Much closer

The Patriots traveled to St. John's Lutheran in Lansing tonight to take on Luther East. We weren't sure whether we would have a full team, as Alyssa's grandmother's wake was today, but she did attend the game before returning to the funeral home.

Scoring has been difficult for the girls this year, but not so much tonight. Luther East played a very tight zone defense and did not come out to cover the perimeter outside of fifteen to seventeen feet. So the girls shot from the outside. And shot. And shot. It was raining threes. And a few went in. More than a few, in fact. Out of the twenty-one launched, seven went in. [NOTE: Correction: the girls were eight for twenty.] However, Luther East had one very good player, both inside and out. Becca and Rachel tried to stop her inside, and each had three fouls before the end of the first quarter. Number 42, the good player had 13 of her team's 16 points in the first quarter. The Patriots spread things around a little more, with Kara and Alyssa each hitting a three and Cassidy had two two-pointers for four. Score at the end of one: 16-10, Luther East.

More outside shots poured down in the second. Not very many went in. Three out of twenty three, in fact. One was a three from Alyssa. Becca and Rachel each picked up their fourth fouls early in the quarter and sat down. This left open the inside and #42 took advantage of that. The Patriots were outscored 16-7 in the quarter, resulting in a halftime score of 32-17. #42 had 22 of the 32. Lee Bianchi, playing due to the foul trouble, hurled up several shots in the quarter and two went in.

The third was just like the first two, but now the shots started going in. The girls made three three-pointers in the quarter and a couple of twos and a free throw, but #42 kept knifing in for layups and rebounds. She scored eight in the quarter, her teammates got six and Luther East added a point to their lead, with the score at the end of three 46-30, the home team leading.

There were a couple of changes in the fourth; first, the Patriots put pressure on the ballhandler (#42) at half court, taking the ball out of her hands; and second, Luther East came out a little on our shooters. The Patriots solved that by swinging the ball to the weak side and still got open outside shots. The result was that the Patriots outscored LE 15-11 in the quarter. Not enough for the win, but enough to make it a decent game.

One interesting team stat for the game: the girls scored more in this game than the first three games combined. Individual stats: (note: there was a discrepancy between my scoring numbers and the gamebooks) Kara had twenty points, Alyssa had thirteen, Cassidy had eight and Lee had four. Alyssa led with nine rebounds, Kara had seven, Cassidy had six as did Rachel, Becca had four, Lee had three and Carolyn had two. Rachel and Becca had theirs in a little more than a quarter of play. Kara had eight assists and Alyssa had five. Alyssa had four steals and three blocks, and Kara had three steals.

I'm still trying to find a way to get the stats here. I'll keep working on this. Next game is Friday at Open Door Baptist against Victory Christian at 5:00 PM. Address is below in the calendar.

Different opponent, same result

Tuesday night the team traveled to Arlington Heights to take on the Christian Liberty Academy JV team. The game was a little different than the first two, but the result was the same, as the girls lost 31-11.

CLA was a very tall team. In the first quarter they used their height to their advantage, getting inside against the Patriots zone and making some easy baskets. They also ran their fast break very well, with strong passing. Our girls continued to struggle with their offense, and the first quarter ended 14-2 in favor of CLA.

In the second quarter, HSRC switched to a man-to-man defense, and it seemed to work pretty well. CLA got a little flustered and the Patriots were able to get some steals. On the offensive end, however, CLA flustered our girls by playing 1-3-1 zone, with strong pressure on the ball handler at the top of the key. We didn't seem to be able to get anything going except for one post-up basket by Rachel and a free throw by Kara. The score at the half was 20-5.

The third quarter saw both teams struggle on offense. CLA began to double team at the top of the key, causing more turnovers. Unlike the two earlier teams we played, CLA was more aggressive on the perimeter, and few outside shots were available. The girls began to find that the lane was open to drive, but they couldn't get some short runners and layups to drop. Kara made the only basket of the quarter for the Patriots, but they did hold CLA to only three.

The fourth was like the third, only some shots started to fall, mostly for CLA. Kara made one basket and Becca had a put-back for another, but they gave up eight in the quarter.

Kara led in scoring with five, while Rachel had four and Becca had two. The team shooting percentage was a dismal 12.5% (5 for 40). Rachel had seven rebounds, Becca had six and Alyssa had five. Kara offset her six turnovers with seven steals. Alyssa had three steals as well. Alyssa had three blocked shots and Kara had two.

I'm working on season statistic which I hope to somehow include here on the blog soon.

Next game is Tuesday, December 16 at 5:30 PM at St. John Lutheran in Lansing. (See schedule below for location).

Another tough one

The HSRC Patriots (official name) traveled to Sugar Grove to take on the Crossroads Crusaders, a team from an established homeschool sports program. And once again, the opponent's superior skill and experience were too much for the Patriots, who fell 48-20.

The game opened up with the Crusaders winning the tap and driving in for a fastbreak layup, which set the pattern for the whole quarter. Up and down the court they ran. Our girls seemed to get flustered easily, letting Crossroads tie them up often, and giving up the ball. The Patriots only got up four shots, all of which they missed, and at the end of one it was 20-0.

Crossroads brought in some subs for the second quarter, our girls settled down a little, and the second quarter was much better. Kara hit a couple of shots and Rachel posted up for another. The defense was better, as Crossroads shot 3 for 14 in the second quarter after shooting 10 for 18 in the first. Scoring was even in the quarter, 6-6, and the half ended 26-6.

Crossroads brought their starters back to begin the second half, and it showed in the third quarter scoring. Crossroads outscored the Patriots 17-4 in the quarter and the score at the end of three was 43-10.

In the fourth the girls got much more aggressive. Alyssa made some outside shots including a three, Becca made an inside one, and Kara hit on a free throw as well as making a score off of a drive. The scoring in the quarter was 10-5 in favor of the Patriots, for a final of 48-20.

Leading scorers were Alyssa and Kara with seven each, followed by Rachel with four and Becca with two. Leading rebounder was Becca with eleven; Rachel had five. Kara had three steals to lead the team while Becca had two. Rachel again led the team with three blocks. Shooting was 9 for 30, or 30%, quite an improvement from opening night's 18%. On the negative side, Alyssa had seven turnovers and Kara had four.

Tomorrow night's game is against Christian Liberty's JV team at 5:00 PM at their gym in Arlington Heights. See you there.

Oh and by the way, the schedule for the season is at the bottom of the page.

Opening night

The Crete Challenger or CHESS Patriot girls basketball team (I'm getting sick of these teams with two names) opened their 2008-2009 season tonight at Hinsdale Adventist Academy. This was the first game of any kind for three of the girls. All the rest have only played one season before this one. The inexperience showed as the girls lost, 41-12.

The girls had trouble getting into their offense right off the bat, and were tentative on defense. Hinsdale scored rather easily and often, and led after one quarter, 16-0.

Becca Dorn get the team going with a long bank shot early in the second quarter. It seemed some of the nervousness wore off and the girls got a little more aggressive. Kara Boss and Rachel Eizenga also scored in the quarter, and Coach Boss changed to a man-to-man defense which confused Hinsdale a little. The scoring in the quarter was even, 6-6, and the half ended 22-6.

In the third quarter, the girls seemed to regress in aggressiveness which hurt them both in offense and defense. The girls were throwing up some very long shots, none of which went in. Hinsdale shut out the girls again, this time 8-0 and the score at the end of three was 30-6.

The aggressiveness, especially from Kara, picked up in the fourth. They had a few fast breaks, only one of which they converted (Kara). Kara also hit a long three and Rachel got a free throw. The problem was they gave up eleven points in the quarter and the final score was 41-12.

