2023 Tournament Recaps - Week 6

Power League weekend finished up with our teams in the Elite Division and weekend #2 for all other divisions.

12 Red | 4-1 | 2nd Place

12 Red had a successful Saturday earning a 2nd place medal at the Fondy Freeze. Our serving is becoming more aggressive and is a key factor in our success. We had several players earn serving ace pins!

We dominated our pool finishing 6-0 and earning the #1 seed in the Gold Bracket. The team was excited for bracket play!! We faced a solid 414 team in the semifinals, that we had seen earlier this season. The first set has us down 17-12, but some consistent serving helped us tie it at 17-17 and we were able to eventually take the match 2-0 and head to the championship! We faced the other 414 team who came out tough from the start. We found ourselves down big 19-9, but fought back to take the lead 25-24. Unfortunately, we couldn't close out the set and lost 28-26. Set 2 taught us how crucial the 1st contact truly is. We are also working on how to stay positive and move on after our mistakes and how our attitude and body language can affect the game. We are looking forward to the team facing more challenges this year and responding better in those tough situations. Overall, progress is being made and we can't wait to play again next weekend!

13 Red | 4-2

This weekend 13 Red finished up the Badger Region Power League. Day 1 brought us some challenges against talented 14s teams. It was a roller coaster of a day with great highs and tough lows. However, the team fought through and was able to find their groove in important times. They came back from a deficit in set 3 against Wisconsin Juniors to win 15-13. This was our only win of the day, but there were a lot of great moments in the losses. Our defense was a highlight, as the team did a good job of having no fear about the hard swings from the 14s teams. Day 2 was a huge turn around for us, as we finished 3-0 which earned us a spot at the top of the silver bracket! The first two matches were long 3 set games but it seemed like the 3rd set had some of our best plays! Our aggressive serving and relentless hustle helped us finish our final match in 2 sets. In comparison to weekend one of the power league, the team’s play was much cleaner and faster. We still have improvements to make but it is awesome to see the growth that has happened so far.

She has been working hard to get more touches in defense and swing aggressively. She showed both of these things this weekend and was consistent for us in serve receive.

13 Black | 4-2

This weekend 13 Black was at the 2nd weekend of the Badger Region Power League. On weekend #1 we put ourselves in a great position to make it to the gold bracket after Saturday's final pool play, and the girls did not disappoint. We started out with Southwest 13 Blue. We had a few early morning "I'm not awake yet moments", but we turned it around quickly with good clean play all around and won easily in two, 25-18 and 25-16. Our next match was against our own I AM 14 White team. This match followed the first with good clean play and we were again able to win in 2. The girls did a great job at keeping 14 White out of system, which helped keep us in control. Our final match of the day was against Jr Red Knights 14 Red. We went up by 5 a number of times in the 1st set only to let them catch up. In the end we held off and won 26-24. Second set was the exact opposite and we couldn't catch up, losing 20-25. We went down a few early in set 3, letting the Knights get to 8 first. At that point we cleaned things up and let Seirra and Armella take the victory with some great serves 15-9. In the end we secured the #2 overall seed going into the first round of the gold bracket.

On Sunday we started out against Wisconsin Elite 13 Elite. The first two sets were hard fought with us winning the first 25-21 and losing the second 21-25. In the 3rd set we came out fast and finished Elite off 15-6. Our next match was against FVP 14 National. The girls were a bit nervous at the start of the match. I think their shortest player was taller than our tallest. We stumbled through set one getting used to the speed of both the serves and hits, losing 15-25. The second set had us leading going into the 20's before FVP cleaned up their game and came back to beat us 22-25. Our final match was against I AM 14 White for the second time this weekend. They must have taken good notes from Saturday, because they looked like a completely different team. They controlled the ball well and consistently put away their hits. We fell in 2, 17-25 and 21-25.

For the weekend we went 4-2, finishing in 4th place in the 8 team gold bracket. That puts us in 4th place in this 24 team division with one more weekend to go. Like the first three tournaments, the girls showed noticeable improvement this weekend. We are transition better, getting to our spots on the floor and playing some good clean volleyball. Awesome job this weekend ladies!!!

