Tournament Recaps - Week 16

Back from the break! The Cornbelt ShowdownTournament hosted by MVP has all our national teams back from their 2 week break.

11 RED (Week 15)

11 RED traveled to Grand Rapids Michigan to compete in the 2025 Lakeshore Volleyfest AAU Super regional last weekend. They were excited to be playing in the 12 Classic division of this event and show how much progress that have made recently. 11 RED started out strong however got a little nervous in the first match and survived with the win 25-22, 25-20 against Chicago Elite 12 National. 11 RED came out a little stronger in match two and defeated FAR OUT 12 Cardinals 25-16, 25-16. 

I AM 11 RED then talked about creating an atmosphere where wanting to win is stronger than the fear of losing! The will to win was very strong with this group as they played the undefeated Krush 11 National team. I AM went on to dominate that match by the score of 25-12, 25-10. Finishing at 8:00pm, the team knew they needed to get some rest before they played again at 8:00am Sunday morning.

In the first match, 11 RED faced DuPage Elite 12 Premier and again their will to win was strong winning 25-14 and 25-19. Their second match was against the number 2 seed (13th ranked team in the region) High Street 12-Tompkins. 11 RED started off a little slow and was intimidated by High Street's size losing game 1, 15-25. With strong serving and disciplined game play (going ball side on defense), 11 RED won game 2, 25-19. The 3rd game was an all out battle. With both teams using all of their time outs, and great offensive and defensive plays by both teams I AM was down by the score of 12-14, a quick side out and an ACE by Mia tied the game up 14-14. Another awesome transition kill from Maddie and an awesome dump kill from Abby, 11 RED's will to win was just too strong as they went on to the 16-14 victory.

In the semi-finals 11 RED played against Midway Elite 12 Black. This was a difficult team to play, Midway's strategy is to catch you off guard by sending the ball back in 1, 2, or 3 touches. After adjusting to this new style of game, I AM fought hard and won the first game in extra points 28-26.  Midway started off strong in game 2 and eventually took the lead 21-17. Abby then had a great service run and the team supported her with incredible defense and 11 RED ended up winning 25-21.

In the championship match 11 RED faced an extremely tall Far Out 12 White team (that was 38-4 on the season). The 11 RED team continued to improve on their best ball of the season with aggressive attacks and superior defensive play. Their will to win was much stronger than Far out and 11 RED dominated the match winning 25-21 and 25-14. I AM took 1st place out of 28 teams last weekend and this accomplishment earned them the first ever program free bid to AAU nationals. The coaches could not be more proud of their accomplishments. 

I really BET (Believe, Encourage and Trust) this team and now that they believe in themselves, we can truly reach our full potential!  BTW, "Our Lip Gloss was poppin all weekend"

12 RED

We returned from the club break, after a few practices, to play in the Corn Belt tournament in New Berlin.  The tournament was a great opportunity to get some of our players more comfortable playing some different positions in case we need to do it as we get into the final tough stretch of our season.  We knew that if we played very fundamental volleyball we would be successful.

On day 1 we went 4-0, without dropping a set, and really rolled through most of the teams.  Jaidyn Alexander employed her jump serve for the first time and was quite successful, Stella Walter played all 3 backrow defensive positions, and Lyla McDonough got some reps at libero.  Aaliyah Cline, and her superhuman healing powers, returned from a broken thumb clearly looking to make up for lost time by connecting repeatedly on her quick attacks.  

On day 2, we only had to win 2 matches to win the event.  We started the day very strong and ran some aggressive sets, and were in system for pretty much every point.  Our servers stacked up aces and we won convincingly.  In the championship match, we played a very spirited Epic team who did have a handful of aggressive servers, who if they got hot, would pose a problem.  Well, they did, and we did very little at times to combat that. Combine that with more hitting errors than we typically have, we found ourselves in a tight match.  We ended up winning the 1st set 25-20, but our opponents remained confident.  The 2nd set was even closer despite an 8-0 start for us.  We found ourselves uncertain on serve receive, stopped talking, and didn't remain ready during rallies. This style of play on our part found us down 22-23 when we finally got the ball to Kennedy to serve.  She finished the set off, hitting zones with precision (which she did for most of the weekend), to secure us the 25-23 win.  