Leading scorer was Kara with seven, followed by Rachel with three and Becca with two. Kara and Alyssa DeBoer each had seven rebounds to lead the team. Rachel had the only assist. Becca had two steals, while Kara, Rachel and Lee Bianchi each had one. Rachel had three blocked shots and Kara had one. On the negative side, Kara had eight turnovers and Cassidy Schaap had five. The team shot 5 for 28, 17.9 per cent shooting and one for five from the free throw line, 20%.

Next game is at 7:30 PM Monday, December 8 at Crossroads in Yorkville or some such place. Kristi will have the details in the next few days. There is also a game Tuesday at Christian Liberty at 5:00

Jessi Stas news

In case you didn't know yet, Jessi Stas made the Altitude Black U18 team as a hitter. Congrats, Jess!

Former teammates and opponents

Just to fill you in on how some former Patriots and Patriot rivals are doing:

Clearwater Christian won their second consecutive NCCAA DII national volleyball championship. Sarah Sibert from Fulton County was a reserve on the team, and Emma Kile from Calvary Academy of Butler, PA, who Calumet played two years ago, was a starting middle hitter.

Taylor University lost their conference championship game against Indiana Wesleyan today. Rachel Kizer, former star of the Patriots, is a sophomore middle blocker for Taylor.

Kelsey and I went to see Trinity Christian (my alma mater) play Olivet Nazarene last night in their conference's semifinal. Olivet won easily in three games. No former Calumet players were involved, but Trinity's coach is the my inspiration for playing volleyball. I was on two intramural championship teams with Bill Schepel while I was a student at Trinity.

Awards Banquet

Calvary-Calumet celebrated the fall sports last night with a banquet at Griffith Baptist. Mr. Blakely opened with prayer, and then we enjoyed a delicious (and more vegetable-intensive than last year) pot-luck dinner.

Coach Kelsey Boss opened up the award part of the evening with recognition of the junior high teams. After she thanked all the people that helped her in her first year of coaching, she said something about everyone that was on the team. Following this, she presented her awards. Four awards were given; first, best server went to Cassidy Schaap; next, best setter, Amanda Knight; best hitter (one of two moving up to JV next year),Rebecca Thompson, and fourth, hustle award to Taylor Stas. Taylor will not be returning as a player next year, but will serve as the JH team manager. Taylor received her award because of her positive attitude and spirit of encouragement that she displayed all season.

Mr. Blakely, in the absence of Coach Brian, presented the soccer awards. Three coach's awards were given; Tyler Ballah, Matthew Leo and Joseph Sahulcik were the receipients. The MVP went to Tim Young, the only senior on the team.

Coach Carr then went up to review the JV season. She first thanked everyone that had anything remotely to do with anything about the volleyball teams. I mean, everyone. Specifics about the JV team followed. She said that the final record was 14-2, which was the best record JV ever had. (I have the JV record at 15-2-1; we're still working on who is right.) She presented awards to both the A and B teams. For the B team, Jenna Alderden received the hustle award, Nikki Knight received the most spirited award, and Anna "Chipper" Choate was given the most improved award. Somewhat different awards were given to the A team. Cassie Ballah received the most improved trophy, Ally Rohn won the best defensive player award, Jessica Nealy was named best offensive player and Emily Eizenga received the coach's award.

Three seniors were recognized in the next part of the evening's festivities. Those recognized were Amy Broadbent, Kyliah Buckner and Elizabeth Short. The tributes written by the parents were read by Mrs. Baessler and were very touching.

Coach Carr then returned to the podiun for the varsity volleyball presentation. It was a successful season, but left those connected with the team a feeling of "what might have been", considering all the injuries and sicknesses during the year. The following awards were given: Rachel Eizenga, most improved; Faith Rohn, MVP; Elizabeth Short, coach's award; and Amy Broadbent, Christian character award. The award to Amy brought the moment we all were waiting for, which of course was tear flowage from Coach Carr. Seriously, Coach talked about Amy's deep love of the Lord with which she blessed all those around her, especially her teammates.

I have only one more season in which I will have a child involved with Calvary-Calumet sports. I wish there were a lot more.

Silliness

I sliced and diced the records for the year and came up with the following:

Cal/Cal was 38-18 in first games, 33-15 in second games, 16-6 in thirds, 3-0 in fourth games and 0-1 in fifth games (yes, we only went to five games once all year - Westville) for a total game record of 90-40. Average scores were 21.3-17.9, 21.1-17.5, 21.6-16.8, 25-14.7, 13-15; total average was 21.3-17.4. The winning margin increased every game up til the fifth, which didn't surprise me, as the Patriots had trouble getting going in many of their games this year.

The girls record in one-game matches this year was 7-1 (pool play at Quentin Road), 17-6-3 in two-game matches, 14-5 in three-game matches, 2-0 in four, and 0-1 in five-game matches.

Faith finished second in the region in aces, with 77. The leader had 80. We only sent in stats for non-pool play games up til the national tournament. She also finished ninth in kills.

Now up: the HSRC girls basketball team. Season starts December 2. Practices began Monday at Crete Reformed Church. We're still looking for players, so if anyone is interested in playing or knows of someone who might be interested, please contact Kristi at 708-280-5185.

I may have various other scattered thoughts regarding Christian school sports in the Illiana area now and them. Some of them may even be coherent.

Oh yeah, one more thing

- they never updated the tournament results on their website like they said they were going to every night.

Is ICSTS and NCSAA the same organization?

More ranting:

Let me review the reasons why Calumet/Calvary is not going back to NCSAA:

- Dirty crowded dorms
- Refs that call nothing, to the point where the play resembled backyard volleyball
- No set warmup policy - utter confusion the first day
- A ref that said the teams couldn't serve to each other, as is normal in warmups, because "that's the way girls get hurt". [Extremely puzzled look]. Huh? What are you talking about?
- Pool setup: 1)Three pools so that point differential is used to do the seeding, which rewards teams with really bad teams in their pool and causes teams to leave in their starters even in blowouts; and 2)three of the top five teams in one pool. Ours, of course.
- Invited teams that really shouldn't have been playing post season volleyball.
- Completely nonsensical rankings. I think the same people are doing the rankings at NCSAA and ICSTS, although the NCSAA people have better reasons for their bizarre rankings, as they can't see teams from every part of the country and don't know the competition, which is not the case for ICSTS. NCSAA has to rely on accurate information from the member teams, and I'm not sure they're getting it. The team that finished first, which was better by far than every team there, was ranked seventeenth in the country. The team that finished sixth in the tournament was ranked fifth and was the highest ranked team there. Yes, fifth in the country. We were ranked #22 and beat them badly and we weren't even playing our best. The team that finished second wasn't ranked in the top 25.
- The championship, or upper level, bracket play concluded with games at 9:00 AM, while the lower level brackets were played at 11:00. Better play should be rewarded with the later start, and you want to finish with your best match.
- The seventh-, fifth-, third-, and first place matches were all played at the same time. The championship game should be the only game being played at the time, so there is a championship-match feel, with all the other competitors watching and cheering.
- Championship games played at 9:00 AM. Not the right atmosphere for a championship. A tournament needs to build to a crescendo, and to do this the final needs to be at the end of the day, or at least afternoon.
- No MVP, no all-tournament team, no trophy for the champion (only a banner), nothing for teams finishing lower than first.

So Coach Carr has reserved the lodge at NACA next year. We're looking forward to going back there (and winning).

Fifth is better than sixth

As I predicted yesterday, the Patriots had little trouble beating Riverdale of Upper Marlboro, Maryland today in the fifth place match at the NSCAA volleyball championship.

