A few more season finishers for our teams and we have some pretty cool outcomes!
13 RED - WINNERS
The 13’s Red team finished off their season with a BANG!!!! They went 6-0 over the weekend at the Prep Dig Battle in the Valley in the 13/14’s division, beating one 13’s team and FIVE 14’s teams!!!!
Saturday was a bit of an inconsistent start to the weekend, but they were able to regain control of the matches when it mattered and pulled on 3 wins on day 1. They enjoyed team bonding time together throughout the day in Appleton, and made some great memories from fun games that the parents put together.
On Sunday, the team played at their absolute best!!!! They played against three very strong teams that forced them to perform at the highest level. These games were a challenge for the girls and brought out the best in them! Their intensity and focus was outstanding!!! The coaches could not have been more proud of their overall performance and finishing off the season with a tournament win!!
We are so grateful for coaching this team this season! The girls made progress individually and as a team, which was evident in their successes this weekend. We are extremely proud of these girls and had an incredible time getting to know them!!
We are also thankful for the support and game energy from all of the parents!! You and your daughters’ dedication to this team is greatly appreciated! Having your support and dedication allowed us to focus solely on helping the girls get better throughout the season. Thank you for everything!!
- Coach Kendall and Coach Ali
14 RED
This weekend found us up in Appleton for the Prep Dig Battle in the Valley tournament. This was the type of tournament that tested who we are as players, coaches and a team. We had 2 girls back from injury, one out 3 weeks, the other 3 months. We were down 2 players and lost an additional 2 after our first match on Sunday (thankfully we only played 2 matches Sunday and have 12 players on the roster!).
We started the tournament against 2 13s teams. First up was Capital Adidas and we played clean smart volleyball. Our serving was on and we made few unforced errors. Right after, we played Milw Jrs Elite and we lost all that clean play. Unforced errors and missed serves crept in and took over. Despite all the missed hits, I stopped counting at 10, we were able to keep set one close. We found our game in set 2 with an easy win and carried that into set 3 pulling out to a 13-5 lead. From here we gave up 8 straight points to let Elite tie the game. But, a monster block from Makenna, followed by an almost ace from Eden, and we snuck out with a W. Our last match was against G-Force 14 Select, I think the girls had enough of the sloppy play and we took care of business 25-9, 25-13.
Sunday put us up against two tough Penguins teams. We fought hard and gave it our all but couldn't find the magic. I can't speak highly enough about how the girls did and what we did accomplish. On the strength of our day 1 finish we placed 4th out of 21 teams. We did all this starting with a number of players in new roles for the season and finishing with an even crazier lineup. These girls do anything that is asked of them with a smile on their faces (somewhere under the masks), and continue to fight hard and improve. They are a special group of young ladies.
16 BLACK
The 16 Black team wrapped up an awesome seasons by playing in the Prep Dig Battle in the Valley in Appleton last weekend. While we didn’t end up with all the wins we wanted, the
team showed its standard mettle and really played well as the weekend wore on. We played various lineups throughout the weekend, and as usual, each and every player stepped up and really competed. It took a little while to get our feet under us on Saturday, but we dominated in our last game. Sunday’s matches were very even, with a close loss in 3 in our first match, and a really well played win in two very close sets in our last. We closed out the season playing our best and really battling and coming through when needed. Every player should be extremely proud of how far they’ve come. It was an incredible season and we are already looking forward to the next one! Finally – all the best to Scott as he leaves our nest…. Good luck and don’t worry – we’ll be in touch for sure!
16 RED - WINNERS
WOW! Not enough can be said about what these girls accomplished this weekend. Not only did they go 6-0 in matches and 12-1 in sets but they beat a team they had previously lost to and overcame a multitude of injuries and absences in the process. The girls cruised to a 3-0 start on Saturday not surrendering more than 15 points and multiple times holding opponents to single digits. They played extremely confident and efficiently all day long. Starting in the gold bracket Sunday is when the things got challenging with constant lineup reshuffles. Using 4 different lineups in the first 4 sets the girls battled for every point not giving up anything easy and continuing to play calm and collected while making big plays when needed. The roller coaster ramped up in the championship against a very evenly matched Penguins team who had beaten us in our previous contest. The Penguins were more rested and we started out very flat. Down 21-14 the magic began. The defense dug in and the offense went on the attack with a combination of fast swings and smart, well placed tips, which led to a 9 point run and eventually a victory in set 1. Set 2 was very back and forth with 3 points being the largest lead for either team. A few missed serves by us and some quality attacks from Penguins caused us to drop the set by 2 points and set up an epic final set. The girls of I AM 16 Red came out on fire and dominated the beginning of the set while jumping out to a 10-0 lead in a set only played to 15. The Penguins picked it and would win 7 out the next 11 points making the score 14-7 with I AM needing just 1 point for the championship. The Penguins would not go away quietly and they battled back to win the next 6 points before a giant Alicia Burgos block sealed the deal to give I AM the 15-13 victory and the tournament championship!
This was the definition of a team win as each member did what was needed even if it meant playing a new position or a different role. As coaches we could not be more proud of their hard work and determination.
17 RED
What a fun weekend! This team, for the 2nd time this year, went 3-0 on day one and
automatically gave us a trip to the Gold Bracket on Sunday. We came is as the 4th seed in our pool and jumped straight to the 1 seed with great comebacks, 3 set wins, and dominating serving runs.
#Shoutout to Ellie Lopata for having some of the best serving runs we've seen all year!
Sunday we had a full team and was great to see us at full strengths. Unfortunately we could not pull the wins in the next two matches but had some promising plays and gave us more insight on what to work on. Overall we finished 3-2!
18 RED
This season we had five players who are committed to continuing their careers at the next level in college.
Farren Powers - University of Sioux Falls (NCAA D2)
Mandy Miller - Cardinal Stritch University (NAIA)
Sydnie Stadler - Concordia University- WI (NCAA D3)
Paige Rusniak - Edgewood College (NCAA D3)
Ashlynn Hamm - Carroll University (NCAA D3)
All 5 players who expressed interest in playing next season have found a home. The other two Seniors on our team are McKenna Armstrong (University of WI Parkside) will be playing Basketball and running Track, and Olivia Otto (Attending University of Minnesota) and will be majoring in Interior Design.
Rose Hahn and Kayleigh Pelikan will be returning to their high school programs this fall.
I am proud of this group. They are all great kids and will represent their future schools well in the future.
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