Final weekend of the Badger Region Power League.
13 RED
We finished up the 3 weekend, 6-day, 14's Badger Region Power League on Sunday, April 10th. On Saturday we found ourselves in the 2nd highest bracket with an opportunity to play ourselves into the final Elite, 8 team bracket on Sunday. We started the day by defeating a Madtown Juniors 14-1's team in 3 sets. After that inspiring effort, we came out extremely flat and unmotivated against FC Elite 13-White. This team has been one of our biggest rivals over the past 2 years and they handed it to us. Not only did they beat us, it was probably the poorest volleyball we had played in some time and was not reflective of what these girls are capable of. But, we needed to bounce back and win our next match to put in the top 3 so we could move into the highest bracket on day 2. We played IAM 14-Black. We played very well and were clean against them for most of the match and pulled out a 3 set win. This placed us as the 8th seed on Sunday and we faced off against the 1-seeded Wisconsin Juniors 14-1. We knew that this would be an incredible obstacle and our goal was to challenge a much larger and dynamic team. We were pushed around a bit in the first set, but played hard. In the 2nd set, we had them on the ropes and lost 21-25. We were very proud of our effort and felt good about our momentum for the rest of the day.
We then faced a tall 414 Elite 14-1 team and we came up just short against them, but could have beaten them if a few points just broke our way. Again, nothing to be upset about. To close the weekend we faced FC Elite 13-White once again. The girls were excited to repair what had happened the previous day against them and they came out with an intensity and focus that we don't always bring. We won the first set rather convincingly. In the 2nd set, our opponent won more of the longer rallies and we fell short in a close set. In the 3rd, we were determined to dominate them, and the girls did just that! This win placed us 7th out of 32 teams in the 14's Power League. We also finished 12-6 over the 3 weekends.
On the final weekend, Hannah Heitzkey was our MVP. Her serve became more consistent and she attacked more aggressively than previous weekends. Her defense was also more steady and she provided us with some nice digs and defensive reads in tight sets. Isabel Hilgart also provided aggressive and timely kills for us over the weekend. Even when we became predictable in setting her, the defense was unable to stop her from getting kills, even her tips were rally-killers. On to Green Bay!
14 RED
The 14 Red team had another successful weekend, finishing 2nd in the Badge Region Power League! Even though they did not play as consistently as they did at the Badger Region Championships, they played aggressively and in control when it mattered most! They defeated a FC Elite team in the semi-finals, a team that they lost to twice before in previous Power League weekends. They played in the Championship match against a strong Wisconsin Juniors team, fighting until the very end. They showed every team in the Power League that they can compete against and beat any other strong team in our region!
Our Tournament MVP award goes to Paityn, who made some great changes with her setting, which kept the team in system and gave her hitters the best possible chance of scoring against big blocks! She was aggressive with her serving and defense, which helped the team keep control over each set!
14 BLACK
pril 9/10 for the final weekend of Badger Region Power League, the 14 Black team finished with a record of 2- 4. This put us at a total record for the league of 9-9, in the Elite B bracket, top 16
Each day started with a big win for us, and we then faced very tough competition afterwards. These losses did not reflect the growth these girls demonstrated this weekend.
Two big growth areas were established this weekend. First was shown in our front row play. Several of the girls 'swung line' multiple times for big points which demonstrated the confidence they have to try new skills. Our off block coverage improved from Saturday to Sunday such that several points were earned due to keeping the ball alive. We also had a huge blocking weekend with at least 19 blocks being recorded. (Stat keeper got too excited and lost track of a few more I am sure).
The most important area in the coaches opinion was the mental toughness shown. In previous tournaments you could see the girls body language show the stress they felt during the games. This weekend these situations were few and far between. Even when down, the team continued to play and refused to quit without a fight all while supporting the girls on the court.
As coaches we are incredibly proud of the overall team growth in skills and confidence for all of the girls. We are looking forward to a strong finish in Minnesota at the end of the month.
14 WHITE
Coming Soon!
15 RED
This weekend we played in the final weekend of the Badger Region's 16 Elite/Select Power League. A quick league recap, by the numbers:
40 teams, 23 16s teams and 17 15s
After 3 days of pool play 24 teams entered the select division, 16 teams made it up to the Elite division (we were one of the 16).
We started seeded 23rd and finished 13th overall.
We were the 3rd highest finishing 15s team.
We went 9-9 overall, 4-5 this past weekend.
This weekend we started out slow losing our first two matches. The girls seemed out of rhythm and couldn't stay consistent enough to bring home a win. We lost both matches in 3 sets. We finished day 1 winning a close match 25-25, 25-22.
Day 2 started out against a good FVP 16s team. FVP started out playing error free ball and took set 1 easily. We came back fighting, starting causing some errors on their side, but came up just short 24-26. Match 2 was a win every coach dreams of. It was a battle all the way, winning in 2 28-26 and 31-29. The girls never gave up and fought to finish the games.
#ShoutOut to Makenna, for playing in the back row and serving at the end of both sets, which she never does, after we ran out of substitutions!
I'm very proud of how the girls played and what we accomplished throughout this league. It was a struggle, we played some very good teams and never had an easy match. We had to work hard for every victory. It was a great learning experience for our team.
15 BLACK
Coming Soon!
15 WHITE
Coming Soon!