The Riverdale team is a perennial power in basketball, and it seemed like they treat the volleyball season as a warmup for the basketball season. The girls are big and athletic, but not very skilled. Cal/Cal opened up with a methodical 25-14 win, followed that with a similar 25-15 win and closed it out with a 25-11 final game clincher.

Following a strange and short awards ceremony, we headed back to the barracks (excuse me, dorms) to load up and head home. Well, most of us anyway. The Choates went to relatives near Cleveland and Nathalie took Taylor, Faith and Amy to see Niagara Falls, which was about two hours from the tournament site. The rest of us got into the two vans and started west on I-90. Seven hours or so and a couple of stops later, we arrived at Coach Carr's house to sort out luggage and to head our separate ways. The parting was significant for Elizabeth, as she has played her last game for Cal/Cal.

So another season ends. The fifteenth I think for Coach Carr, and the twelfth for Coach Carr with Coach Casey. I don't know if this is a record, but the Patriots won forty games this year. The final record was 40-13-3. Tournament finishes this year included fourths in the Christian Liberty and Calumet tournaments, a second at Quentin Road, and the fifth in the NCSAA. Last year the team lost in the quarterfinals in the Calumet and Quentin Road tournaments, and finished second at NACA in Division II.

Overall, a very good year. Next year we're hoping for great. See you at the Fall Athletic Awards Banquet on November 13. Future posts will include all the reasons why we aren't going back to PA next year.

Little better

Well, we made our bed yesterday and today we slept in it. How's that for a totured metaphor? What I mean is that because we mailed it in yesterday morning, we paid for it today with an opening match in bracket play against the class of the tournament, Christian Community from Ohio. Yesterday they embarrassed us; today they just beat us.

We did play much better than yesterday, but Christian Community is probably the best team we played all year, including Faith of Lafayette. They play excellent defense, they hustle, they set well, they dink intelligently and they hit. Did I miss anything? Anyway, the result of the best of five match was three straight losses for us, 25-15, 25-16, 25-14.

If we had played better yesterday, especially against our second opponent, Girard Alliance, we would have seeded higher and perhaps made it to the second round or even the final, as Christian Community is better than anyone else here and we wouldn't have had to face them first. We would have faced a lesser opponent in the first round and then who knows what might have happened.

Moving on to our first round in the fifth place bracket (I prefer that to the "loser's bracket"), we faced a pesky Porterville Christian (PA) team. We played so-so in the first game, with good hustle and weak offense. No team had a greater lead than four, which was Porterville at 20-16. They also led at 21-18 and 23-22, but we eked out a 26-24 win. The second game did not start like the third. Cal/Cal took an early lead and stretched it to 18-8. At that point our mistakes started adding up and Portersville started playing better and pretty soon it was tied at 24. Finally the Patriots were able to get the requisite two point lead and won, 27-25.

The third game was more representative of what all three games should have been, as the Patriots started getting their act together and Portersville began to fall apart. Our girls jumped to a 24-8 lead, and after trying to get Amy a kill for a few points, they finished off their opponent, 25-12.

Tomorrow we take on Riverdale from Maryland for fifth place. From what we've seen of them, we should be able to do it.

Coach Carr is already making phone calls to get us back to NACA next year. More details to come. You already know most of the reasons from yesterday's post. Add to it poor scheduling and other things, and it all adds up to Tennessee in 2009.

More tomorrow.

Poor play

Our first game today was at 11:00 AM local time, against Christian Community of Ohio. Before we knew what hit us, it was 19-3, Christian Community. We ended up losing that game 25-8. We played a little better in the second game, but not much, and lost 25-12.

The poor play carried over into the next game we played, against Girard Alliance. We jumped out to a 6-1 lead, but our tendency to not cover well and let balls drop, and our inability to execute simple passes and sets returned and we fell behind 12-10. We caught up and went ahead 13-12, but then couldn't do anything right and lost 25-16. The next game we fell behind early, caught up and went ahead 8-7, then fell apart again and lost again by the same score, 25-16.

The third set of games were against a weak homeschool team from Dayton, OH. We played only a little better, but were able to beat them easily, 25-12, 25-13.

After a long supper break (food was OK), we took on Lebanon Christian (PA) for our last pool game of the day. We seemed to finally figured out what we were doing wrong and won the first game easily, 25-10. The second game was much more competitive. We found out later that it would have been better if it wasn't so competitive. More about that in a minute. We got a couple of small leads, but then Lebanon came back and even took a lead at 22-20. Coach Carr called a timeout. Then the girls got the ball back (22-21) and then Jessi served out for the win, 25-22. Our coverage was much better; our passing and setting, not so much.

Now we waited for the seedings. Because there were three pools, the seeding was weird. The top team from each pool received the top three seeds. The tiebreakers were, I believe, first record, then average points. The remaining top five teams rounded out the Championship bracket. The tie breakers were applied to these five teams - first record, then average points. We were tied for seventh, but lost the tie breaker by nine points so we finished eighth. So we get to face Christian Community to start bracket play tomorrow morning. Pray for us.

So far, the following has been substandard: the rooms, the reffing and the scoring. Oh yes, and our play. We lost two points due to scorer errors. We observed other games where the scoreboard did not keep up with the actual score. And the refs... If you think I'm complaining about the refs because we didn't do well, you're wrong. They were awful. Case in point: we (the fans) yelled about one call that was missed. After the point, the refs (yes, two refs) consulted and agreed with us. Yikes. I wonder if we'll get a cut of their pay.

More tomorrow

We have arrived

After a long and lovely drive across Indiana and Ohio, we have arrived, mostly intact, at the Family First Sports Park. Contrary to what you might have heard, we did stop for potty breaks - don't listen to anything the girls might say. A couple of things:

There is an inch of snow on the ground here. We're definitely not in Tennessee.
The sports park is huge.
The girls' rooms are kinda gross and overcrowded.
The hotel we're staying in is very luxurious - Wingate by Windham.
I'm sick of restaurant food already.
We still don't know the level of the opposition.

More tomorrow

Records

I thought it would be a good time to recap the records of the varsity, JVa and JHa teams. I don't have all the info for the "b" teams, so I can't give you those records.

Starting with the JHa team, their overall record was 12-4-3. Their record in regular-season games (not including tournaments) was 11-4. The losses were to Heritage, Grace, Granger's JV team and Crown Point. [EDIT]

The JVa team finished with an overall record of 15-2-1. Their record in best-of-three matches, or non-pool play, was 13-2, and their record outside of tournament play was 12-1, with the lone loss to Quentin Road. (Their other loss was to Quentin Road in the Calumet tournament final. Calvary/Calumet defeated Quentin Road in a regular season game in Lake Zurich early in the year.)

The varsity is entering national tournament play with an overall record of 36-10-3. In best-of-three or best-of-five matches their record was 22-9. Their record in regular-season matches was 14-3.

So, for all teams listed above (not including the "b" teams, the cumulative records are as follows: overall, 63-16-7; best-of matches, 46-15; non-tournament play, 37-8. Interesting note: The varsity's loss to Franklin Road at the Quentin Road tournament was the only pool play loss among all three teams. Had the pool play in that tournament been the usual two games against each opponent, we may have had an undefeated record in pool play.

Last home games of the season

The Patriots finished up their regular season this evening with victories over Quentin Road and LaLumiere.

After the JVa team opened up the afternoon/evening's activities with a three-game loss to Quentin Road, the varsity played Quentin Road's varsity. The Patriots played Quentin Road early in the year at their place. In that contest, our girls dropped the first game before winning the next two to take the Illinois-rule two-out-of-three match.

