Our younger teams played in a few locations over President's Day Weekend!
10 Red
On Saturday the I AM 10's team traveled to Oshkosh to play at Lourdes Academy. We had the afternoon wave which was great since we usually start off a little sleepy in the morning! Our first match was against Adversity 11s which was a tough match. We started a little slow and had a hard time keeping up with the quick tempo. We then had a break, gained some energy and came back to play the JAG 11s Select team. Although we were passing better we still came up a little short. Lastly, we faced Falls Focus 11s. This match was our best match by far, taking them to 3.We served very well and were able to stick with them for most of the match but got kind of tired by the end. All in all, it was a good experience and these girls have been doing a great job sticking with the teams we’ve faced. We have a big break before our next tournament and are planning to step up our game incorporating some positional-based strategies which should even the playing field a bit. These girls have great potential!
11 Red | 4-1 | 2nd Place
Last weekend the I AM 11 Red team had the challenge of competing in the 11/12 Wisconsin Juniors Presidents Day tournament. This is the second largest tournament for this team so far and was our second trip to the championship!
The 11 Red team started strong on day one going 3-0 by defeating:
RVA 11 Navy 25-21, 25-20 (A team they lost to previously)
Wisconsin Juniors 11 - Blue 25-17, 25-13
McHenry Jr's 12 - Navy 25-22, 25-20
This awesome performance on day one gave I AM a first-round bye into the Semi-Finals on Sunday. I AM came out super confident in their first match and Maddie Hagel started off the match with a high level of confidence and served the first 8 points of game 1 and missed with a very aggressive jump serve on serve 9. 3 rotations later Charlotte also used her aggressive serves to get I AM a 20-10 lead and missed on a very aggressive jump serve. After I AM won game one 25-12, the Juniors came back in game 2 and won by a close score of 25-22. Game 3 started much like game 1. Maddie started out with 4 points and Charlotte closed the door with her 10th and 11th ace of the match. I AM won game 3, 15-10
In the Championship match, I AM played Attack Blue out of the Great Lake region. I AM again jumped out on top with great serving and three contact attacks to keep the other team on their heels and won game one 25-21. Game 2 was a little different for I AM as Attack Blue served very deep underhand serves and aggressive returns after one contact which kept them off balance and lost a little bit of their confidence. I AM lost game 2, 13-25, and needed to regroup for game 3. Game 3 was a battle as I AM started off strong and took the lead at 9-6. A tough service run and a couple of lucky balls passed right back over the net earned Attack Blue the lead 13-10. I AM fought hard and eventually lost game 3, 15-12 to take second place.
After the Match, I had many parents from other teams and other coaches comment on how impressed they were with our three contacts, hitting consistency, and the aggressive play of our team. Over the weekend I was super impressed with the team and how much they supported each other. It was a great team effort over the weekend and individual awards cannot be accomplished without the effort of the team. Incredible passing by Eden, Alannah, Sarah, and incredible setting by Chloe, Charlee, and Jane lead to the following awards for our team:
A special shout out to Londyn for filling in when we needed it most!
Charlee - Serving Pin
Chloe - 2 Serving pins
Maddie - 3 Service pins
Charlotte - 3 service pins, plus 1 serving professional Pin (10 ACE's in 1 match)
Jane - 1st Overpass Kill of the season
1 - ICE Pin in the championship match!
Elsa - Team MVP
Maddie and Charlotte also made the All Tournament Team for this event!
Great job ladies and we can't wait to see what lies ahead!
11 Black | 1-4
This weekend the 11s Black team was challenged by playing in a 12s tournament. We faced a lot of adversity but it taught us to not give up! We got to play a lot on Saturday where we went 1-4. The highlight of the weekend was when Addison went on a serving streak in the second set with 6 of her serves being aces! We had been down 16-24 and came back winning 27-25! The girls never gave up and it was so much fun to be apart of it! We now have a few weekends off to keep getting better before our last couple tournaments!
12 Black | 2nd Place
This weekend we played in a one-day tournament at Lourdes Academy in Oshkosh. We started our day bright and early at 8 am against 1W Bay 12 Red. It was an extremely close game (25-18, 25-23), but the girls were able to push through and win the game 2-0!
#SHOUTOUT Dani for helping us come back and win the match with her outstanding serves! Dani is our MVP for this tournament!
The second game we played a long 3-set match against MVP (25-27, 25-22, 15-4). The girls powered through their first-ever set that exceeded 25 points. In the second set, they came back with fire and won! They secured the third set with ease and kept MVP under 5 points!
#Shoutout Kierstyn for having 7 aces this match.
After a long wait, we played in the championship game against Heat. The girls were challenged immensely in this match. They did a great job of recognizing the different servers on the other side and adjusting the serve receive accordingly. Unfortunately, we did not win this match, but are still excited because we placed 2nd overall!
Us coaches are so proud of how the girls worked together as a team this weekend and strengthened their connections with each other on and off the court. This tournament was definitely one to remember! We are looking forward to our next tournament on 3/4!
12 Red | 3-2 | 3rd Place
12 Red competed in the Wisconsin Juniors President's Day tournament this past weekend. We finished 2-1 in our pool after day 1 beating Attack and 608 Juniors. Despite our loss to Milwaukee Juniors, we did enough to finish in the top 2 in our pool to advance to the Championship bracket!
On Sunday we faced a solid WI Juniors team. The girls came ready to go at 8am, playing what I would say was our "best match of the year"...so far! A 25-15 and 25-19 win advanced us to the semifinal match.
This match-up was against Epic United, the most competitive team we have seen all year. Our team started off very intimidated by the hard-hitting, physical Epic players during warm-ups. It took us a set to get over that mentality, losing 25-13. Self-confidence was the theme all match and we finally responded and were able to come back to force a 3rd set by winning 28-26 in a thrilling set 2! We eventually fell to Epic 15-8 in the 3rd, but our referee was very complimentary and told us that was the best 12's match he's officiated all year!
#Shoutout to libero, Emery Vogelsang for earning a spot on the all-tournament team!
Overall, it was a great opportunity for the girls to learn that they can compete with any team, but confidence and mental toughness are essential in order to do so.
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