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