Tonight was a little different. Calumet/Calvary started out slowly. The teams were even through 10-10, then Quentin Road took the next two points and went ahead 12-10. It was all Patriots after that, as they outscored Quentin Road 15-4 to close out the game, 25-16. The second game was a mirror-image of the first. Cal/Cal fell behind 12-10, then went on another 15-4 run to win again, 25-16. The third game was closely contested throughout. Quentin Road took a 24-21 lead and it looked like the teams were going to play a fourth. But after three straight points the girls pulled even at 24. Back and forth it went from there until Cal/Cal closed it out with an exclamation point (BIG HIT) by Faith, 28-26.

After the seniors were honored, JVb took the floor to play the LaLumiere JV team. After a two-game sweep by our girls, the varsity took the the floor. LaLumiere was overmatched, and the Patriots won 25-8, 25-8, 25-12.

I announced that Faith was the second-leading ace producer in the NW Indiana region following the game. Here is the website if you want to check it out for yourselves:
http://nwi.com/varsity/?show=leaders&sport_id=6&off_column=total_serves_aces&off_desc=0&limit_num=25.

We say goodbye to Lake Hills for the season (Well, us parents do. The team has a couple of practices yet.) Another great regular season is now complete. We look forward to a successful national tournament in Erie, PA next week.

No state tournament

Calumet/Calvary fell to the Faith Christian Eagles for the second time in the week on Saturday, losing 20-25, 11-25, and 19-25 in the semifinals of the ICSTS Regional (really, state - see earlier post, "Venting") Saturday morning at Heritage Christian High in Dyer.

The game followed the pattern of the game Tuesday. The Patriots fought well in the first game but couldn't quite climb the hill; the second game the girls played as if they didn't think they could win; and they regrouped and played better in the third game. The result in each game was the same, however, with Faith on top each time.

Heritage crushed Duneland Lutheran in the second semifinal as expected. The state championship game, er, excuse me, the regional championship game followed between Faith and Heritage. Faith rolled over Heritage in three straight, 25-17, 25-12?, 25-15.

Faith will go to Horizon Christian in Indianapolis to represent the northwest region in the ICSTS state tournament next Saturday. Barring an enormous upset, Faith will be crowned state champ at the end of those festivities.

Our next games are against LaLumiere and Quentin Road next Tuesday. I believe the first game is the JVa team against Quentin Road's JV team (which I believe is the only team the JVa team has lost to all year) at 3:30. Then the national tournament in Pennsylvania the following week. Then the season is over. (Shedding a tear.)

Warm-up victory

The Patriots picked up their 34th, 20th or 12th victory of the season tonight, depending on how you look at it, beating Community Baptist of South Bend, 25-12, 25-10, 16-25, and 25-16. Hopefully this game served as a warm-up to the big regional opener tomorrow against Faith/Lafayette.

The first two games were won easily by Calvary/Calumet. Community committed multiple errors, while the Patriot played OK but not great. In the third game, Coach Carr sat Jessie Clark and Faith Rohn, and the bench girls struggled with knowing their positions and the other girls had trouble getting used to different girls next to them. They fell behind early, 12-4, got as close as 14-10, traded points to 17-13, then fell apart. Seven points later it was 24-13. The Patriots pickup up three point before losing.

In the third game, Coach put only one sub in, and that seemed to settle the team down, as they finished off the match, 25-16.

Faith at 8:30AM tomorrow - I'm yawning just thinking about it. See you there.

Also, my daughter Katie got engaged tonight to Eric Chappell, a wonderful young man from Escondido, CA.

And another thing...

All-tournament teams. What is the deal with that? A player winning MVP whose team lost in the quarterfinals? This needs to be fixed. And I know just how to do it.

First of all, coaches will have to sign an affidavit at the bottom of the ballot attesting THAT THEY HAVE ACTUALLY SEEN THE PLAYERS PLAY THAT THEY ARE VOTING FOR. I am convinced that some coaches are voting on reputation or what someone else has said. Or maybe just guessing.

Second, ballots will be weighted based on how long the coach's team stays in the tournament. You lose in the first round, your ballot is a 1. You lose in the second round, and you ballot is multiplied by 1.25. Third round, 1.5. You make it to the semifinals, times 2. Or something like that. Shouldn't more weight be given to the performance of the players in bracket play? Shouldn't a ballot from a team losing in the first round and handing it in as they get on their bus to go home be discounted in some way?

More ICSTS/ranking stuff

A couple more things about the regionals and state tournaments:

Last year in the state tournament, Clinton had to play Fulton County in one of the semifinals while Calumet played Horizon, I believe. From the records and head-to-head play, if the tournament was seeded, Fulton Co. should have been seeded #1, Clinton #2, Calumet #3, and Horizon #4. Instead, Clinton had to play Fulton County first. These things should be seeded so the best two teams are lined up to play in the finals.

Case in point: regionals this Saturday. I've already covered the fact the Faith should be in another region for balance. Now I want to look at the brackets and assumed seeding in the northwest regional as currently constituted. There's enough evidence to seed this pretty definitively: Faith #1, Heritage #2, Calumet/Calvary #3, and Duneland #4. But instead of Faith/Duneland and Heritage/Calumet, we have Faith/Calumet and Heritage/Duneland. Go figure.

So here is my state rankings:

1. Faith
2. Heritage Christian
3. Calumet/Calvary
4. Columbus Inferno
5. Clinton

Again, I haven't seen Columbus or Horizon. But from what I've found regarding results on the internet (e.g., Clinton beat Horizon head-to-head; Faith beat Heritage, Clinton and Calumet, and maybe others; Clinton didn't get out of the round of sixteen in the Calumet tournament while Faith, Heritage Christian and Calumet finished first, second and fourth, respectively), this is how I see the rankings.

Faith is finest/first/fantastic

Faith Christian of Lafayette rolled into Lake Hills this evening, and left with a 25-22, 25-16, 25-19 victory.

Faith is a very talented and smart team. I believe they have lost only one game this year, and that was when their best player, Morgan Fox, was out. But the girls were coming off of their best performance of the year, and hopes were high that they would be able to stay with Faith.

The first game was tightly contested. No team had greater than a four point lead, which Faith had at 20-16. From that point, Cal/Cal fought back to within one, and stayed within one or two until Faith finished off the game, 25-22. The second game was controlled by Faith from beginning to end. Their second hits over and dinks seemed to catch the Patriots by surprise nearly every time, and the Faith prevailed, 25-16. The third game was closer, but after the girls got close late, Faith turned it on and won 25-19.

Faith plays a different style than what Cal/Cal is used to. They serve well, hit well, play great defense, block well. But what they do best is find holes and keep the opponents off balance. They are the best dinking team we've faced, and really have no weaknesses. Hopefully the girls will be better prepared for them when we take them on Saturday morning in the ICSTS regionals at Heritage Christian on Saturday.

The JV team won in two straight, preceded by the junior high team's win against Stone Academy in three.

Next game is Friday at home against Community Baptist from South Bend. I believe the JV game begins at 4:30, and varsity at 5:30.

Venting

Some things I need to get off my chest:

Our state competition is through the ICSTS - Indiana Christian State Tournament Series, or something like that. We have really no choice, as we are not a home-school team, so we can't compete in the home-school tournament, but we have home-schoolers on the team, so we can't compete in the IACS tournament. So we have this organization. Three things.

The first is last year's state tournament. We got to stay in Indianapolis all day because the tournament people were worried that the girls would be overstressed by playing two matches without several hours in-between. Please. After watching the girls play their guts out over four matches from 10:30 till 6:00 at the Dayspring Volleyball classic, I would beg to differ. Strongly.

