. She's a great leader and continues to prove her value on our team!