While we did win the event, and that is important, it also gave us an example to draw from to remind us that if we don't play up to our potential, teams will be able to hang with us.  It will be a valuable lesson that we can hopefully reinforce with some meaningful reflection and film study.

14 RED

3 weeks off since our last tournament and we FINALLY get to play again!! Everyone was excited to get back on the court to compete!

Day 1 of the Cornbelt Showdown in Franklin, WI and we drew the afternoon wave. Epic, MVP and MOD were the 3 teams we faced in pool play. We were firing on all cylinders and took down each opponent 2-0, really taking control of each set. We have been focusing a lot on positive energy on the court and on the sideline, along with positive body language to help grow confidence in ourselves and our teammates. I thought we did a great job of incorporating that on Saturday. We finished 3-0 and a bye in the quarterfinals for Sunday!

Day 2 we faced a different MVP team. Due to a couple players not being available, we got to try out a 5-1 which we hadn’t run all year. It was a great opportunity to try something different and allow some players to get out of their comfort zone. Overall we came out a bit flat, but got the job done 25-23 and 25-17 and onto the semifinals where we would be facing a much tougher Iowa Select team!

Iowa Select came out the aggressor! They had a much tougher serve and offense than we had seen so far this weekend. Their outsides were taking big swings from the front and back row. It took a bit for us to adjust, but then we started competing and playing more consistently and aggressively. Our backrow came up with some big digs and we had some long rallies! We should have closed out the first set but ended up losing a heartbreaker 24-26. We came back to take set 2 25-22 but fell behind early in set 3 and never recovered falling 15-8. 

Shout out to Olivia for earning MVP honors. She was very consistent and was using her shots to find ways to score. She also played some great defense for us keeping us in a lot of rallies.

Even though we didn’t come out in top, this was by far the best match of the weekend and the type of teams we want to play! I’ve seen a lot of growth and maturing on the court since early in the season. I’m looking forward to our upcoming tournaments for this team to face strong competition and to see how we can respond. 

14 BLACK

14 Black traveled a bit south to play in the Cornbelt Showdown.  In our "Welcome back from break" tournament, we also welcomed Kierstyn  (and family) into our team.

We played a nice clean and aggressive first match.  As always, tough serving led the effort with 15 ACE's in total and 8 from Addison (#AcePin#1).   Zoe led the attack with 5 kills on 7 attempts and 0 hitting errors.  Grace also got a big kill at the end of the match.  (#NewOH)  OPK = Kiley

Our second match was more of the same. 20 Aces of 49 serve attempts.  7 of those Aces belong to  Abbey (#AcePin#1).  2 players with zero hitting errors again (Regan 4 aces on 6 swings; Abbey with 3 kills on 4 attempts #SetterDump )

Our last match on Saturday was a tough 3 set loss.   We continued with strong serving with 12 aces, however our serve receive was a bit rough and our setters chased a lot of first passes. OPK = Reagan  While tough, we still made it to the Gold bracket with a chance for us to grow mentally stronger with a fun 8am start time.

Sunday we started a bit slow.  We struggled with finishing the attack and putting the ball down.   Great defense with 52 digs with Abbey and Zoe had 11 and 14 respectivly.   Lost the first match and the chance to play our own 14 Red team in 3 sets. OPK = Ava

Our last match of the day felt like we were just a bit off.  While we actually were in control of the whole match, we were not able to put together runs of points.  thankfully we also did not give up runs - so our stronger serving and defense kept us on the frond foot all match.  OPK = Abbey and Kiley.

A few other highlights to call out:

•  Ava and Kylie have been working hard to hit more angles and that was efident as they continued to pound the 1 and 5 spots.