Number two: the groupings. Yes, I understand geography. I understand north, northeast, east, south, even east-northeast. But I also understand flexibility and balance. I understand that a school in Lafayette could be construed to be in western Indiana, northern Indiana or northwestern Indiana. The fact that the powers that be put them in northwestern Indiana shows that the those powers don't understand the concepts of flexibility or balance. Which brings me to my third issue.

The rankings. ICSTS doesn't have much info on their website, but they do have rankings. I have no idea what their criteria are for determining ranking. I am scratching my head trying to figure out why Heritage is ranked fifth while Faith is first. I have no problem with Faith first. I just don't get why the team that lost to them in the finals of our tournament 16-14 in the deciding third game is four notches below. The difference between the two teams is whisper-thin, but the ICSTS people managed to squeeze three teams in between them, one of which lost in the second round of the Calumet tournament.

So yes, I haven't seen Columbus Inferno or Horizon. But I have seen Clinton. They lost in the second round of our tournament. They're a fine team. But they are not as good as Heritage. I don't think they are as good as us. Yet Clinton is ranked third in the state while Heritage is ranked fifth.

So let me get back to my second point. I believe that Faith and Heritage are the two best teams in the state, and we're not far behind. But all three of us are in the same regional, the northwest. Faith certainly could have been placed in the central region, or even the north.

Which leads me to this: if you want to see the real ICSTS state championship, come to Heritage Christian High in Dyer this Saturday. The following Saturday in Indianapolis is bound to be anticlimactic.

So, so close

The Patriots finished up bracket play in the Dayspring Volleyball Classic (Quentin Road Tournament) with their best-played game of the year. But it wasn't quite enough, as the Patriots fell to the Saline Saints from Somerset, Kentucky in the championship game 25-20, 20-25, 15-12.

As mentioned in the previous post, the girls finished first in their pool with a 7-1 game record. The earned the girls a little extra sleep and a game against the eighth-seeded team from the other pool. This turned out to be First Baptist of Danville, IL who the girls played at 10:30. The girls played rather poorly, but were able to beat First Baptist 25-20, 25-15.

Next up was the quarterfinal and Freedom Farm. The girls had beaten them yesterday in pool play, but Freedom Farm was a good team. Even though FF was a better team than First Baptist, the Patriots won more easily. The girls, as they often do, had a little trouble early, but got over that and won the first game, 25-19. Following an evenly-played first part of the second game, the girls put together a good stretch of volleyball, and the girls prevailed 25-14.

Southside was the opponenent in the semi-finals, another victim of the Patriots in pool play. Their style was the toughest for Cal/Cal, with two tall middle hitters. The Patriots took the first game, 25-20. The second game the Mr. Hyde team showed up. The girls seemingly couldn't do anything right and lost 25-13. In the third game, the girls pulled it back together again, (hello Dr. Jekyll) and won 15-9.

The final game was against an enigma of a team from Kentucky, Saline. The girls wore very long shorts and three-quarter length sleeves, and did not appear very athletic. But they were a very fundamentally sound team, especially on defense. They had one big hitter, but their signature was not letting anything hit the ground. They had not lost a game all weekend. Early in the first game, Faith was set up for one of her signature booming hits. Blocked by their star. Again, another big hit. Again, another block. Then one was dug by Saline. Then another. Faith did not quit and began putting some down, but Saline methodically pulled out to a 18-11 lead. The girls did not pack it in, however, and got back into the the game. It wasn't quite enough, and Saline was victorious in the first game, 25-20. One could tell, though, that the confidence of Saline was a little shaken. In the second game, the Patriots took an early lead at 12-4. The teams played evenly until it was 18-11. Saline tightened up their defense again and #10 had some good hits and Saline got a little closer, but Calumet/Calvary held on for a 25-20 win.

The third game, which was to fifteen, started out badly for Cal/Cal. They were down three to nothing when Coach Carr called timeout. This seemed to calm the girls and they pulled ahead, 9-8. Three errors later the girls were down 11-9 and could not get any closer. Saline closed out the game, match and tournament by dinking to an open spot that the girls could not get to, and it was all over, Saline winning 15-12.

The consensus of the adults watching (and coaching) was that this was, far and away, the best the girls had played all year. Even though they lost, they had nothing to be ashamed of. If the girls play at this level the rest of the year, look out.

Big test on Tuesday - Faith of Lafayette, the winner of the Calumet tournament. If the girls play like they did Saturday night, this will be a good game. See you there (Lake Hills at 6; earlier for the JH and JV games. Check the schedule.

Another tournament, another first place finish in pool play

The Patriots continued their streak of winning their pools in tournaments tonight, as the finished first in the National pool at the Quentin Road. After their second pool play game, it didn't look like the Patriots would even finish in the top half.
A mediocre effort was enough to dispatch Westchester 25-18 in the first game. But in that second game, Franklin Road Christian School was the opponent. Franklin Road is from Tennessee, and teams usually don't travel that far unless they think they have a good chance to win. The Patriots found out that Franklin Road was pretty good. The Patriots didn't have to make them feel as welcome as they did, however. Calumet/Calvary played perhaps their worst game of the year and fell, 25-16. Bad decision-making, bad passing, bad setting, bad serving and bad hitting characterized the Patriots' play (did I cover everything?).

Thankfully the next game was against probably the weakest team in their pool, and they won 25-11 (Faith started the game with four straight aces and Coach Carr was able to substitute liberally.) Next up was Southside, who earlier beat Franklin Road. The girls played well, putting pressure on Southside's suspect defense by pushing the ball deep, and pulled out a 25-22 win.

After the tournament rally, Arthur was the next opponent. Arthur's record was not great, but they played a style that was tough for us - lot of middle hitting. Calumet overcame that and came out with a 25-21 win.

Schaumburg was up next. Schaumburg was another one of those teams that was playing better than their record. They played a style that Calumet seems to play well against - scrappy defense. Calumet coasted to a relatively easy 25-15 win.

Freedom Farm was the seventh opponent. FF was like Schaumburg, only with better hitting. Calumet took a 25-17 victory in that game. Which brings us to the last game of the night.

The opponent was Ridgewood, who we had beaten twice already this year. Ridgewood had gone through the entire pool play without a loss. Calumet was entering the last game with one loss, while Franklin Road and Southside had finished with two losses each. We were told that if we lost, we would lose all tie breakers and finish fourth in the pool. If we win, we finish first in our pool - same number of losses as Ridgewood, but winning head-to-head so we win. We didn't know what to expect, as we had watched some of Ridgewood's play, and they looked really good.

The game was close until it was eleven to eleven. Then, after we got the serve back, Jessi Stas ripped off nine straight serves, including a couple of aces. All of a sudden it was 21-11. Ridgewood rallied a bit, tightening up the score to 22-15 and then 24-19, but the Patriots got that last point for a 25-19 win and first place in the pool.

Tomorrow we start bracket play at 10:30 against the winner of one of the two play-in games between the two bottom teams of each pool.

Late report on Tuesday's game

A little late I know, but here is the report from Tuesday night's game.

The Patriots hosted First Baptist of Mishawaka at Lake Hills on Tuesday. This was the first time we faced First Baptist this year, which was refreshing after playing other teams multiple times already this year.

As has occurred often this year, the girls started slowly. After being down 10-7, they rallied to take a 17-15 lead. They then proceeded to give up five straight points to go down 20-17. Faith and Jessi Stas began to pick up their hitting and the Patriots ran off seven consecutive points, putting them up 24-20. They had a little trouble closing out the game, but did end up winning 25-23.

