Tournament Summary Power League Qualifier

We were eager to get into Power League hoping to play well enough to maintain our seed or move up a little. This is a really tough tournament in that one match can determine what division you'll end up in, so inconsistency is a killer.

Our pool consisted of the #5 team, Roseburg 14 Black, the #12 seed CCJV 14 Black, us at #21 and the #28, Pacific 14 Crew. The way this qualifier worked in pool play is that you take over the seed # of the position you finish in pool play. So if we finished 1st, we would take the #5 spot, 2nd the #12 spot, 3rd we would keep the #21 spot and if we finished 4th, we would take #28. BTW, there are 128 14's teams in our region.

Our first match was against the #5 team in the region, Roseburg 14 Black. We knew they would be very good and that we would have to be at our best in order to beat them. Fortunately, we really played well in game one, nailing passes and playing offensively well. We really passed well, only recording one zero pass. We added really good serving, only missing one serve in the game, while scoring a couple of aces. When we were able to run our offense, we were real successful. In the end, we lost game one 23-25. We were confident that we could play with them and were eager to see what we could do in game 2. For whatever reason, we played as poorly and got behind quick. That poor start shook our confidence and the whole team contributed to a rout by Roseburg. It was disappointing because we had played so well in game 1 so we knew how we could play. In game one we only had one zero pass... in game two we had eleven. Yikes! One positive to take out of the match is that we only missed one serve in the entire match, while serving up 3 aces.

Match #2 was against Clark County Juniors, a Vancouver WA team. Again, we played pretty well, not great, but not bad either. Playing solid and consistent is good, but when playing a better skilled team like CCJV, you have to play awesome, while the opposition has to play poorly. Neither one of those things happened, so we ended losing in 2, 1i9-25, 17-25.

That set up a crucial match against the #28 team, Pacific Crew. This is the one match we HAD to win. If we lose it, we drop into Diamond Division. Win it and we stay in Bronze. I didn't tell the team how important the match was, confident that they would play well... I didn't want to add any unnecessary pressure. My hopes were realized when the team performed as expected. They made a few mistakes, but on the whole played well. We ended up winning the match rather easily, 25-15, 25-15. Whew!!!

So we started the morning 21st and ended 21st. Since we had the last round in pool play off, and our next match wouldn't start for at least an hour after the end of pool play, we had a couple of hours off. This is always concerning because of the potential let down after a long break. We passed the time in the sunshine with some games of hacky-sack.... Norm is horrible.

This next match is what they call a cross-over challenge. It gives teams an opportunity to jump up (or down). If a team does something unexpected, they can be rewarded handsomely or punished harshly. Fortunately for us, the match didn't hold a whole lot of importance... it had us pitted against the #20 team. So we win it, we move up a spot... we lose it and we stay #21. By coincidence, #20 team was West Valley Juniors, the very same team we've played twice at our last tournament. In those matches, we played pretty good, but ended up losing in three. Unfortunately for us, we were a little off and WVJ played really well and we ended up losing in 2, 16-25, 7-25. Game 2 was much like the second game against Roseburg, we just couldn't catch a break. Nonetheless, we ended still 21st going into the last match.

This last match is simply a seeded within our pool match. Win it and we stay #21, lose it and we end up #24th.... not a whole lot of difference. Since we were running way late, the tournament director asked if we wanted to do a one game match, or a regular 2 out of 3. Since we had a2 hour drive and Roseburg (reffing team) had a 3 1/2 hour drive, we agreed to do the one game variety. Our opponent was PVC green, who started out #25. These early season matches are always worrisome because you just don't know how accurate the rankings are. Fortunately for us they didn't prove too tough and we handled them easily, winning 25-16.

So after a very long day, we ended where we started, 21st. Solidly in the Bronze Division. I'm pleased with our position in that I think from what I've seen of other Bronze teams, we should be able to make a run at Silver.

Our serving percentage in was a respectable 88% (our goal is 90%) with 2 players posting a perfect day, Sara B and Victoria. Nice job girls.

Our serve receive however was a poor 1.52... obviously something we will work on over the next few weeks. Anna and Delaney posted a 1.9 while Sara B posted a team high 2.0. Again, nice job girls.

Our setters, Brit and Sarah J worked hard all day. Brit added a 91% serving percentage to her day and Sarah J mixed up setting well, getting everyone involved. One of the Sarah's great plays was the very nice setter dump that ended the match and our day. Nice job setters.

Our outsides continued their good play. I already mention Sara... both for serving and passing, but the others contributed as well. Rebecca served over 90% for the second tournament in a row. As mentioned before, Delaney passing score was over a 1.9 and Emma contributed with solid play all day.

Our middles, Alexa and Victoria contributed in their own way as well. As mention above, Victoria served perfectly and Alexa had another great day day both on serving (for the second tournament in a row, over 94%) and at the net. Alexa has this knack for making reaction plays at the net when it looks like their is no chance for a play... nice job both of you.

Our right side Evan and Brighton both served over the magical 90% mark. In addition, Brighton set exceptionally well when she has the duties during our special rotations when we have Evan serve. Evan's athleticism is huge in that he gets a good swing on most set balls and is a huge contributor to our offense.

Our player of the day goes to Sara B for the best passing and serving for the day, along with some great attacks.

Our play of the day goes to Anna for diving to the floor to get to a short ball, then popping up and hitting a great down ball, all on the same play.

Our goofy play of the day goes to Rebecca for letting Emma fake her out on a served ball, resulting in a ball hitting the floor between Rebecca's feet.


Next up, Power League in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!!!

Norm

Tournament Summary - Club Ridge 1/9/11

I couldn't wait for our first tournament to start... I was really anxious to see how we would do. I went into the tournament with a goal of getting used to playing with each other... used to the rotations... used to my "style". I really didn't care how we fared with win-losses, I just wanted to see where we were and for the team to get comfortable.


