2024 Tournament Recaps - Week 1

The first weekend of the season kicked off with most of our teams playing in the Badger Region Power League! Check out how our teams did!

11 BLACK 1-2

This past Saturday, we headed to UW-Parkside for our first tournament of the season! For most of our team, it was the first time they had ever played in a volleyball tournament. 

The team started the morning learning how to ref. They learned how to line judge, libero track, and keep score on the scoreboard. The girls were then anxious to start their first match! 

We entered the first match against OVBC extremely strong with seven aces from Arabella! We then won the first set! OVBC came back tough and took the second set from us.

We then battled it out in the third set. We had many aggressive plays and serves, but unfortunately came up short and lost the match. I am proud of how the girls fought through their first-ever match and consistently got three touches on the ball! 

Our second match was against the undefeated team, the Chargers. They came at us with tough serves but our serve receive was unstoppable! Unfortunately, we did not win this match but we went into bracket play with fire! 

Our last match of the day was to win the bronze bracket. They were a solid team, but we came back stronger than ever.

We then lost the second set, but battled it out and won 16-14 in the third set! We got our first win of the season! 

It was a great feeling to see all of the girls excited and working together throughout the day. We are eager to get back into the gym to capitalize on our strengths and work out the kinks from this weekend. We will be playing next on Jan 14th at Athlete Performance. We hope to see you there! 

12 BLACK 1-2

12 black went 1-2 this weekend but got comfortable using our 6-2 rotation. During our matches the girls racked up 20 aces, 12 kills (with 3 touches) a total of 17 kills for the day including an over pass kill for our first pin from Jane!

12 BOYS

The boys had a very exciting Saturday at West Allis Central, where they got to experience playing in the 13’s division. The games tested their ability to communicate, move with the ball, and work as a team. The boys succeeded beyond expectations this weekend!

A special #shoutout to CJ Novoa for receiving Tournament MVP, for his ability to lead the team positively and for going above and beyond when it came to sportsmanship on and off the court.

13 RED 4-2

It was opening weekend of 2024 and 13 Red took on the 14 Elite division of Badger Region Power League! With it being our first year in power league and playing up a division, we weren’t sure what to expect. As we sized up the competition, it was clear we were going to be physically outmatched in several of our matches. But that didn’t stop this team from competing. 

We started out strong getting 2-0 wins against both OVBC 13 Purple and Midwest Penguins 14 Black. We then took on WI Elite 14 Elite for our third and final match of the day. Inconsistent serve receive and overall too many unforced errors got the best of us down the stretch and we lost the match 1-2.

Sunday we took down WI Juniors 13-1’s in straight sets and our tough serve frustrated Milwaukee Juniors 14-1’s and we beat them 2-0.  Again, our last match proved to be the toughest competition of the day. The strong serving and hard attacking 414 14 Elite team was too much for us and we took our 2nd loss of the weekend 0-2. Seeing attackers hit at this pace was new to us, but great to see early in the year. 

Overall, we had a great first weekend and can’t wait to see how this team improves throughout the year!

13 BLACK 1-4

What an amazing first tournament for the 13 Black team.  We played in the Badger Region Power League 14 Select division and I feel it went incredibly well.  I can not say enough about this teams effort and grit they showed all weekend.  While we did not have as many wins as we would like, we showed that we can play with the best of them and we can come from behind and make a run at the end.  Considering the fact that most of our opponents were a year older, the 13 Black team played hard in every match and kept each set close.   

Both days we played very tough opponents.  We gave them all a run for their money and even took one of our matches to 3 sets.  Our serving was nearly flawless and was our clear strength this weekend with 48 aces for the team (20 from Abbey Dobson).

While we were clearly the underdog, this team stayed strong, worked together and never quit.  They fought and clawed to make every game close.  These girls made great choices and learned quickly what adjustments needed to be made to stay in the game.  After seeing how this team played this weekend against higher competition, I have no doubt that we will be highly successful throughout this season. 

WEEKEND ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Hannah Kelley earned an Overpass Kill pin

• Abbey Dobson earned 2 Top serving pins

• We had 3 successful time outs that ICED the opponents server

13 WHITE 3-3

Power League opening tournament weekend was a blast! It started out slow on Day 1 and ended with a great WIN in 3 sets. The girls learned a lot about each other and how to work through some adversity. Day 2 the team appeared to show up with more confidence and appeared a little more comfortable with each other. The team cheers started coming out from the bench. We started with a win in 3 against SWVBC 13's; 25-20, 21-25, & 15-9.  We gave a good try on our 2nd match, but ended up with a loss to Adversity 14-1's team in 2; 16-25 & 11-25. From what I can tell, our team took the most points from Adversity, which is a win in my books. Our goal is to earn more points next time we meet them! We ended the day with a nail biting back and forth battle win in 3 vs. Wisconsin Elite13's. 28-30, 25-8, &15-7. Good work ladies!  Super proud of your efforts.