The girls started strongly in the second game, going up 12-4 behind some strong serving by Elizabeth and hitting/back row attacks from Faith. Calumet/Calvary maintained the lead til 18-11, when First Baptist blocked some hits and they got back into the game at 19-15. Cal/Cal scored the next three points, following which the teams exchanged points until the Patriots scored the winning point on a serve by Faith which crept over the net for an "ace". The final in game two was 25-17.

The third game was not very competitive, as the girls kept putting the ball deep on serves and hits, resulting in many errors by FB. The final in game three was 25-10.

The JV won their match against First Baptist's JV team in three, as did the junior high in their game against Victory earlier in the evening.

Up next is the Quentin Road tournament beginning Friday at 11AM. The girls have a chance to improve on their two fourth-place finishes in tournaments this year, and their loss in the quarterfinals last year in this tournament. I will blog tomorrow night after the pool play.

Comparisons

I thought it might be interesting to compare records with last year's team, which started slowly and finished very strong. This year the varsity is 23-6-3 through 32 games. Last year the team was 18-10-4 at the same point in the year. Last year in non-pool games, the Patriots were 12-10 through 22 games; this year the girls are 16-6.

Road victory

The Patriots traveled to Joliet, Illinois this evening to take on Ridgewood Baptist Academy. The JV started things off with a two-game victory over Ridgewood's squad. The varsity game followed. The first game was marked by many unforced errors by the Patriots of all kinds - missed serves, bad passes, misdirected sets, hits into the net, etc. The girls also missed Jessie Clark, who missed her second consecutive game due to illness. Cal/Cal was never in it, and lost 25-14. The second game started the same way as the first. It was 10-4, Ridgewood. Then the Patriots started to tighten things up. Fewer errors and crisper play resulted in a comeback. The girls pulled even at 15. From there on it was all Patriots, and they closed out a 25-17 game two victory. Both teams cleaned up their play resulting in a well-played game. After the Rams took an early 12-8 lead, the Patriots regrouped and caught the Rams at 13. Again, the Patriots finished strong and won the third, 25-17.

The junior high coach reports to me that both the junior high a and b teams were victorious against Glenwood School for Boys and Girls, the JHb team winning two straight against their JH team, and the JHa team defeating Glenwood's JV team in three, winning two after they lost the first.

Next game is home against First Baptist of Mishawaka on Tuesday. Check the schedule.

New configuration

There was a new lineup in tonight's varsity game against Grace Baptist Academy, with Jessi Stas and Faith Rohn switching place, with Jessi taking over Faith's setting responsibilities. Grace is having a down year, so this was a good game to implement a new strategy. The girls took a little time to get used to their new positions and playing next to different players, but the Patriots took the first game, 25-18. The second game started out the same way, but some unreturnable serves by Faith separated the Patriots from the Crusaders, and Cal/Cal pulled away for a 25-14 victory. In the third game, the players seemed to be settling into their new positions and they played well. The final of that game was also 25-14.

The girls played without Jessie Clark tonight, who was released from the hospital today. She will not be playing Friday, but she should be back next week.

The junior high team lost their game in three, and the JVa team beat the Crusaders, 25-17, 25-15.

The varsity's record now stands at 21-6-3; JV is 11-1-1; and junior high is 8-3-3.

Next game is Friday at Ridgewood. Check the bottom of the page for times and directions.

Records and such

I neglected to include the records of the teams in my last post so here goes:

Varsity is now 20-6-3 overall. They are 13-6 in best of three or best of five matches and still 8-2 in non-tournament matches.

JVa is 10-1-1 overall, 8-1 in non-pool play and 7-0 in non-tournament competition.

JHa is 8-2-3, 7-2 in non-tournament play.

And just for fun, overall the record is 38-9-7, 28-9, and 22-4. (Yes, the overall record in tournament pool play is 10-0-7.)

Tonight we host Grace Baptist Academy of Kankakee. The junior high game begins t 4:30. The varsity will be without Jessie Clark, who is supposed to be coming home from the hospital today. Keep her in your prayers.

Another fourth

The Calumet Region Volleyball Invitational finished up tonight with Faith Christian School of Lafayette just nipping Heritage Christian High School of Dyer, Indiana, 25-14, 22-25, 16-14 in a very exciting and well-played final. Faith had not dropped even a game until the final, while Heritage reached the final after finishing second in its pool.

Now, to our Patriots. We already knew last night that we would finish first in our pool, but as I mentioned in the last post, the girls did not play their best on Friday and struggled to beat teams that they probably should have handled easily. So we weren't sure what was going to happen today. We were, however, quite familiar with our first opponent - Kankakee Trinity Academy, the fourth seed in the yellow pool and victor against Grace Baptist in their first game (Cal/Cal earned a bye in the first round). This was our fourth match against them this year. We had beat them the first three times, but it seemed that Trinity was tougher each time. That trend ended today. Calumet/Calvary jumped out to a 16-0 lead behind strong serving by Faith. The final of the first game was 21-5. The second was a little more competitive, but Cal/Cal still won, 21-12. On to the quarterfinal round, where Ridgewood awaited us. Ridgewood had beaten Calvary Academy and Quentin Road to get there. This round was where Cal/Cal fell last year. Again, a different story. The Patriots stormed to a 21-7 opening game victory, then hung on in the second game for a 21-17 win. This earned the Patriots a spot in the semifinals. Heritage Christian, who gave the Patriots its first loss was the opponent. Heritage won the first game rather easily, 21-14. Then things got interesting. Heritage was leading Cal/Cal 19-16 when the scorer took points off of both teams. The ref stopped the game, and after consulting the official scorebook, ordered the scoreboard to read 20-15. The Patriots ran off the next three points, but lost the next, resulting in a 21-18 game and match loss. Cal/Cal now had to play the third place game. Christian Liberty Academy was the opponent there, as they had lost in the other semifinal to Faith Christian. Our girls seemed tired and a little distracted and lost two games straight, 25-17, 25-15.

Congrats to Jessi Clark, all-tourney second team and Faith Rohn, all-tournament first team.

First day of tournament

Yes, yes, I know I didn't blog about the games at Portage and Westville. We have been very busy preparing for this weekends big tournament. I think everyone won except for the varsity, who lost by the slimmest of margins, 15-13 in the fifth game.

But this weekend is all about the tournament. Since it's so late, I won't say much about the other teams, but I will fill that in later. Calumet (I'm calling us Calumet because that's the tournament name) finished first in the blue pool with a 9-1 record. LaSalle Peru may finish with the same record (their final two games are tomorrow morning), and we did split with them, but Calumet scored more points head-to-head with them than they did.

Calumet began their tournament against the aforementioned LaSalle-Peru team and looked quite flat, as the often do in their opening game. They did end up losing that game, 21-16. However, they got it together for the second and won 21-12. It turned out that LaSalle Peru was truly the best team (perhaps besides the Patriots) in our pool. So we should have had an easy time of it after that opening match, right? Not. The Patriots struggled against inferior team, and while they won all of their games, they did not look good. For example, the Patriots won both games against Lakeland by the minimum, two point. Anyway, they did finish 9-1 in the pool, so they won't be playing until tomorrow at noon.

One item of interest: Faith Christian of Lafayette is the only undefeated team in pool play.

See you tomorrow.

Another full evening

On Friday, various and sundry teams from various and sundry organizations came to Lake Hills to play a lot of volleyball. I'm not sure if I have all the match-ups correct but I will give it a try.

Apparently the first game was our JVb team taking on the JV team of the Lady Crusaders, which I believe is a home school team from Plymouth, Indiana. I wasn't there, but I can report that the scores were 25-24, 25-18, Calumet/Calvary. Following this game was a varsity matchup between the same two organizations.