16 RED
Last week of power league and we had a shot make a run! Were all excited to play coming in but the points just didn't go our way... We played well all day and had some great plays along the way but we didn't win the right matches to move up in our brackets. We went 2-1 on day one and then we went 1-2 on the last day. We played with 7 players on Saturday and 8 players on Sunday. The girls worked hard but exhaustion kicked in pretty fast! Maybe we add a conditioning program next year to better prepare.... :)
#Shoutout to Maura! Her attitude and has always been great and we keep throwing her in the front row and she does great!
At times she becomes our "Hot Hand" that we try to feed her the ball. Bri had some shining moments in our matches that helped us stay in games! She has grown as a player and is starting to understand the nuances of the game!
Now we hit the gym and prep for Minnesota!
16 BLACK
Coming Soon!
16 WHITE
Coming Soon!
17 RED
17 Red came into the last weekend of Badger Power League ranked 2nd overall. With spring sports starting up and spring breaks happening we haven't had as many full practices as we normally would before such a big tournament. In our 1st match on Day 1 we were able to beat 360 in 3. We didn't play our best but made big plays when it meant the most. Other highlights of the weekend were beating Wisconsin Juniors 18-1's two times plus another dominating win over Eclipse 18 Solar. Unfortunately over the two days we had two tough losses to Wisconsin Premier 18 Teal would end up winning the power league. In each match we stuck with them for most of the way but just didn't come up clutch when we needed it. Premier 18 Teal has a lot of players with high level experience and confidence/grit... something that continues to be an emphasis for us. At the end of the weekend we finished 3rd place overall which is nothing to be disappointed in. We beat our initial ranking and finishing in the top 3 of all 17/18s teams is special. We hope that the learning experiences against 18 Teal push us forward as we move deeper into our season.
#Shoutout to Sydney Hoeft and Emily Dickamnn...they continue to do a great job in running our offense no matter what the first contact is and stayed focused to better our connections as our offense evolves. They were voted the weekend's MVP's!!!
17 BLACK
We had a great time with our 7 person ‘power rotation’ at the last weekend of Power League. We went 4-2 on the weekend and ended up finishing 3rd overall in our grouping. We really came to play this weekend with everyone into it and contributing and picking each other up when they needed it. As a team, we were able to stay focused and keep our level of play at a high level for long stretches – and we beat 3 teams that we had lost to earlier in the season. Ava Patty did a great job leading our 5-1 offense and spread the ball around well, as well as chipping in with a bunch of aces on the weekend. Our hitters did a great job putting the ball away – with Anna Rosewitz, Maddie Klumpyan, and Maddie Metke leading the way. Our defense was also able to play at a high level – with Molly Trepanier, Natalie Fernald, and Anna each coming up with some impressive blocks, and Macey Steier locking down serve receive and serving up some timely aces. The highlight was coming back from 4 down in our final game vs Adversity 18-1 for the 26-24 win.
#Shoutout to Anna Rosewitz- who did a great job playing the entire rotation, and even came up with a serving pin!
Also, throughout the weekend, one player did a fantastic job of staying positive, leading the team in huddles, picking up others, and pushing us to play at a higher level - #Shoutout to our MVP of the weekend- Maddie Klumpyan! Congrats!
17 WHITE
Our last visit of the season at Community First Champion Center for the Prep Dig Power League was, unfortunately, not the stand out that 17 white would have hoped for. Ending 1-4 for the day left the team feeling a bit defeated. However, some good came out of the losses as well. Our team showed great mental toughness throughout the day. This has been an ongoing work in progress for our team and previously, is something that would take us entirely out of the match. This time around, the girls were able to pull themselves up enough to make it a much closer match! Volleyball is a game of mental challenges both individually and as a team and we as coaches feel they really began to understand how to overcome it this weekend. We had 2 MVP recipients this weekend and we chose them because of their continued hard work and aggression with each match that is played. The MVP's were Charlotte Oberg and Payton Dodson; way to go girls! We also had an ace pin that goes to Rebecca Sepanic and a pancake pin that goes to Maren Wollmer! Overall we had a lot of tough matches this weekend, but are hoping we can bring everything together we have learned as a team to get some success at our final tournament in Minneapolis in a few weeks.
18 RED
This weekend 18R played our final weekend of Badger Region Power League. We landed in the Elite 'A' bracket and played the 1st seed overall. It was a tough matchup for us but the looming threat of moving down a bracket if we went 1-2 on the day spurred the team into motion, leading to a three-set win over a team we've run into several times this year, always providing a good match. The last match of the day was against the 4th seed overall who had previously gotten the best of us. 18R played what was easily the highlight match of the season, leading to a two-set win with the second set ending up 31-29. I am so, so proud of the team's effort, cohesion, and execution during this match. It was evident that each player on the court was playing as hard as they could for the team and was just an absolute joy to coach.
On Sunday things did not quite go as we'd hoped, finishing 1-2. That said, this put us in a 7th place finish after starting the weekend at 11th which is definitely something to be proud of. There were a couple of highlights for the day: after playing middle back for most of the season, Sam Robarge was shifted to right back defense and played exceptionally well, not only from a technical standpoint but also with her effort and teamwork. Also, after a somewhat quiet weekend blocking / playing off the block, our last match was exactly the opposite. Improved reading and effort lead to an overall stronger, better-timed block - resulting in 6 roof blocks. The passers also trusted the block timing and were very good at picking up the many soft-block touches we had. Overall, the highs of the weekend were electric and I hope the girls will remember them for years to come. Now we have plenty of time to work as individuals and a team to shore up the lows before Minneapolis at the end of the month.