14 Red | 6-0 | 1st Place

It's truly a wonderful thing when a team decides upon goals before we even play a match this season and then reach one of those goals. Winning the Badger Region Power League Elite Division was a challenge in consistency for this group, but they all knew that it was attainable. As the league moved to Sunday, we quickly learned that we had a target on our backs. We dropped one of our only 2 sets during the 2 weekends to a spirited and hard-working Madtown Juniors team. After dropping that first set 23-25, we bounced back and won the next 2 sets in convincing fashion. That brief challenge pushed us into a finals match against a Milwaukee Juniors team that was playing quite well and they were very much looking forward to playing us. We came out extremely fast in that championship match, up by double digits early, but our opponents fought back and made it very interesting, or stressful, based on who you ask. We then began the second set in a similar fashion, but we remained consistent when they made their mid-set run, to secure the League title. We went 12-0 in matches during the event, with a 24-2 set record.

Every single player deserves mention here. Specific hustle plays by our setters Sierra Hoeft and Milli Kreif (who also set an incredibly balanced weekend!) kept us alive in so many wild rallies that were memorable. The continued improvement by our middles (Lauren Lueth and Grace Tilley) have created a tandem that have become go-to players when we are in-system is quite noticeable ,and was crucial to our dominance at times this weekend. Maddie Katte worked to become more disciplilned in her middle back movements and handled some hard driven attacks down the line that ruined the energy of our opponents when they thought they were going to score. Also, Hannah Heitzkey's serving runs caused other coaches to call timeouts to stop their team's inability to handle the placement and pace of her serve. She also ended the event passing extremely well in serve recieve.

Our next goal is to perform well at the Badger Region Qualifier in 2 weekends. We enter that event with a 20-2 overall record with 2 championships to show for it. Hopefully, it will provide for us a competitive seed.

14 Black

Coming Soon!

14 White

14White had a very up and down weekend. Saturday just wasn't our day... the first 2 matches had not enough energy, way too many service errors, and we lost some of our confidence. It also meant a tough 2-set loss vs our friends on I AM 13Black. The 3rd match we decided to take a step back, focus on playing relaxed and get some of our confidence back heading into Sunday. This worked really well, and we finished with a 2-set victory to stay in our A bracket for Sunday. Saturday's MVP goes to Kat, she's really starting to take ownership of the Libero role and it definitely showed this weekend.

On Sunday we used the momentum of Saturday's finish and started strong with a convincing 2-set win over 414 13s. This was easily the best we've played in the last month. Next we played WI Premier 14s, and while the energy stayed high we just weren't able to finish out the rallies this time. This is the 2nd time we've played Premier in the Power League, and both times we came away feeling like we didn't play our best. We're definitely looking forward to seeing them again.

This put us in the 3rd place match and a rematch against I AM 13Black. The rematch was a much different story, starting off with a 25-17 victory in the first set. 13Black came back strong in the 2nd, opening a large lead, but then 14White flipped a switch. A 20-9 deficit turned into a 21-20 lead, and then a 25-21 victory to win in 2 sets! Sunday's MVP went to Ava, her aggression at the net and on the service line were huge for us all day.

For Power League this season, our team set a goal of staying in the A bracket from start to finish. We're currently sitting in 3rd place with a great chance to achieve that goal!

15 Red | 3-3 | 9th Place

We had a solid weekend overall. We played well but lost the games that mattered most to get us to the Gold Bracket on Sunday. We started off losing a 3 set match that put the pressure to win the next two matches to get to Gold. We lost match #2 with just not getting the offense going but played well in every other area. Match #3 we cranked it but the pressure was already gone knowing we were going to the Silver Bracket.

Day 2 the team played loose for the majority of the day. We had a player get sick for the last two matches and our DS, Mia Grisolono stepped up and player OH and crushed it getting a kill on her very first swing! She continued to serve extremely well earning a Serving Pin and she too the top spot as our Tournament MVP!

We finished the last day 3-0 and took 9th out of 16 teams in the Elite Division. Solid play overall and we are making strides in the right direction. Now we are off to the Badger Regioni Qualifier and the competition will stay tough!