In the first game of the varsity match, the home team jumped to an early lead of 14-6 behind the serving of Faith Rohn. After an exchange of points, the Lady Crusaders started getting it together and pulled to within 22-17. Cal/Cal got the last three points, however, and won 25-17. The second game started out opposite of the first. The Lady Crusaders jumped out to an early lead (5-1). The Patriots tied it up at 6, but the Lady Crusaders behind some excellent defense pulled out to another four-point lead at 16-12. But from that point on, it was all Patriots, as they outscored LC 13-2 for a 25-18 lead. This seemed to demoralize the LCs a little, and the Patriots had little trouble winning the third, 25-12.

I am sorry to report that I don't have the scores for the third match of the night, but I do know that the JVa team beat the Granger varsity team in two games.

The final match of the night was between the JHa team against the Granger JV team, which really wasn't the JV team because most of the players were the same as played against the JVa team. Calvary lost this one in three, 23-25, 25-12, and 9-15. This one will be tough to include in their record, because it was against virtually a varsity team. However, if you do count it, the JHa record is now 7-2-3, 6-2 in non-tournament games. The JVa team record is 9-1-1, 7-1 in non-pool play and 6-0 in non-tournament games. The varsity's record stands at 14-3-2, 11-3 in non-pool play, and 8-1 in non-tournament games.

Games next Tuesday are at Portage Christian (JH and JVb) and at Westville (JVa and varsity). Portage games begin at 4:00 and 5:30 at Westville. See you there.

Congrats

Congratulations to Jessi Stas for making the all-tournament team at the recent Christian Liberty Academy Volleyball Invitational.

Congratulations to Faith Rohn for being named MVP at the same tournament. This is quite an honor, as this award usually goes to a member of the top one or two teams in a tournament (Calumet/Calvary finished fourth), and rarely to a freshman. So congrats again to Faith. (And this despite that hitting error that interrupted Rachel's machine-like serving. Hmmm....)

In case anyone cares, Christian Life won the tournament. I don't know who finished second and third between Faith/Illinois and CLA.

Back to the regular season

The Patriots took on both Kankakee Trinity Academy (yes, again) and Covenant Christian High tonight at the home court at Lake Hills. It wasn't a tournament, but the girls can't quite get away from playing multiple games in a day. The opening match was the JVb team against the JV team of KTA, but I wasn't there and didn't get the score.

Cal/Cal had already played KTA twice this season, once in the opening quad at Grace Baptist and once in the CLA tournament last weekend. The first game ended with our girls taking two straight, but in the tournament the match went three games before the Patriots prevailed. Tonight's match consisted of three closely played games, all victories for the home team. The scores were 25-21, 25-22, and 28-26. KTA will be at our tournament, so we may meet them yet again.

The JVa team then took on the JV team of Covenant Christian High. The girls played even with CCHS for a while, but then the visitors pulled away to a 22-13 lead, a nearly insurmountable deficit in this age of rally scoring. However, the Patriots stormed back and eked out a 25-24 win. They had a much easier time in the second, winning 25-14.

The varsity returned for the match against Covenant's varsity team. Cal/Cal opened the season against Covenant at the Grace Baptist quad, winning in three (best of three). In the first game tonight, our girls jumped out early to a big lead (17-6), gave up a few points, but prevailed, 25-15. The second game was a completely different story. There were many defensive lapses, and they lost, 25-18. The third and fourth games were yet another story. The third game was won 25-15 and the fourth, 25-12.

The report from the junior high games against Stone Academy was that both teams ("a" and "b") were victorious.

The junior high "a" team sports a 7-1-3 record, 6-1 in non-tournament matches. The JVa team is now 8-1-1, 6-1 in non-pool play, and 5-0 in non-tournament play. The varsity's record now stands at 13-3-2, 10-3 in non-pool matches, and 7-1 in non-tournament play.

Next games are this Friday against Granger and Lady Crusaders at Lake Hills. Times are at the bottom of the page.

Patriots take fourth, part II

Saturday came very quickly, as the girls had to leave the hotel by 7:15 to get to CLA in time for their 8:00 game. Since the girls had tied for first in their pool with both Faith and Christian Liberty, all with 8-2 records, they had to go to the tiebreakers. The ten-point loss in the second game came back to haunt them, as the tiebreaker went to head-to-head points. Because of that game, the girls finished in third. First and second place teams didn't have to be there until at least 10:30. The first game of the day was against the sixth place team from the other pool, Westlake. After a first-game victory by the score of 21-5, Coach Carr substituted freely in the second. Cal/Cal won that one by 21-12. The next game was against Kankakee Trinity, a team the Patriots had beaten in the opening quad. Trinity finished second in the other pool and were playing well. The first game was full of Patriot errors and Trinity squeezed out a 21-19 win. Our girls played the second game as if they were angry about the first game loss, opening up a 16-5 lead. Again, the girls began to make a lot of mistakes and let Trinity back into it. Finally, the girls finished them off, 21-16. The third and deciding game did not match the first two. Rachel Eizenga started off serving. And she kept serving. And serving. Before you knew it, it was 14-0. Then, there was a hitting error on Cal/Cal by an unnamed player (cough Faith cough). The next point was won by the Patriots and the final was 15-1.

After lunch, the next game was against Christian Life, the team that won the tiebreakers and finished first in the pool. This time the girls lost in two straight, but the games were competitive. The final scores were 21-15, 21-17. This sent the girls to the losers bracket. Calvary/Calumet had to play Willow to get in to the third place game. This team wasn't quite in our class, and Cal/Cal won easily in two games, 21-9, 21-9. In the meantime, CLA, the host team, had lost to Faith and then had beaten Trinity in their first loser bracket game to set up the game to guarantee a third place finish.

CLA came playing at a very high level, with the advantage of playing on their home court and with the support of their home crowd. CLA had a player that did not play when Cal/Cal had beaten them earlier in the year, and she turned out to be one of their top two players. Our girls looked completely spent, and CLA won easily, 21-11, 21-13. We didn't stick around to find out who took first, second and third.

Overall, I would say the girls played very well, but not as consistent as they could be. They didn't seem to quite be as well conditioned as CLA, as CLA had played the same schedule but didn't appear to be as tired as our girls were. But, I think the top four teams were pretty even.

Thank to Shirley, Joanne and Kristi for the all the good food we had over the weekend. Parents, in my opinion, the money was well-spent. The food was delicious and much better for the girls than concession food.

Next games: Tuesday at Lake Hills. The varsity play Trinity and Covenant, at 4:30 and 6:30. Check the calendar at the bottom of the page for the JV and JH upcoming games. I do hope to give a better update for those teams in the near future.

Patriots take fourth

It's been a long couple of days of volleyball. A couple of moderately successful days, as the Calvary Christian/Calumet Baptist Patriots took fourth place in the inaugural Christian Liberty Academy Varsity Invitational Volleyball Tournament, or the CLAVIVT, as we will call it.