14 RED 6-0

14 Red came into the first weekend of power league with a lot to prove. Last year's power league didn't go the best for the team but they were hopeful that this time around would be different. We have been putting in a lot of awesome, focused work at practice. As is with all teams this time of year there are still some unknowns and many things to improve upon but we were motivated to put our best foot forward. Day 1 ended up being a very stress free day. The girls controlled all three of their matches from start to finish...specifically at the service line and offensively. We showed a lot of consistency in many parts of our game but knew after the day was over we still had a lot left to show. Day 2's schedule looked to be more challenging and we knew our B+ game wasn't going to be enough. Our first contact in serve receive and defensively stepped up big when we needed it the most. There were a few sets where we got off to a slow start or gave up a big run in the middle but all times the girls were able to find some grit and toughness to get back into the set and close it out. The weekend ended up with a 6-0 match record and 12-0 set record. We are excited about this start to the season and at the same time are motivated to continue to improve and push forward off of the bar we have set! On to the Prep Dig Resolution next weekend!

14 BLACK 3-3

14 Black went 3-3 for the first weekend of Badger Region Power League. Overall, the team played great together. We have 4 new girls on the team that have never played with each other so working on the connection between setters and hitters has been very important and while being early in the season those connections are starting to click into place. This weekend the girls battled hard through every game taking 3 matches to 3 sets never giving up. On the first day we started a little slow but ended up making huge comebacks to tie up the set giving ourselves the chance to win. With only a month of practice these girls have worked hard and learned so much, demonstrating that this weekend. We had 1 serving pin which went to Avlynn and 1 joust pin which went to Brianna. All of the girls played fantastic!

She was one of our stronger, more consistent hitters this weekend, did very well on serve receive, and had several aces each match consistently. We learned a lot this weekend and have several things to work on once we get back into the gym.  

14 WHITE 4-2

The weekend started with Badger Region Power League, and we started strong with a 4-2 record! We started on a high with a 2-0 win in the first match, the scores being 25-17 and 25-8. In the second match, it was a strong start 25-21, but the second set was lost 13-25. The team fought back hard in the third and won 16-14. The third match of the day started with a hard-fought 25-22 win, but the second set was a very close 23-25 loss. The third set ended up being close but lost 11-15. The second day started with an intense match and the first set ended up going to the opponent with the score being 18-25. The second set was a nail-biter with the score being 27-25, and the girls fought to the end with a 15-11 win in the third. The second match started with a 20-25 loss, but the team dominated in the second set a got a 25-11 win. The third set was back and forth the whole time, but the team pulled ahead with a 16-14 win. The third match of the day was when the momentum started to slow a bit, and we ended up losing set one 20-25, and the second set 25-12. Despite the ending of the weekend was not as we hoped, there were so many highs and hard-fought battles all weekend! Day one had an overall 36 aces and 26 kills and day two had 29 aces and 26 kills! We gave out 2 ace pins, 2 overpass kill pins, and 1 coach ice pin! Overall, a great start to the season.

15 RED 6-1

Nothing like a big challenge to start off the season. Playing in the 15/16 Elite Division we had our work cut out for us! We started off on Saturday playing a team that wanted an even bigger challenge and it was the 14-1 WI Juniors team playing up. They were a very solid team with some talented OH presence. We went 3 and came out on top. Next next was a 608 Juniors 16's team that we matched up well with and had another battle that we won in 3.

The final match was vs WI Premier 16's and again, we went 3 and came out on top. We as coaches were also sweating by the end of day one because all the competition...

Day two we had a 5 team pool and and a tough draw playing 4 in a row. We managed the load very well. First match was vs Eclipse 16's and we dominated off the serve and the offense was clicking. We won in two which was an awesome benefit. Next was a taller and older 414 Elite 16's team that we had to play with precision and grit. A handful of blocks and huge digs took the wind out of an intimidating offense and keeping the pressure with our serve tallying up 4 aces per set. We upset the team with a 2-0 victory!

3rd match vs WI-Elite 16's was a hot and cold match. First match our opponents had more errors and in the 2nd and 3rd set we had more unforced errors. Despite the dynamic play we showed earlier we only lost by a few points both times. Taking our first loss was tough but a great learning opportunity. Last match we played was a tiring match being the 4th one of the day and beat 608 Juniors 15's in two.