15 Black | 4-2

Badger Power League weekend 2 was good for 15 Black as we earned 4 wins vs 2 losses. Match day 3 started with a 3 set match against a fiesty WI Jr's 16 team. After struggling a bit with our serve recieve, we dropped the first set, but then recovered nicely to win in a pretty convincing way. Match 2 for the day was against the WI Jr's 15 team. 1st set went well, then we got challenged in the 2nd. Down 7 points (13-20) we battled back for a 29-27 victory that featured 3 different lead changes at the end of the set. The girls showed incredible effort and mental toughness to maintain calm and finish strong. The final match of the day was another back and forth battle with a tall.and stong Madtown 15 Select team. After we won the first set, Madtown came out fired up to take the second. In the 3rd we pushed into extra points, but fell 15-17.

Match Day 4 started with smooth sailing against 360's 15 team. Ironically this was our worst passing match, but still won 25-16 and 25-13. Our strong serving kept 360 out of system for much of the game. Match 2 had us facing off against the WI Jr's 16 team we had beat on Saturday. Consistant serving (91%) and our best passing game (2.1) propelled us to another victory. In the last match of the weekend we faced off against a fast and powerful Impact 16s team. We played very well, but could not quite overcome their attack nor break their very good backrow defense. While not achieving the win, we had great hustle plays, big hits and tough serves from all members of the team.

The girls have aslo started to observe and report while working games or while shagging for opponents hitting lines. When asked several girls provided great insights to the team in pre game huddle and then used the information to adjust their play accordingly. This was especially evident when Caitlin recorded 4 big blocks against Impact 16s after she observed the 2 outsides during hitting lines. This continued growth is exciting for KC and I as it will grow situational awareness and improve the choices made in play.

15 White

Coming Soon!

15 Gold | 3-3

We are so proud of the work 15 Gold has been putting into practice, and it showed at this past weekend’s badger region tournament.

15 Gold went 3-3 and had an amazing first day showing significant improvement in our blocking and hitting. In addition our back row defense was much quicker and responsive on serve receive. We are all looking forward to our next tournament!

16 Red

Day 1: We started the weekend by taking on 414 - 15 Elite, a team we've played before and came out on top. Although we started out a little slow and were hesitating on the court at times, we were still able to take the match 25 - 19, 25 - 22. Our second match was also a re-match against Wisconsin Juniors 15 - 1s, but unfortunately, we fell to them again 21 - 25, 16 - 25. Last up on the day was 414 - 16 Elite and we came back strong to defeat them 25 - 18, 25 - 22. We had a lot of great things happening on the court... with 16 ace serves for the day, Kathryn and Kylee earning overpass kill pins and coach earning 3 iced pins!

Day 2: We started out strong our second day against a tough 414 - 16s National team, but came up shy in both sets finishing at 22 - 25. For our second match, we were pitted against Milwaukee Juniors 16 -1s. We were definitely looking fatigued, we were low on energy and not communicating well. Kylee earned her second overpass kill pin and coach had another well timed time-out for another iced pin. Despite our best efforts, our mental game was definitely struggling and we lost the first set 21 - 25. The girls were able to dig deep and win the second set 25 - 21, which brought us to a third set. Brooklyn served 10 in a row and the team worked hard to earn all those points, which set us up with an 11 - 1 lead! We won 15 - 4, ultimately getting the dub on match 2! Kylee earned her third overpass kill pin and coach earned a 5th iced pin! Lastly, we faced a close rival, Wisconsin Premier 16 Teal, whom we've beaten in the past. Our first set we won easily 25 - 16. Mara earned an overpass kill pin! Unfortunately, we had too many unforced errors in our second set which caused us to fall to them 22 - 25. Premier worked hard and took some risks on their side of the court during the third set and walked away beating us 15 - 13, which was a heartbreaking loss for our team. With a tough loss comes learning... I know the girls will learn from this experience, which will help strengthen their physical and mental game for the future.

Brooklyn Grisolono was named MVP for the weekend due to her stellar serving, on court performance and coachability. Brooklyn willingly accepted and sought out additional feedback on her passing production, applied the feedback, made some fine tune adjustments and we definitely saw the benefits.

16 Black

Coming Soon!

16 White

Coming Soon!

17 Red | 4-2

This past weekend, 17 Red played in the second weekend for Badger Region. They ended up finishing 4-2, with a ton of progress being made since their last tourney.

