Our first contest was against the AL Jrs 13-1 team.  We opened up that morning with Mary Margaret firing off 5 Aces and serving 100% while proudly showing why she is the 14’s lead-off server!  Jackie, Megan Wade and Rhian also served some Aces, but as a whole, our serving percentage was not the 80% we have set as our goal.  We struggled a little in our serve receive and therefore our setters had to really work hard to get those sets up.  We had a great streak of 8 kills from Rhian, Rachael, Megan W and Mary Margaret that clenched game one for us, but the second game saw fewer swings, a decrease in kills, and we just couldn’t get our offense in synch.  We lost game 2 but kept our energy up and headed in to match 2 with a line-up shift. 

Match 2 was versus Al Jrs. 14-2 team.  Our serving performance was still suffering from “first tournament jitters” but we hit 83% from the service line overall in the match….which was an improvement!  Our serve receive was still giving us fits and we gave away 11 points that we shouldn’t have there.  We were off balance and scrambling….”chickens with their heads cut off” had nothing on us in game 1J  Coach Rich stepped to the sideline and helped us make some adjustments on our serve receive, and Coach Bee helped with a few transitional corrections, and we were off and away again!  Unfortunately, it was too late to catch up and we dropped the match.  The highlights that game came in out of system plays when we saw teammates sacrifice their bodies to try to keep the ball in play!  Megan Smith came out of nowhere when the other team over passed the ball and we were in mid transition…… She was rotating to middle back, and charged forward to make the save.  She barely got her hands on the ball but was lucky enough to pop it over the net where it hit the ground for a point!  Then in the last few points of game 2, we had a shanked dig that Mary Margaret and Jackie both chased out the back of the court.  Mary Margaret made a diving reach and popped the ball up…..only to receive a swift kick to the eyeball as Jackie tried to leap over her and get the ball back over the net!  We took a time out…..Mary Margaret was adamant she wanted to stay in the game, but will more than likely be sporting a shiner for all of her effort!  That was a scary moment for her mom…..but a great one for the team because they had all said they were going to give 110% at the tournament, and they obviously meant it! 

By Match 3 we had fixed some of our Serve Receive issues and hit the court with confidence!  Megan Wade and Jackie both had great serves and each cranked out 5 Aces vs. PCV 14-1.  Lilla Bea connected well with Rhian and earned 4 early assists and then showed her versatility as she turned 2 tight passes into kills when she dumped the ball to the huge hole in the center of our opponents’ court!  Rachael had a great block as well as an aggressive swing in game 1 that helped us finally establish our middle.  Jai and Ashley also got in on the action this match….both getting a kill against PCV.  Much improvement and you could tell that the girls were much more comfortable with their rotation.  They took the match 25-18, 25-20.

Match 4 was a re-seed and vs. the #2 team in Pool B.  Team 1 had only lost one game, but was behind NATL in points scored, so we knew we had a tough match coming!  Team 1 had a line-up of “Serving Beasts”!  Every time we would adjust our position on the court, they would change up their serve and ended up keeping us off balance most of the match.  They also had a host of great passers and a setter who was jump setting balls on the fly to hitters who always seemed to be in the perfect place to send the ball over with some serious heat!  Bottom line…..we got out gunned!  Bright spots were Lilla Bea’s naked Ace and Kill…..and Jackie, Mary Margaret, Rhian and Megan Wades combined 13 Digs!  We worked hard on the sidelines making adjustments and correcting position on our rotational defense, but alas, we dropped the match and with that would not move on to the play-offs.

The positives for the day were MANY.  Seeing the girls work through the rough spots as a team was great!  They have such solid teamwork and are a positive group which makes them so much fun to coach!!!  They all gave tremendous effort and we now know where our weak spots are and what we need to work on the next two weeks.Great job- a fun day and special thanks to all of the parents for their support and great food table!!!  Coach Rich, Coach Bee and I all appreciate having such a great set of parents in the stands!  Looking forward to Feb 7^th!!!!

Coach Angela