MLK Tournament Summary

This is the inaugural year of the MLK Classic here in Eugene. I was unsure as to what the format would be and what the competition would be like, but I kept an open mind and went with the flow.

What I liked about the tournament is that it would be a good first tournament in that we would get a lot of playing time and that would translate to us being comfortable w/ our lineups, defenses and each other before our upcoming power league. I also was looking forward to see how the team chemistry thing worked. Although I felt I had a pretty good read on the girls, you never know until you put them in a competitive situation.

Before I go into each game, I want to say that the team far exceeded my expectations as far a team chemistry goes. Usually I have to prod them a bit to do things together and to stay together as a team. This team needed no prodding. During down times they all hung together, either just sitting and watching or by playing a little ball together. When they were playing, they supported each other without finger-pointing or eye-rolls whenever there was a error made. There also were no "clics" which is really refreshing. With them being such great teammates, we can focus more on the skill part of the game.

OK, we started the season out with a match against our sister team, 13 Gold. I always am nervous about playing a team that is supposedly "lower" than us because the team that is "higher" freaks outs out and plays really poorly, while the "lower" team has nothing to lose and plays loose and aggressive. Fortunately for us, we played as we should, taking care of business and dispatching them 25-16, 25-18. 13 Gold has some pretty good servers and we struggled a bit with that, but we countered w/ 16 aces of our own. The only real mental mistake we made was a rotation error where one of our middles forgot to go in when we switched w/ the Libero... kind of an easy call since we only had 5 players on the court! There was no harm done and I'm sure that that will not happen again. A great start to our 2010 season though... undefeated!!!

Our second match of the day was against Clark County 14 Black. This team is right above us in Power League, ranked in the Silver Division. They were a pretty solid team with a very good setter. The girl was very athletic and she really took control of her team making critical plays when she needed. In addition to that, she ate us up with her serving. (We'll have to figure this team out... they are in our pool at our next Power League). Anyway, Clark Count beat us in two, 19-25, 11-25. While we didn't play poorly, we didn't have much spark either.

Our last match of the day was against WVBA Mizuno. This team consisted of girls that looked 16. They were tall and athletic and played really well. They triple-blocked successfully and pretty much dominated in all parts of the game. We lost the first game, 16-25, which in retrospect, was pretty good since they really took it to us in the second game, 9-25.

So we finished they day 1-2. We beat a team that was not as skilled as us and lost to a couple of teams that were very skilled. Looking ahead, - Both of these teams ended up in the finals, with WVBA wining the whole tournament and Clark County took 2nd.

Sunday - Pool Play:
The first match of day two had us pitted against a 13's team, WVBA Mizuno 13's. Yes, they are the sister team to the team that whooped us on Saturday, so I was a bit concerned that the whole club may be filled with skilled athletes. My fears were unfounded, not because the team wasn't good, but we played really well. We won game one 25-18 playing pretty solid, but then really took it to them in game two, serving them off the court with nine aces... the ending score was 25-14.

The next match of the day was against Motion Kaepa- Bantam 14's. This time we didn't play so well in the beginning, with us being down 6-0 before I called a time-out to settle the team down. They responded really well and went on to get it tied at 9, in route to a 25-19 win. With the confidence from knowing we came back to beat them, we went on to give them a thumping in game two, winning 25-13. The highlight of this game is that we only missed one serve (Remember, a perfect serving game earns the girls' a dinner out!)

So 2-0 so far, with our last match against East County Juniors. This team was not very skilled and I knew all we had to do was manage the game and we would be fine. This is exactly what we did as we cruised to a 25-9, 25-6 victory.

3-0 for the day, very cool!

Monday - Bracket play:

We ended pool play 4-2, which by my figuring put us 5th overall. Being fifth in in a 10 team pool matches us up with the 4th place team, which was Clark County again (sigh...). Nevertheless, I talked to the girls about playing hard no matter what the score was. While they played hard, Clark County was just too tough for us and the beat us 25-16, 25-10. We played OK in the match, but their athleticism coupled with some poor passing on our part led to the defeat.

So overall, we ended a respectable 4-3. When I look back on my goals for the tournament, I felt we did what we needed to do. We figured out our lineups and also figured each other out. I have a better feel for how the girls play and they know what my expectations and style are.

As a team, we served close to 85% of our serves in. Not too bad, considering that I always give them zones to hit, and some of them are pretty tough (2&4... ask your daughter!) I would like to see our percentage in up in the 90% area, so we will continue to work on that.

As I said earlier, I am very excited about the way this team played together. The great attitudes and chemistry will help us through the long club season.

Individually, the girls did some pretty awesome stuff. Sidney showed everyone what a great passer she was by nailing the majority of balls hit her way while Kelli and Laina offense really stood out. Not only did they hit well, they both served at a 95% in pace, with Kelli serving with the highest score, a 2.13 ... awesome! Karson had a BB tournament, so she had limited playing time but she took full advantage by serving a perfect 100% in! Our first 100%er for the year. Great job Karson!

Our setters, Sky, Kayla and Molly did a very good job of getting to most of the playable passes and putting them up for our hitters. In addition, the set the 9(back set to the RS) quite a bit. Usually my teams are afraid to try this difficult set, but these girls didn't know that, so they set it at will. Sky's serving was right at the 89% line so she did well there. They all were a bit timid when it came to the setter dump, but Kayla tried it numerous times with great success. Then there is Molly... who knew she could hit those short serves over and over? (OK, I knew... but did you?) Even when we played the really good teams, she would hit the short serve that more often than not, got us a free ball on the first return. Now we need to put that free ball away!

Our middle blockers Rachel and Amanda were great. Usually there is a net call or two on at our first tournament, but not these two, they were perfect at the net. We even got our first stuff block! On the second day, Rachel timed a middle attack perfectly and she blocked it straight down in front of the hitter. Woo-woo! Unfortunately, the chairs prevented Rachel from unleashing her jump serve... I can't wait to see more of that! Amanda played hard and smart all three days and is going to force to deal with as she gains confidence and skill.

And then there's Courtney. Where would we be without her anchoring the back row? She really played well, nailing pass after pass. In addition to the great back row play, she took advantage of her limited serving by only missing one serve over the 3 days, earning her an in rate of 93%. We are very fortunate to have such a solid Libero on our team.

So, a good start to what I hope is going to be a great season. We have lots to work on on Wednesday before our Power League Qualifier. Look for more back row attacks, higher sets, setter dumps and free balls taken on our hands. Speaking of the Power League, we are at the Courts in Beaverton. We play at 8:00, so plan on arriving NLT 7:15. We "get" to play the #1 team in the region, PVC Red and the team that beat us twice, Clark Count 14 Black. Woo-woo! It will be a good challenge to see how we respond to the competetion!

If anyone needs directions, go here!
http://www.columbiaempirevolleyball.com/about/directions/index.html

I sent a flyer home talking about the hotel I am staying at with the girls. If you want to see it, look in their book!

So that's aboout it. See you all on Sunday!

Go Webfoot!