2023 Tournament Recaps - Week 4

We divide and conquer the weekend was our teams head to the Sting Center, Center Court, Green Bay, and Fond Du Lac! We are now on a 4 week champion streak!

11 Red | 5-1 | 2nd Place

This weekend the 11 Red team traveled to the Sting Center to play in the 2 day Frisco Mo Tournament this weekend. It was a tough tournament for the team with some of the best teams in Wisconsin participating in the tournament.

The team started Saturday a little nervous and struggled in both serving and serve receive. After losing game 1 and falling behind in game two against Sting 10's, I AM used their competitive edge, and two perfectly timed time-outs (Ice pins earned by both coaches) to push to an exciting 33-31 victory in game two. I AM used that momentum and confidence to win game 3 easily, 15-9. Match 2, I AM had the victory 25-12 and 27-25 with Jane (for the second time this season) leading the team from the service line to come back in game 2 from a 20-24 deficit to win the game. We then played the Penguins for first place in our pool. I AM took control early and won both games 25-22 and 25-21. Finishing the day 3-0 the I AM Red team was super excited to compete in the GOLD bracket on Sunday!

The I AM red team faced off against Madtown 11-2s to start the day on Sunday. Using the confidence from the day before, I AM played almost flawlessly taking game 1 (25-7). Although game 2 was closer, I AM showed that they can handle the pressure coming from behind and won game 2 (26-24). I AM then won the opportunity to compete against Madtowns 11-1s, who had taken over the 1 seed after beating Sting Black. It was a battle from the beginning, and although I AM had more than double the kills of Madtown, their aggressive serves put them in the lead 20-24 as Charlotte went back to serve. An Ace, a Freeball converted to a kill by Madi, and another ACE tightened the score to 23-24 and Madtown used a time-out to try and Ice Charlotte. I AM is however used to the pressure and after one more freeball converted to a kill by Madi, and another ACE by Charlotte, I AM saw themselves in the lead 25-24 and another time-out by Madtown. Charlotte again showed her Confidence and concentration as she made her serve. I AM refused to let the ball hit the ground and won an intense rally to win game 1 (26-24). Madtown was not going to let down and kept I AM off balance in game 2 with very aggressive serves and was able to take game 2 (8-25). In game 3 it was all I AM. With aggressive serves and the conversion of freeball to big swings, I AM took the early lead and never let down, winning game 3 (15-9).

After winning this intense match, we had to sit and wait 45 minutes to play the Championship match against Sting. I AM was out of gas and not able to put up the performance that they had in the previous set and lost to Milwaukee Sting in two games. I AM Red finished 2nd out of 15 teams in the most competitive event of the season.

We are super proud of this group of girls and the progress they have made so far this season. We were the most aggressive team in the building this weekend with great execution of our freeball transition and attacks (In my opinion, this makes you champions). Coach Ryden and I cannot wait to build on these skills.

11 Black | 1-3

11 Black was back in action this weekend at the Sting Center for Volleypalooza! We went 1-3 overall, being challenged by some very tough teams! Despite some of the losses, the girls still stuck through with good attitudes and continued to fight. The highlight of the weekend was when we were down 11-20 in one set and came back and won 26-24! We then proceeded to then win the second set 25-12! Super excited to get back in the gym to get better and come out stronger next weekend!

12 Red | 3-2 | 3rd Place

I AM 12 Red had another successful weekend! We competed in our first 2-day tournament and finished tied for 3rd at the Frisco Mo Volleypalooza going 3-2! We took 2nd in our pool on Saturday which moved us into the gold bracket for Sunday! Serving again proved to be key in all of our wins. Serving pins go out to Grace & Hazel with the serving professional pin going to Emery! Emery was also solid for us at the libero position, coming up with some great digs to go with her strong serve receive. Our middle blockers continue to become more active for us at the net with both Addie and Greta earning overpass kills this weekend.

We are having fun but are also learning how to react when things aren’t going our way and in moments of tougher competition! Can’t wait to see the progress this team will make by the end of the season!

13 Red | 5-0 | 1st Place

13 Red played in the Fondy Fest tournament this weekend, finishing as Champions!! It was a long day with 5 matches, but the team came out ready to play right from the start. We dominated in pool play, not dropping a single set. Our ball control was fantastic, which allowed us to take a lot of aggressive swings. Our tough serving also gave us a big advantage and helped propel us to the gold bracket.