On day one, the girls went 2-1 after a slow start to the day. They were able to spark some energy and momentum, leading them to two wins to finish -- including a three-set thriller that ended at 21-19.

Day two rolled around and the girls lost a tough first match to Wisconsin Juniors 17-Elite. Again, they were able to prove resilient and finished the day with two more wins.

Over the entirety of the weekend, 17 Red had 147 kills, 194 digs, and 17 blocks, with setter Natalie Sebo having 123 assists -- who has been named MVP for the weekend. She did a great job of leading her team and staying consistent. Having been put in the role of a 5-1 for the first time this season, she proved herself as a great all-around player and helped the team tremendously.

17 Red is looking forward to their next opportunity to compete at the Badger Region Qualifier!

17 Black

Coming Soon!

17 White | 3-3

This weekend 17 white played in Appleton at the badger region power league. We went 3-3 for the weekend. We had a lot of high points through out the weekend. We started Saturday strong and won our first two games. The first game Teagan led us in service aces with 5 total. We then took on our next match. We lost the first set but came back fighting. We took the team to three with the help of incredible defense from the whole team. Alexia had 3 huge solo blocks. Alivia, Kaylee, and Madisyn were serving hard and each had 4 aces during the game. Belle was one the leading scoring hitters this game, and found the holes. This then took us to our final game against our own 17 Black club team. The girls fought hard and it was a great competition. We lost our final match of the night. We then started the next day with a phenomenal game. We played as a unit. We had amazing energy, hustle, and resilience. We had great defense from Bella with 11 digs and Jordan with 8 digs. McKinley returned and adjusted to out of system balls, and was a consistent hitter. We won in 3 sets 15-10. The rest of the matches that day weren’t what we had hoped for. We reflected on the games learning what we can improve on and keep growing in. It’s another successful weekend in the books and we are so proud of our team!

18 Red

Going into the second and final weekend of 18 Elite Badger Region Power League, we were excited about the challenges in front of us and hoping to rise to the occasion to finish in the final four if not better.

Day 1 started with a very solid win where we played with cohesion and poise. The girls did a great job of setting the tone with serving and controlling a first contact. After winning match 1 decisively, we were happy to know that we had locked up the opportunity to be in the high bracket on Day 2. Our second match came with its challenges and struggles. Because of some prior commitments and injuries we used a lineup without much practice or preparation. The girls fought hard but against a very strong WI Juniors 18-1's team it was too much to overcome. For our final match of the day we were able to gain an integral player back in time to go against a solid WI Juniors 17-1's team. The girls continued to fight through a big lineup change and came together when it mattered most. We knew taking this match was important to our seeding for the second day.

After cruising to a fairly easy victory to start Day 2, we found ourselves matched up against Wisconsin Elite 18-Elite, a team that we had lost to two times this season. Even with some continued lineup changes we were excited for this opportunity. This is a match the team had been looking forward to for a while. In set 1, we played some of our best volleyball of the season. A clean, mistake free game where the girls continued to put pressure on them throughout to win 25-19. Michaela Marquardt played an incredible libero position throughout the weekend but this match was special. Digging everything that came in her direction and flying all over the court. Set 2 was an absolute battle. Both teams had ups and downs and each run was countered with another. We came up a bit short, losing 25-27. Set 3 was about as special as they come, at least in the middle and end. We unfortunately put ourselves in quite a hole through most of set three being down as much as 7 points at one time. The girls continued to fight and one point at a time clawed back and began to put doubt in Elite. Through some incredible defense and clutch plays we were able to finish about the final set 16-14. There aren't too many matches in my (Coach Jimmy) coaching career that I can say were better than that match. In the finals we once again faced WI Juniors 18-1's and we were out of gas. Credit to them, they are a very strong team but we had spent everything we had in the previous match. Taking 2nd place in Power League was a huge accomplishment for our team. They finished higher than the year before and took down some great teams through a lot of adversity. They found another gear that we hadn't seen yet this season. We can sense that some of these learned moments and wins can carry over into our tough and crucial schedule ahead. More challenges are in front but this team is ready!

Never questioning or complaining Emily did it with enthusiasm and a smile. And not only that, she was extremely successful throughout the weekend providing a spark and kills in big moments. She is our MVP for the weekend!