•  Our back row defense continues to impress.   we had 154 digs this weekend - out of 284 attack attempts against us

•  Our quest for free ball perfection continues.  we are getting better achieving consistant passing to execute a freeball offense.   

#WatchOutOhio

15 RED

Rusty start on our first match but we prevailed through day one. Not a ton of excitement but some standout performances from our Middles, Jesse and Sophie! They found a grove and became more and more dynamic as the day went on.

Day two led to two exiting games! We are still learning when we come in as the overall 1 seed, everyone will play their best against us trying to take us down. We played MVP and they are always pumped to compete with us. They took game one and were over the moon. We kept our composure and were able to control set two and three.

Now we worked our way to the semifinals against Iowa Select. What a match up! Game one 28-30, game two 26-24, game 3 17-19. Tons of drama, a yellow card, and large crowd! It was really cool to see the girls compete in this atmosphere! We had our chances to win and the other team had chances to win and that day, Iowa Select got the best of us. That team went on to win it all.

We are still learning but we work hard and there is no doubt in that! The next few tournaments will be a great stress test for us before we head out to Nationals!

16 RED

I AM 16 red absolutely dominated this weekend! We had a couple miss serves throughout the weekend but made up with our amazing offense. watching these girls come out with a fast offense is amazing. they are so willing to try new plays and run new things. This wouldn't be possible though without our defense. As coaches we had to find a way to keep them pushing so we said pizza party if they can be a strong offense and serving team. they proved us right and got pizza and crumble on Monday's practice. Shout out to Maliyah for running a 5-1 and stepping up and filling the role of being an only setter. Shout out and Ana for hitting the 15 foot line and scaring the defense of opposing teams. excited to continue working in the gym and getting ready for the next tourney

16 BLACK

Even though we were short two players this weekend, these girls pulled together and made it all the way to the semifinals. We had the potential to make it to the championships, and despite being down, they pushed hard and showed how much they wanted it.

Shoutout to Maddie and Olivia for stepping up and playing middle in place of Ava, who is currently out with an injury.

They did an amazing job and worked hard to make it happen.

Another huge shoutout to Sierra, who played every single point at full intensity. With our other setter, Amary, out, Sierra took on the role of our sole setter for the entire weekend. She gave everything she had and worked closely with the hitters to put the ball in the right spots.

Our serve receive was strong, the hitting was smart, and the energy and positive attitude on the court were incredible. Multiple players had to play all the way around, and they did so with confidence and determination.

One area that challenged us was letting balls drop in the deep corners and along the line. The girls recognized this, and it’s something we’ll focus on improving. 

Proud of the grit and teamwork shown this weekend—this group never gave up!

17 RED

The 17 Black team stayed closer to home this week to play in the CornBelt Classic held in Franklin. We entered pool play as the 4 seed overall and won both of our matches! We beat both MVP 17 Silver and Lions South 17-2 in two sets each. We then played the cross over match of the day against MVP 17 Black and lost in two games. 

We were all set for day two in the gold bracket! We remained the 4 seed and started the day playing Iowa Select 17. They got the best of us in the first set, but we were determined to not lose this first match. With renewed energy, we fought back to earn decisive wins in the next two sets!! It was some of the best level-headedness and resilience we've seen this season. The semifinals had us playing against the 1 seed -- MVP 17 Blue Smack. This was a team that seemed to overpower us with height, but we still played our game. After losing set 1, we charged back to beat them in a tough set 2. We went on to lose the final set, but it definitely wasn't for lack of effort. We were proud of our girls for earning a 3rd place finish. Ok technically tied for 3rd, but the team we lost to went on to win, so we'll take it :)

ALL of the girls stayed in positive spirits all weekend, which is exactly what we need as we gear up for nationals in a month. We were super impressed by the fact that EVERY player had at least one ace this weekend. We also want to #shoutout Alayna for swinging hard at both pins, Addie and Taylor for switching it up and playing different positions, and Elyse for literally flipping a switch and going into beast mode. Excited to see what next tournament brings!