2023 Tournament Recaps - Week 3

Week 3 and we continue to have champs each week! Check out who took first place this weekend!

10 Red

And that's a wrap! Our first tournament is in the books. The 10's Team traveled to Center Court this Sunday for the Revolution Open. We had an early 8am start which turned into a very long day! Everyone was pretty nervous. Our first match was against the RVA 11's Team. We played them tough but they had a couple of good servers we just couldn't get past and lost 25-16 25-19. Now that the jitters were gone we played our next match again OVC 10's. We played so good! Our serving started to get a little better and we started waking up! Although we lost, we played great, taking the second set to 27-25. For our last pool match we played Madtown 10's and won easily 25-11, 25-12.That sent us in the Silver bracket

playing WI Juniors 10's first and winning 24-13, 25-18.

Soooo.....our next match was against the winners of the match between Madtown and McHenry and we had a loooong time to wait. The first set went to 53-51, something that I had never seen before and that match was drawing quite the crowd! Needless to say, we were getting a little cold because of the long wait.

So we passed the time working on our vertical jumps and had Gaby teach us all a new team cheer! When we finally got on the court, which seemed like hours, we were up against Madtown again. Our match against them didn't go nearly as long as their match prior and we beat them 25-11, 25-17, making us Silver Bracket winners!

I was a little worried with the early start and this being our first tournament that the girls would get too tired but this group wasn't tired at all and a few even said they wanted to keep going even though the tournament was over. I was really impressed with our serving which got better as the day went on. We even had a couple of girls give their overhand serve a try and were successful! Overall our team showed a ton of teamwork, gave 100% effort and used the skills we've been working on in our practices. We may not be the tallest team but we will be a force to be reckoned with - so keep an eye on these girls! Next Sunday - Fusion Fest!

13 Black

This weekend was our second tournament of the year at the Revolution Open II. It was an 8 team tournament and we found ourselves in a 4 team pool having to play the eventual 1st and 2nd place teams. The girls didn't back down from the challenge of such good competition and did themselves proud playing very well against both teams in a losing effort. We lost to the eventual tournament champs scoring 20 and 22 points. We did finish our pool with 1 win and cruised through the silver bracket winning it pretty easily.

3 wins and 2 losses on the day sounds pretty good, but it was our 2 losses that really showed what we are capable of doing. We can hang with some very solid competition, and we are just a missed serve and maybe an unforced error away from finishing off our sets and beating one of these teams. Our confidence is growing and we are showing steady improvement, all good signs for the future.

15 Red | 2-3

We took on the challenge of playing in the open division this weekend and we were right where we needed to be! Day one in Appleton we ended up going 3 in all our matches but only came away with one win. We faced off against Sting 15 White, FC Elite 15 White, and IMPACT National team. We beat IMPACT and lost good matches with the other two. This put us in the Silver Bracket and we won our fist match against WI Premier 15 and then faced Sting United from Madison. The last match was fun with both teams making great plays but our serving put us in a lot of holes this weekend. Easy fix! It was great seeing use challenged to a point where we will need to be "on" at all times in order to compete at the next level.

15 Black | 5-1 | 5th Place

15 Black was back up north playing in Menasha on Sunday. We finished as Silver bracket champs, with a 5-1 record and placed 5th out of the 12 teams in the tournament.

We entered this tournament with high expectations and a couple key goals. The first was to decrease our service errors. While we did not give away a single ace pin, we had 4 players with 4 aces in a match. (#BringTheHeat - Rylee, Olivia, Laila. Katie). In total, we served at 88% with 53 aces vs 29 errors. This was a huge improvement from our last tournament.

In our second match, our defense was reminded of our second goal: always be low and on our toes. After giving up several points from setter dumps, our defense accepted the challenge and stepped up to cover. When we saw the same team in the Silver Bracket finals, there were no points earned from setter dumps.

While not the full list by far, the examples below demonstrate individual skills and awareness that continues to improve each day:

• Rylee for recognizing and then effectively attacking the line when the defense was not covering.

• Laila identified opportunities and then delivered tough targeted serves to keep opponents out of system.

• Morgan incorporated her own setter dump and earned kills in several key moments.

• Elyse for stepping in and setting during a run of crazy scramble plays.

• Katie for reading and refusing to allow that sneaky setter to earn a point.

15 White | 3-1 | 3rd Place

I AM 15 White had another amazing  tournament weekend! The girls had a 3-match winning streak against IW Bay 15 Red, Lakeshore, and CWVC, placing us in the gold bracket of the tournament. In bracket play, we went toe-to-toe again with CWVC who unfortunately earned the win against us, 26-28 and 20-25, placing us third for the overall tournament! Our girls did an amazing job and stayed focus through a long tournament day! Good work, I AM 15 White!

Our tournament MVP for this weekend is Jillian! She played amazing all around, passing, serving, and especially hitting! Anywhere Jillian was set on the court, she was killin’ that ball! We also would like to give an honorable mention to Ava who showed amazing versatility by playing a position she does not usually play (and very well!), as well as hustle as she pursued hard balls but still managed to make them playable. Also!! First joust pin of the season was won today by Brooklyn! Good work, ladies!

