Wilson Invitational 2/18-20/2012

It has taken me a couple of days to get to this, so here I go. This tourney was a chance for this team to show how they could handle adversity and how well conditioned they were. They started off the tourney down in numbers, Cory was away at a wedding in LA. That meant extra playing time for our players, also players playing in positions that are a little out of their comfort zone. Saturday's site was at the tennis courts of OSU. For those of you familiar with that site, know that it is one of the coldest venues around. Plus, it didn't help that the weather outside was chilly as well. We had the afternoon wave and started play in the first round. The team came out a little rough and lost the match in two sets. After a bye and reffing duties, the team regrouped and came back with two wins and finished in a three way tie for first in the pool. After a tiebreaker of head to head, it came down to point differential. We still ended up tied with one of the teams for second, so the next tie breaker was a coin flip that left us the third seed. This would come to benefit us later on. The second day we came in as the third seed in our pool. We had the same results as the first day, lost first match but came back to win the next two. This time there was not a three way tie, we were the clear cut second seed moving into the last day as the 22 seed overall. The final day we started off cold again but were able to come back and win the first set after giving up a big lead to start the set. We let the second set slip away and had to go to three. The other team wouldn't go away and we had to really fight to get in the game. At one point, I think we were down 11-8 and came back to tie it at 14-14 but didn't quite have enough to take it over the top. We finished the tourney with a great win to leave us finishing 23rd overall, up ten spots from our original seeding of 33rd. This finish placed us higher than the two teams we tied with on the first day. It is great to see this team's desire to be competitive and hunger to be the best. I hope they continue to grow as players and teammates. We have a long season to go still and we need to trust and rely on each other to finish strong.
Like I told the players, all of them had moments of greatness over the weekend. Shalini played great for us this weekend as the libero. My right sides were consistent as always. The outsides were fantastic, getting most of the sets and doing something positive with them. The players that shined the brightest would be the middles. Natalie, Maddie and Taylor were outstanding over the weekend. They had some of their best play of the season so far. They played the net liked they owned it, having season highs in blocks and working the corners on their kills. They expand their level of play by playing some back row defense. All three players have improved their serving and defense in the back row. It was great to see them step up to the challenge and deliver. It is going to be thrilling to see how these girls continue to grow and make huge strides throughout the season. Congrats to the middles, great job!!!
In my eyes, good teams are not the ones that play well with all their players available and win the games they are supposed to, but the teams that are successful when they are not suppose to win and dealing with adversity. This team has been able to do that, and will have to continue to do it. If they continue to believe in each others skills and ability and rise to the occasion, they will thrive in our next tourneys. Thank you for making my job fun.

Power League 2/12/12

Our power league site today was at Portland State University. We were seeded third in our pool, playing teams that we played at qualifier last month. As typical to our starts at tournaments, we came out hot and won the first match. They played well and looked like they thought today maybe an easy day. We then played our next march without the energy of the first match and came out short, losing in two sets. The final match of pool play was a crazy train. We played a team that lacked control, so balls were coming from all kinds of awkward directions. We split the first two sets, wanting to come out hard in the third. That didn't happen though. We fell behind 1-7 and had to work hard to get back in the game. The girls did an amazing job of playing their game and not only worked their way back into the game but won the match 18-16. With a little help from another team in our pool, we finished first in our pool. The first match of bracket was the best the team has played all season, so far. The passes were money every single time, plus the serving was extremely tough. The team came out on top and moved to the championship match. The team ended the day the same way it started, winning. They finished off the other team in two and walked out with new beanies to show for it.
All the players had moments where they shined brightly. The twins did a great job serving and blocking today. They continue to be solid players that are consistent. Brit and Maddie played great, despite dealing with some injuries. The top players today had to be Shalini and Emily. Shalini had an incredible day serving and a solid job in the back row. Her back row play has become very reliable and is continuing to get stronger there. Emily just happened to be our "go to" today. Anytime we needed a side out or a point, she came through for us. She is the leader on the court in building up our communication level and stepped her net game up by blocking some balls. Amazing job today team. Keep reaching for more and have fun while doing it.