The gold bracket was more of a challenge for us, but the girls did a great job of staying in control of their play. The semi-final match was back and forth initially, but we quickly found our groove and earned a spot in the Championship match. We knew the final match would be a battle, and it was exactly that. We came out with a close first set 25-23 win but then lost some energy, sending the match to a 3rd set. Even after a tiring day, the girls were able to ramp up their energy and convincingly win the match 15-5. Since the past tournament two weekends ago, we have been working a lot on our serve receive and out of system hitting so it was awesome to see those things go well this weekend!

14 Red | 5-0 | 1st Place

We took our group to Fond du Lac and played in a 15's event. The challenges that we encountered varied greatly and it turned out to be an amazing experience! It was a 12 team field and we were put into a pool with teams that, while bigger due to age, struggled to really push us around. This created the first challenge as we then allowed ourselves to play a bit too sloppy at times and found ourselves in closer sets than we should have been. Between matches and during timeouts we were able to discuss the importance of minimizing unforced errors and continuing to play with intensity and purpose regardless of who we were competing against. It turned out to be enough as we swept our pool and entered the Gold Bracket as the #2 seed overall. This is where we needed to turn the intensity and purpose into a 2+ hour affair.

We first played a very tough Fond du Lac Fusion 14's team that matched up with us rather well. It was truly a back-and-forth match that was characterized by scramble plays on both sides, tough serving runs, aggressive attacks, and a gym that finally got loud! We split the first 2 sets in tight ones, and pulled out a 3rd set win, 17-15, to get us into the championship match. In this match we played the South Shore Slam 15's. They were clearly an experienced team at some key positions and they also had what seemed like each girl's entire family in the stands who orchestrated collective and timed cheers for every single point they scored; which was quite few given that we found ourselves once again in a 3rd set. This 3rd set was something that I hope becomes our norm as the plays that our TEAM made to stay in the set were amazing. The mistakes that we did make were shaken off quicker, our speed to the ball was surprising in light of the fact that we had been in the building for 10 hours at that point (Thanks AP training!!!!), and the collective energy was a joy to watch. We pulled out a minor comeback being down 13-14 in the third set and ended up winning 19-17, winning the tournament! (5-0)

Every single player on our team had a moment that is worth mentioning here, and that is what makes this win so cool! Morgan Vetter played so consistently all day, and her communication was the best that it has ever been. She was absolutely fantastic. Ana Degner served so intelligently in our final match and worked her butt off keeping balls alive when she was in the back row. Grace Tilley and Lauren Lueth showed some nice growth as defenders in the middle position. They both had a couple of overpass kills and played some really smart shots when running their attacks.

On to the Power League!

14 Black | 2-2 | 3rd Place

At the Bay Bash tournament we started off playing strong taking the first set of the day 25-11. We lost the second set due to a little hesitation, then we fought hard but sadly fell short of the match win, losing the third set 12-15. We played fairly easy teams the next two matches. This totally boosted the team’s confidence. In pool play we were 2-1, so we got the bid into the gold bracket. We won the first round of bracket play pretty easily. The second round we fell short of making it to the championship round, 11-15. Overall the weekend brought lot of growth as a team. The team had a combined 47 aces for the weekend. Summer W. was our leading ace server with 14 aces. Alessandra A. had 5 blocks and Kaliyah T. had 2! Shoutout to MVP Emersyn L. for really taking hold of her role as Libero, being loud, and positive on the court.

15 Gold

15 Gold had a great tournament this weekend! They improved greatly on communication and their net play, and it showed. We are so proud of our girls, and we are looking forward to the next tournament!

16 White | 2-2

This weekend the 16 white team played a single day tournament at Center Court in Waukesha. It was our first tournament with our full roster and it was really nice to have all of the girls there playing together as a team like they have been practicing to do. The girls did really well through pool play games despite some rough officiating.

The first game went somewhat smoothly despite giving up two 5-6 point runs in the second set that caused us a big point deficit. Although we were unable to come all the way back and win the second set due to a point cap of 27, we were able to finish out the match in set three. Huge shoutout to Eden Korth who had 11 serving aces in that match! The girls swept their opponent in match 2 and had a nail-biting win in match 3 that went to 3 sets!

The girls faced a tough FC Elite team in their first match of bracket play. They had a rough first set that was rooted mainly in serve receive errors and being slow on their feet. They did however pick it up in set two and although they did not win against FC Elite, they finished strong in the tournament! The girls have a lot to work on, but are glad they got to face some more competitive opponents!