16 Red | 2-3

We began this stacked tournament seeded #9 out of 12 teams and had to play #3 Wisconsin Ice 16 national first thing Saturday. In three thrilling sets we pulled off the upset 25-20, 22-25, 15-12. Next we had to face another tough team in #4 Milwaukee Sting 16 Black. In both sets we got stuck in a rut giving up a big chunk of points and couldn’t quite recover losing both sets 18-25. To finish day one we played #10 Milwaukee Jrs 16-1 for the second time this season. We were victorious once again winning in straight sets 25-16, 25-17. Finishing the day 2-1 and taking second place in our pool set us up in the gold bracket and guaranteed a top half finish. Day 2 started out with a match against #5 FC Elite 16 White. The first set started out very back and forth until 12-12 where the tough team from Fox Cities went on a six point run that was enough to push them to victory 21-25. This second set saw a really slow start from I Am 16 Red that they couldn’t come back from and lost 14-25. That loss sent us down to the 5th/6th place match and after a long break we were matched up with #7 Milwaukee Sting 16 White. This match was very close the whole way but Sting did a little bit better job finishing sets off and took both by the same score of 21-25. We finished the tournament with a 6th place showing and played very well against some of the best competition the state has to offer. Audrey Jacklin crushed an overpass earning her first pin of the season. Audrey was also selected by the coaches as the first Keeper of Stitch, our team mascot for her monstrous day at the net and tremendous improvement from the first tournament. She gets that honor until she or a coach decides it is time to pass Stitch on to another worthy keeper. Additional pins earned were 3 iced pins to Coach Kevin for some well timed time out calls including a game winner.

16 Black | 5-0 | 1st Place

I AM 16 black had another exciting and eventful weekend at the 2023 Revolution Open. We started off strong against 360VA 16-1s, taking them down in two with scores of 25-18, 25-19. The girls took that momentum right into the next two matches with another two two-set wins

against Epic 16 White and Epic 16 Royal. Next up was the semifinal match against Epic 16 Gray. We started off strong winning the first set 25-14. The next set had its ups and downs, but the girls battled back from a 9-point deficit to win 25-23.

Ironically...we met up again with our first opponent of the day for the championship, 360VA 16-1s. The girls were so hyped being in the championship we polished off the first set easily 25-16. 360VA gave it right back to us in the second set, beating us 25-17. But the girls did not let up. They took no plays off fighting for each point in the third set, winning the whole thing 15-7. Shoutout to Becca Sherman for earning 3 over pass kill pins throughout the weekend! Our MVP for this weekend was Mary Weishan for an outstanding day of play, leading the team on and off the court and ultimately leading us to our 1st place victory!! I am so proud of each and every one of our players for coming together as a team and bringing home the gold.

17 Red | 3-2

Coming Soon!

17 Black

Coming Soon!

17 White | 3-2 | 2nd Place

This weekend we had a one day tournament at FC elite. The day started early and ended late, but the girls kept their spirits up the whole time, even when they were exhausted. We started the day a little flat and lost the first game. After a 2 hour break we came back with some fire and ready to win. We switched up the line up and everyone stepped up and made adjustments. We went into the next match of pool play strong and turned everything up a notch. We had great hustle and won the match in three. We then played right after where we

took the next team in 3. We made it to bracket play. We played a long hard match, the score was tight each set. But we came out victorious and won in 3. This took us to the championship match. The girls kept their energy and hustle up for the final match and never gave up. But in the end we struggled with picking up well placed balls and lost the match. Overall for the weekend we went 3-2 and finished 2nd place. The girls continue to grow closer together and we are very proud.

Player highlights:

Jordan ran a 5-1 and hustled hard after balls all day. Belle was a strong outlet on the right side and consistently got kills. Kaylee had her hitters back and picked up blocked balls all day long. Bella hustled on defense in middle back and dug a lot of difficult balls. Lilly and Alivia stepped in as utility players in the back row and were a strong presence and supported their teammates. Madisyn and Alexia were taking aggressive swings from the middle all day and keep getting stronger and stronger! McKinley had minimal hitting errors and stayed aggressive with her swings. Teagan continued to work on and build her mental toughness.

18 Red | 2-3

18 Red played in the Prep Dig Resolution this past weekend and were ready for the big challenges ahead. We were lucky enough to receive a top 8 seed. In this tournament the top 8 seeds played in two power pools and with that came a very difficult schedule. All three teams that we were set to play had a lot of experience and high level players.

First match against 16 Gold from Sting was not up to our standards. We played a very inconsistent and tentative match from start to finish and the results/score showed. We then had a quick turnover to play 17 Navy from FC Elite. We began to get into a rhythm and compete at a higher level. Unfortunately we gave up one large run in both sets that put us behind and we wouldn't catch back up. This was a valuable learning experience for the girls to see that one run can be the difference against the best competition. Lastly we played 17 Black from Sting and brought our best of the day. We competed every point and many facets of our game came together. Even though we lost in 3 and disappointed with the loss we knew things were starting to come together. We felt very positive about the steps being taken during an 0-3 day.

Day 2 started with a challenge match to get to gold. We played an FC Elite Flyers team that showed a lot of scrappiness. We were happy to see the girls bring their A game and they controlled this match from start to finish with solid serving, a controlled first contact, and communication to avoid any careless errors. In the quarterfinals we were matched up against 16 Gold again and met this challenge with greater purpose. The girls worked their tails off in the first set and lost 24-26 in a great set of volleyball. In the second set we came out a bit flat and had a hard time regaining momentum. Lastly, in the 5th Place match we had another rematch against 17 Black for Sting. The girls could have easily laid down but instead were ready to avenge the loss from day one. We played our best match of the season dominating all areas of the game but most importantly played with the most heart and team unity. This is a match that is going to give us a lot of confidence moving forward and shows what we can become this season!