Lucky for us, 414 beat WI Elite forcing a 3 way tie and we came out in 1st place in our pool! We are looking forward to next weekend where we get to play towards a championship!

15 BLACK 5-1

We have been working and waiting to kick off the 2024 season, and the weekend finally arrived at the Badger Power League at the Champions Center in Appleton. In our pregame meeting, you could sense the pregame jitters around the circle. Excitement coupled with adrenaline followed us into our first match. The team started out against Madtown 151-Select and had a tremendous start. Strong serving and smart play had us in the game early, then Madtown pushed back.  Their confidence seemed to zap ours, and we began missing serve after serve. Even with that, the set was a back and forth battle. Eventually, the missed serves got us in the end, and we dropped the set 21-25. The second set was the same as the first, a battle back and forth, plagued with missed serves. A great battle between two great teams ended once again in Madtown’s favor and we dropped the set 20-25.

The attitudes were high and confident going into our next match, knowing we played well against Madtown and acknowledging what we can improve on. Our next opponent was Premier 16-White that saw an I AM team that was focused and balanced. The outstanding hitting of Avery (RS) was near perfect and Premier did not have an answer for her. That opened up our middles, and we were back into our rhythm. We took both sets 25-19, 25-16.

The final match of Saturday was right after Premier and was against Milwaukee Jrs 16-Elite. 15-Black was all smiles and cheers, as serving was giving us ace after ace, and our hitting was unstoppable. Our offensive success was set up by the masterful passing and digging of Claire (LIB) and Maddie (DS). Without their precision passes, our setters would not have been able to work the middle that opened up the pin hitters. We handedly took the match 25-16, 25-18.

Sunday started with a much more relaxed team. Now that we had the first day and first few matches under our belt, we came out focused and ready. The first match against 608 Juniors 16-Premier felt a little tight and tired. It wasn’t bad play, it was that the team just lacked energy both on and off the court. Things picked up as the match moved on, and we were able to start utilizing varied sets to our middles and to run our freeball plays. Amary’s (S) quick play and connections with our middles had 608 on their heels play after play. The match ended with a 1 ball with Tori that shook the gym. Another 2-set win at 25-20, 25-20.

Our next match was against VVVBC 15-Purple. We came out on fire, and VVVBC was overmatched. Early on, we recognized that we were going to dominate the game, so we focused on perfecting our defense and play calling. Block after block, kill after kill gave us a 25-8, 25-7 victory.

We knew the last match of the day against Lakes Jrs 16-Select was going to be a battle. We watched the standings and their gameplay, and they were a very evenly matched club. It would take all we had to beat this team, and we were up to the challenge! The first set was back and forth, with the lead going back and forth. Strong serving had us on our heels early, but then we pushed back. The dominant and smart play of Ava (MB) at the net gave us key blocks and kills when we needed it most. Tensions were rising as we reached 25-25 and were going to extra points. Our mental training became vital as we stayed calm, in the moment, and focused on what had to be done next for success. We will bend, but we will not break! Victory was ours at 29-27.

The second set saw an aggressive Lakes team that were making amazing serves and shots. The talented team saw an opportunity when we were on our heels, and took advantage. It was another push and pull score, but we dropped the second set 21-25. Going into the third, we rallied. We found that renewed energy we got pumped for the 3rd. The chant of “WHAT IS OUR NAME?” “I AAAAAAAAM” sent shivers as we took the court with power and passion. The third set was ours the entire time as we dominated the serve and net game, and took it 15-5. That win gave us a final standing of 5-1 and sole possession of 2nd place in our pool of 10, only behind Madtown 151.

#getthepin | Congratulations to our pin winners this weekend! Avery (RS): Tournament MVP, Isabell (RS): Joust Champion, Ava (MB) Over Pass Kill x2, Joust Champion, Tori (MB) Overpass Kill, Coach Montano: Iced x2

15 WHITE 3-3

Coming Soon!

15 GOLD 2-4

This weekend our girls participated in their first two day tournament of the season, battling through two tie breakers to find a 2-1 record with an 82% serving percentage. On day two we played against teams older than us all day and put up the strongest point differential against the tournament champion, showing we can fight with the 16’s. We also put up a 90% serving percentage, solidifying our service strength.

16 RED 7-0

A very good start for 16 Red this weekend at Badger power league!! At times not playing there best but they found a way to play together and win some tough matches, Really proud how they played as a team and did some really good things. 

