Power League - Salem Hoop

Since this was our first power league in Silver Division, I was pretty nervous about how we would fare. If we had bad match at the wrong time and we would be back in Bronze, so I was hoping to maintain our position in Silver.
Our pool:
1 - Roseburg 14 Gold
2 - North Pacific 14 Black
3 - Mid-Valley 14 Black
4 - Us

The first match was against North Pacific. While we didn't play poorly, we didn't play very inspired. We just kind of went through the motions, losing 25-18, 25-17. I don't know if we were looking ahead to Roseburg (they beat us badly in the PLQ) or what, but we just kind of stank it up.
As I said earlier, we had played Roseburg early in the season and played well in one game, but got smoked in the second, so I was unsure how we would play. In addition, Roseburg had been in Gold Division all season, dropping down to Silver in the last Power League. Roseburg's strength is in their middle blockers as they block very well on middle attacks, but the can't get to the outside very quickly, so we really wanted to set the outsides a lot. Much to my pleasure, we really played well winning game 1, 25-19..... with a good portion of our points coming from our outsides. I didn't mention that they had cleaned our clock in game 2 the first time we played, hoping they wouldn't remember. Unfortunately, we kind of laid an egg and lost game two 25-12. So on to the short game three. Would it be a blow-out or would it be back and forth all the way..... game 3's tend to be one or the other. It ended up a blowout... in our favor!!!! We served perfect and really took advantage of Roseburg's mistakes by keeping the pressure on with some great offense and inspired defense. This was a really great win because it gave us the opportunity to maybe get second in our pool (keeping us in Silver), so I was pretty happy.
Our last match was against Mid-Valley 14 Black. We actually played pretty well, serving perfect, but Mid-Valley was just better. We lost game one, 25-21. However, we recovered really well and beat them in game two, 25-18. So here we go again... another game 3. This one was a back and forth affair, but we pulled away at the end, winning 15-11! This was another great win in that it guaranteed 1st or 2nd in our pool!!! The match that would determine 1st or 2nd was actually between Roseburg and North Pacific. If Roseburg won, we would get first, if North Pacific won, we would get second. Fortunately for us, Roseburg took care of business and won in 2, giving us a first place finish in pool play!
After much confusion about who was first and who was second, we ended up playing..... guess who??? West Valley. I think we've played them a hundred times and have yet to win. The match had an additional amount of pressure in that the winner gets to move to Gold. Game one was a typical game between us. We went back and forth, with West Valley getting the edge, winning 25-21. Game 2 was a complete reversal in that we played harder and more aggressively, and we ended up winning 25-21. Here we go again... game 3. We played a zillion game three's, but none like this one. We served perfectly and really got into West Valleys heads, forcing them to make numerous errors. We went on to win this crucial game 3, 15-5. !!!!!!! Not only did the win move us into GOLD, we did it against West Valley!! The team was soooooo excited while I was calm and cool (not!!!).

After the huge win, we were just emotionally and physically drained and had nothing left for the final match of the day against Roseburg. We ended up losing to them to take 2nd overall, an outcome that had not even entered my mind as possible.
Firsts:
14 Silver in the Gold Division
14 Silver beating West Valley
The way I figure it, no matter what happens in our next Power League, we are going to be in the top 16 for regionals (2-day). Also, we will be seeded in Regionals HIGHER that West Valley... woo-woo!!!!!

During one of our time-outs, I emphasized that we win as a team and lose as a team. So with that in mind, I'm not going to single out any players for great play. Instead, I am going to just say that this was an awesome team win. EVERY player on the team contributed in a positive way and I cannot image playing without any of them. They really worked hard and deserve to be where they are.. did I mention that they are in GOLD!!!!!!!!!

Next up - the final Power League.
Go Webfoot!!!!!!