We started out playing a pretty weak team, Bridgetown 14 Navy. While they were weak, we didn't do ourselves any favors... we made numerous skill errors in game 1, and ended up losing it 19-25. I did my best to calm the team down between games and it seemed to work as we cruised to an easy match victory winning games 2 and 3 25-7, 15-5. Once we got the first win under our belts we settled down and started playing pretty well.


Match 2 was another easy opponent, MHAC Velocity. There wasn't much for highlights in this one.... we won easily 25-13, 25-2. The only two points they earned were from 2 of our missed serves.


I knew that match 3 in pool play (West Valley Juniors) would be tougher for us. We had seen them play since we had reffed them, so we knew they were good. We started game 1 a little shaky, we would give up a point or two, then earn one back. Before we knew it, they had stretched that to a 15-25 win. They simply outplayed us. Game two was a different story as we really executed well. Our serving and serve receive were good, as was our setting and hitting. When everything clicking, we went on to win 25-19. While I was hoping to carry that momentum into game 3, it just didn't happen as we fell 9-15.


So after pool play, we were 2nd in our pool, 4th overall. Our first opponent (victim?) in bracket play was CC Athletics, a team from Washington. Sometimes after a long break a team will be flat, but that didn't happen to us. Really played pretty well in this match, cruising to a two game win, 25-18, 25-21.


That win put us into the semi-finals with our sister team, Webfoot Green. I really dislike playing teams that supposedly ranked lower than us. You really are in a no-win situation. The "lower" team is excited to have an opportunity to knock off the "higher" team, while the "higher" team is afraid that that is exactly what they would do. Despite that, 14 Silver really played well in game 1, winning 25-15. The win was a little too easy in that we decided to spot them a 8-1 lead in game two... making my already grey hair,.. greyer. After a couple of timeouts to settle them down, we started playing better and would gain a point here and there and eventually climbed back into the game. We never lead until the very end, eventually winning 26-24. Whew!!!!


That win put us in the finals with the same team we lost to in pool play, West Valley Juniors. While we played hard and won game one 25-21, we eventually lost to them in three games. One note is that we served perfectly in game 3, no misses.... but since we didn't win it, no dinner (dang!).


So we ended up second, a really great start. While there wasn't a whole lot of competition, we beat everyone that was lessor skilled and played a better skilled team great to the end. I am really pleased with where we are this early in the season. While there are lots of things to work on, all aspects of our game are good. We have a real solid foundation.


Individually, our setters, Brit and Sara did great. We learned that Sarah is going to get to just about anything (get out of the way!). Brit got 96% of her serves in, 2nd best on the team, while Sarah had the highest passing score on the team. I'm not quite sure how our setters even get passing opportunities on serve receive, but I'll take it! Both girls distributed the ball to all three hitters, keeping the defenses guessing. We even had a couple of dumps!!!!


Our Right-sides, Evan and Brighton did exactly what I was hoping they would do. They each got a stuff block on the outside hitters (that's why we have them out there!) and also had numerous attacks and kills. My right sides on past teams have been a bit ... heigth challenged so I never had the opportunity to use them as an offensive weapon, but with these two, we'll do great. Not only did they both play the rightside well, they both served over the magical 90% mark, with Evan posting a perfect day, no missed served.


Our Middles were equally great, Alexa and Victoria. Victoria joined the stuff block party with one of her own and Alexa was a serving machine for us, hitting over 95% in. In addition, Alexa was diving on the floor over and over to keep balls in play, allowing us to get a kill and thus allowing her to serve again.


Our outsides, Emma, Rebecca, Sara B and Delaney all did well, scoring numerous kills from the outside. Rebecca and Sara both served over 90% in, and Emma and Delaney really played some nice defense.


Last but not least comes Anna. OMG! Who knew she would be so awesome in the back row. Usually passes are going all over the court, but not when Anna passed. Her accuracy is the start of all our offense. Without her skill back there, we would be really struggling. In addition, she served the snot out the ball, serving more than any other player.


You probably saw the girls keeping stats on the sideline. The two stats we keep are passing and serving. For serving, we strive to hit the 90% in mark. If it's higher, that means we are serving too easy, lower than that and we're giving away too many points. As a team, we served 89.8% in, right at the target. We scored numerous aces and made it really tough on our opponents. The other stat is passing. We only record the first pass from serve receive, but it gives in indication on how well we pass as a whole. the scoring goes like this: a 0 is for an ace by the other team, a 1 is for a bad pass, a 2 is for a OK pass and a 3 is for a nailed pass. For this tournament, we passed a 2.1 which is pretty good. Anything over 2 is OK, while a 2.5 is excellent. Our challenge will be to maintain the goods score when the competition is a little higher.


As I said in the beginning, I wasn't real concerned about winning and losing this tournament, but a 2nd place finish was awesome. The team got to know how each other plays and at times, looked really good. There wasn't anyone who "stunk it up", everyone contributed to our success.


I always give out tournament awards for "Play of the Day" and for Player of the Day". In addition, something really goofy happens, so we'll start with that one. The "Where's my Chair" award goes to Victoria for entertaining us by missing her chair when she went to si down... landing on her rear-end. It was quite a sight!


Our "Play of the Day" goes to three players for their stuff blocks. Congratulations to Evan, Brighton and Victoria!


Our "Player of the Day" goes to Anna. Her rock solid performance was awesome. Nice job Anna!


Next up - Wednesday, Jan 19th - Bring something for Rebecca as her birthday is next Tuesday.


Next Saturday, the 22nd. Power League Qualifier, The Courts in Beaverton... not very far from where we were at.



Go Webfoot!