16 BLACK 3-4

6 Black started the tournament season by taking on the challenge to play in the upper division of Badger Power League.   At the beginning of the weekend, we were ranked in the bottom 3rd of the Elite Division.  Our first match was against the 4th ranked team and we battled to take the match to 3 sets. Although we lost that match we demonstrated that we belong in this group of teams. Also in this match, Lily earned the first (#Top Server) pin of the year.  After that loss, we regrouped and won our next 2 matches. This placed us 2nd in our pool and moved us to the upper flight for day 2.

On day 2 we knew we were in a battle against very strong teams.   Our first match was against the IAM Red team and while we battled; we could not quite close out the win.  This rattled us a little bit - but the girls continued to battle and we saw aggressive play in all positions for the rest of the day.  While we ended the weekend with a 3-4 record, we remained in the top half of the Elite Division which was my personal goal for the team.

With setter/hitter communication and set plays for specific situations as key focuses during practices, it was a real joy watching the team execute on these keys all weekend long.   KC and I are excited about the possibilities for this team.

Now the awards for the weekend:

• Top Server = Morgan earned 2 and Lily earned 1.

• Overpass Kills = Ave = 3, Laila = 2, and Resse, Alayna and Lily each earning 1.

• Pancake = Khiah sprawled out to pop up a ball which was then set and terminated for a huge point.

16 WHITE 5-1

16 White started Power League in Appleton with a very strong opening weekend. Serving was the biggest strength, finishing with 63 aces in our 6 matches. This only included 1 ace pin, so the performance was truly a team effort. Communication was also a big plus for the weekend. Still plenty to improve on (we need to start the days stronger and with more energy), but way more positives than negatives to start the season.

We finished 5-1 overall and currently 1st in our pool. As a team, we placed a season goal to finish Power League in the Gold bracket. This was a great first step that we're looking forward to building on.

16 GOLD 2-4

Coming Soon!

17 RED 3-3

I AM 17 Red was off to a quick and hot start for their season opener tournament at UW-Parkside in Kenosha. They started the day with two quick sweeps, preventing both opponents from scoring more than 16 points in each of the four sets. Things were clicking early on between the defense and offense. The aggressive and consistent serves by many, put the other teams out of system often.

The third match of the night was I AM’s first true “test” of the weekend where they faced a stellar team across the net. After falling the first set 13-25, I AM was not going to roll over so easily. They fought hard and pushed points with several aces, tough digs, and dominating kills. Momentum was shifting their way as I AM won the second set 25-22 and forced a third game. Points were exchanged back and forth but, unfortunately, I AM came up short in the end; 14-16.

During the final match of Saturday, I AM matched up with another strong team but could not fight hard enough, falling within two sets. Overall, on the day, I AM finished with a record of 2-2, showing off our skills of Gabi and Brooke in serve receive and defense, while Kathryn and Kylee dominated the front row. Ava was a wall throughout the day with lots of blocks in key moments.

Sunday morning, I AM was refreshed and ready to take the court again. They worked from behind in both sets one and two of their first match, winning both. Once again, serving runs and putting balls away at opportune times, stood out as the dangerous weapon for the team.

In the second match, the team came out with several serving runs early on but could not finish up on top. They battled back and forth winning the first set, falling the second, and leading quite a bit in the third but could not capitalize that final set to 15, losing 13-15. They finished the day with a 1-1 record and the entire weekend at 3-3.  I AM will travel up to Appleton for their next tournament on January 20-21st!

17 BLACK 4-2

We started off our season with Badger Region Power League in the 18 Regional Division.

We had a good first day going 3-1. Our first match was an easy win against Southwest

VBC with scores of 25-18 and 25-10. Our second match of the day was against Lakes

Juniors where we reverse swept them with scores of 18-25, 27-25, and 15-12. Our third

match of the day was another easy win against RiseMKE with scores of 25-7 and 25-20.

#Shoutout to Mary for earning our first ace pin of the season in this match! Our last

match of day one was against FC Elite 18s and was a hard fought battle, but we fell short

with scores of 8-25, 20-25. Day 2 we ended up splitting our matches 1-1. Our first match

was against Spiketown Door County with another reverse sweep with scores of 26-28,

25-20, and 15-10. Our second match of the day was against FC Elite 18s once again…we

fought hard but came up short again with scores of 25-16 and 25-15. Overall, we are so

proud of these girls and how hard they played all weekend! #Shouout to Greta for being

our teams MVP this weekend and being a leader both on and off the court!

17 WHITE 3-3

Coming Soon!

18 RED 0-6

Coming Soon!