13 Red | 3-2 | 5th Place
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14 Red | 3-1 | 2nd Place
The girls were eager to play after having some time off since the Badger Region Championships (which resulted in a 4th place finish in the Open division). The time off and lighter workload due to spring breaks and other events has created a reinvigorated group in practice and in our matches this past weekend. We entered the weekend in Green Bay as the overall #1 seed and we played like it in our pool. Our attackers were aggressive, with Ana Degner and Hannah Heitzkey showing how dynamic our offense can be when both of them are using the correct skills when they approach and swing. Ana made smart plays when it was required and went for points when the opportunity was there, Hannah absolutely crushed some swings on both pins that may have been some of the hardest balls she has ever hit. Sierra Hoeft had a very nice weekend running our offense and worked hard in the distribution of attempts to all hitters. Her serve and defense showed that she was locked in to play. Lauren Lueth has also become so consistent in her tempo sets as a middle, so much so that she really loves running the back quick and it is effective. Lauren also delivered some nice serving runs. Our DS's, Abby Barthelemy and Maddie Katte have gotten so much stronger in their roles. Abby was outstanding in server receive and Maddie kept rallies alive with her tenacity and toughness on some really hard hit attacks.
On Day 2 we met up with a Sting Silver team that can give us some fits, but we absolutely rolled right through them with an abundance of serves that were either aces or brought free balls our way, which we promptly turned into points. The coaches were proud of the girls for making quick work of a team that sometimes we play too close to; no playing with our food in this match!
This brought us to the championship match against a very sound and disciplined Fond du Lac Fusion team who is an excellent match up for us. If we don't play very well against them, they can beat us. We beat them earlier this year in a tight match, so we knew what to expect from them. The first set went as was expected, it seemed that the set was tied the entire time with both teams making plays and no servers going on 3-4 point runs. We fell short 23-25, but it wasn't a bad set loss, they are a good team. In set 2, we began by missing 5 of our first 6 serves and found ourselves naturally down by an uncomfortable margin, not to mention we sub a lot and burned a bunch in the first 50% of that set. But, we stayed calm and slowly chipped away at the lead, and found ourselves within striking distance in the late teens on the scoreboard. We had to keep some girls in unusual positions due to subbing limits, but we scraped and clawed our way back to force a set 3. It started off back and forth, but we found ourselves in rotation that we couldn't score out of and fell behind early, and in a game to 15, we ran out of points.
Despite the 2nd place finish to a very deserving winner, the weekend was really fun and we showed some growth. We just need to play cleaner at times so we don't have to rely so much on hustle-which can be fun to watch, but it requires so much hard work. The coaches can't wait to see them play again in Minnesota!
15 Red | 6-0 | 1st Place
Coming off a long break since our 2nd place finish at Badger Region Open Championships we had time to implement some new offensive techniques that both our setters applied to the games this weekend. On paper we felt that our day one pool was a good group of teams. Two of them we have seen before and one of them we have lost to. Having the #1 seed in this tournament put a target on our backs but the girls were ready to defend that title.
Match one we faced off against IMPACT - National, a team that we've battled before. We were ready for the early morning start and got good jumps on them both games winning 25-16 and 25-15. After reffing, we played Fond Du Lac Fusion. This is the first time we faced off this year and we know they typically have a string team. They had a setter that was really aggressive as an offensive piece on their side. This is something that we have not experienced this year and took a minute to figure it out. A battle in game one that we won 26-24 and game two we adjusted and ran away with a 25-11 win. The last match of the day we player FVP and they beat us the last time we met! This was also for 1st in out pool so the girls were hyped! Game one we did have to find the groove again offensively because we had more than usual hitting errors and serving was just missing the mark. This allowed for FVP to stay with us, but at the end of the game, we had big blocks by Ambryn and huge kills for Eden. We won 25-23 and 25-12.
Day two we had a spot in the quarterfinals. We cranked way serves with Emy leading the way with 11 aces in that match! We won 25-5, 25-20. The semifinals we matched up with Fond Du Lac Fusion from the day before. We knew what to expect we took off in the second half of each game winning 25-16, 25-14.
Now we are in the championship vs IMPACT - National who was also in our day-1 pool! We had another game with some uncharitable hitting errors and lost our first set 25-21. We knew we had chances to switch that lead but it just didn't go our way. The team had a short memory and went back to work taking game two with some high octane offense winning 25-16. We always same championships go 3 and this was the case again! We went down a few point early but stayed the course to win 15-9, taking 1st place overall!
Emy Miller - 1x Serving Pin, 1x Serving Professional, 2x Pancake Pins
Eden Roethel - 2x Overpass Pins, 1x Serving Pin
Norah Merow - 1x Overpass Pin
Paige Proefrock - 1x Serving Pin, 2x Overpass Pins
Austin Cass - 1x Ice Pin
Great work! Minnesota next week!
16 Red | 2-3 | 5th Place
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17 Red | 4-2 | 3rd Place
Over the weekend, 17 Red competed in Green Bay! On Saturday, they took care of business – starting off the day with 2 wins. They then faced a fast-paced, technically-sound team and fought their absolute hardest. Though an unfortunate loss, they walked away with heads held high, knowing they played a great game. To highlight a few key players, Olivia Friedl and Kate Boettinger both passed 2.0 on the day, while Emma Lober hit .320!
Their 2-1 finish led them to the gold bracket on Sunday, where they began the day by playing 1W Bay 18 National. Though a close match, 17 Red was able to pull out another victory on the weekend, advancing to quarterfinals.
Next up: 262 Attack 17 Savage. Previously this season, they had lost a close 3-set match against this team, which only fueled them for this rematch. As a team, they hit at 20%, had 45 digs and 4 blocks. This was easily the most confident and cohesive this team has played all season.
They then matched up against Impact 17 National in the semifinals. With set one ending 24-26 – the girls were fired up for a shot at redemption. They passed well and stayed aggressive throughout but walked away with their second loss of the weekend – securing a third-place finish. The team’s success wouldn’t have been possible without the energy, dedication, and consistency of setter, Lily Oberneder. For this reason, she is 17 Red’s MVP for Battle at the Bay. Her will to win sparked a fire in the others, and ultimately, led to a great finish on the weekend.
As a team, there has been so much progress made, with so much more room for growth. They will head to Minnesota this coming weekend for another chance to make strides.
18 Red | 0-4 | 10th Place
Coming Soon!
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