The Patriots kicked off their participation in the tournament Friday with a pool play match against Rockford Christian Life. We didn't know anything about them, and after the first eleven points, we thought they might be a pushover. It was 10-1, Patriots. But then the Eagles got warmed up and stormed back. The Patriots managed to hang on for a 21-19 win. The Eagles maintained the momentum gained in the latter half of the first game and beat our girls rather easily, 21-11. After a short rest, the girls took on Elgin Academy. Elgin showed up with only five players, so Christian Liberty shared two of their JV players with them. This didn't seem to help much. The Patriots won in a near whitewash, 21-1. The second game saw several substitutions, and the girls took the second, 21-9. The third pool set was against a slightly better opponent, Mooseheart High. The girls played well and won 21-7, 21-11. Next up was Faith Christian from Dixon, IL. This team looked great last year losing in the finals of the Quentin Road tournament. They had many of the same girls back and we weren't sure what would happen. What happened was great play, controversy, inadvertant buzzers, and one very upset coach. The first game was very close, but the girls fell behind 19-15. But, not really. The scorer found that Faith had served out of rotation for three points. After a long delay where both coaches, the ref, and the scorer tried to figure out how this should be resolved, the ref finally decided that Faith should lose the three points and Cal/Cal should be awarded the serve. Let's just say that the Faith coach strenuously disagreed with that ruling. Anyway, that's what was decided, and the Patriots used it to eke out a 22-20 victory. The second game was also closely competed. Our girls had made a run and trailed by one point. Faith called a timeout. Following the timeout, Faith R. (our Faith, not the opponent), dinked the ball. As it crossed the net and began to fall to an unguarded part of the opponent's court, the score table buzzer went off because the scorer forgot to turn off the clock for the timeout. The ref called a replay and the girls went on to lose the point. Faith went on to win that game, 21-19. There was one more pool play match against a team that Cal/Cal should be able to easily handle, but there seemed to be a letdown after the big game after the draining Faith game. The final of the first game was 21-16, Cal/Cal. The girls got it together for the second and won 21-6.

I will recap Saturday's festivities later.

All good things must come to an end

And they did tonight in Dyer? St. John? Crown Point? Cedar Lake? some town in Indiana against the Heritage Christian High Defenders. The winning streak looked safe early as Heritage's defense was weak and the Patriots jumped out to a 7-3 lead. But then the Defenders quickly tightened up their passing and evened the score at 9-9. Heritage crept out to a 15-12 lead, then poured it on for a 25-16 first game victory. The second game was close from the beginning throughout the whole game, but Heritage got the victory, 25-21 in a very exciting game. The third game started with Calumet/Calvary looking like they were ready to pack it in as they fell behind 15-5. They then began to rally behind some solid serving and overall better play and pulled to within three at 20-17. They couldn't sustain the momentum, however and fell 25-20.

Cal/Cal's weaknesses in coverage and passing were exposed by the solid front row play of the Heritage defenders. The Patriors couldn't get a lot of offense going because the poor passing led to scrambling setters which precluded hitting opportunities. Coverage shortcomings were exploited by deft dinking by the tall girls of Heritage.

Cal/Cal will have the chance to show that they corrected their problems this weekend as they participate in an tournament Friday and Saturday in Arlington Heights at Christian Liberty Academy. Their first game is at 1:00PM against Rockford Christian Life.

EDIT: I realized that I forgot to put in the JV and JH information. I will do that this evening. Until then I can tell you that both JH teams lost and the JV won.

Another slow start

The Patriots traveled north on Friday, up to Lake Zurich, Illinois, to take on the Quentin Road Eagles at their home court. The Patriots were not sharp in the first game. Poor coverage, a recurring problem this year, was a big culprit. The girls also had a lot of unforced errors. Good serving and uneven play by Quentin Road enabled the girls to hold a lead of 21-18. Calumet/Calvary still led 23-21 when Quentin Road ran off four straight points for a first game win by the score of 25-23. The second game was a better game for the Patriots. The serving remained strong and there were fewer unforced errors. Coverage remained a problem, but the girls prevailed, 25-17, with the final point being scored by a spike by Kara. The third game was over early, with Quentin Road making many unforced errors and the Patriots hustling and playing somewhat better. The final score of that game was 25-14. Calumet/Calvary's record now stands at 5-0.

In earlier games, the JVb team lost to Quentin Road's junior high team, 26-24, 25-20. The JVa team prevailed against Quentin Road's JV team, 25-21, 25-18. Significant in this match was Holly's two big hits to finish the first game and another big one to finish the second. The JVa's record is 6-1-1 (4-1 in non-pool play games).

Next game is at Heritage Christian at Calumet and 231 (whatever town that is) on Tuesday, September 9. The junior high "b" team starts things off at 3:30. Junior high "a", JV, and varsity follow.

First home win

The Calumet/Calvary Patriots picked up their first home win of the season, coincidently in their first home game. They beat the Christian Liberty Academy Chargers of Arlington Heights, 25-14, 25-12, and 25-22. I apologize about not having programs; we'll have them for next home game.

It was Christian Liberty's first game of the season, and that was apparent early on. The Patriots had a little trouble generating much offence, but their defense was solid so they could be patient while waiting for the Chargers to make the errors. By the third game, Christian Liberty started playing better and actually held the lead for a good part of the game, but the Patriots slowly pulled ahead and finished the match with three straight wins.

Earlier in the evening, the junior high team won a thriller in three games, and the JV easily handled Christian Liberty's JV team, 25-15, 25-12.

Cal/Cal's next games are against Quentin Road on Friday. JVb starts the festivities at 4:30, with JVa and varsity following.

JV tournament

The Calvary volleyball team finished second in their own tournament, losing to Quentin Road in the finals 21-16, 18-21, 15-7. Calvary made their way to the finals by finishing pool play first in their pool with a 5-1 record. (They split their two games this morning with Southside to complete the pool round.) This earned them a place in the semifinals, where they faced Grace. Grace played this game under a cloud, as a member of their team got news of the loss of her mother. After some discussion, the remainder of the team decided to go ahead with their games. Calvary prevailed, however, 21-19, 21-18. Heritage beat Grace in the third place game.

Emily Eizenga and Ally Rohn were named to the all tournament team.

Next games are against Christian Liberty Academy at Lake Hills on Tuesday. Junior High "A" kicks things off at 4:00. See you there.

Lotsa volleyball

Much volleyball tonight. I was able to witness only the junior high "A" game versus Crown Point Christian School played at the Griffith campus. The girls handled Crown Point pretty well, winning 25-15, 25-18. My understanding is that the "B" team also won.

At the JV tournament, reports are that the Calumet/Calvary beat Schaumburg and Heritage Christian High. The games against Heritage, winner of last year's tournament, were closely fought. The scores I heard were 25-23, 21-19.

The JV team is in action tomorrow at 10:00 AM against Southside. Bracket play begins at noon. See you there.

Junior High Update

Just a little post to report that the junior high team won three straight at Emmanuel of Valparaiso on Tuesday. They played three out of five because that have a new AD who didn't know that junior high teams play two out of three.

Coach Boss reports that she was happy with their performance, but there are things they need to work on.

Come on out and cheer on the JV team today as they begin the Calumet JV tournament at Lake Hills.

Successful start of a new season

The varsity team finally played other high school teams, as they kicked off the 2008 season with the Grace Baptist Academy Quad. The four teams invited to the quad were Calumet/Calvary, Kankakee Trinity Academy, Covenant Christian High, and the host school.

Calumet kicked off the day's activities by taking on Covenant at 9:00 AM. The starters were Jessie Clark, Kara Boss, Rachel Eizenga, Faith Rohn, Jessi Stas and Elizabeth Short. Anna Choate started as libero for Elizabeth. Covenant jumped out to an early 6-1 lead. Calumet looked like they hadn't quite woke up yet. Rachel's serves got them back into it and they took an 8-6 lead. But then serving errors, weak defense and strong play by Covenant gave Covenant the lead which they didn't give up, resulting in the final of 25-16. The second game occurred after Calumet's alarm clock went off, apparently. They jumped out to a 10-4 lead. After some point exchanges, the score was 13-6. Then Calumet really cranked it up and won, 25-9. There were no (maybe one) missed serves and much better defense and hustle. In the third game, Calumet took the early lead at 7-2. They struggled a bit from that point but finished off Covenant, 15-13.

The second game of the day for Calumet was against Kankakee Trinity. Calumet has handled Trinity pretty easily in the past, but soon the Patriots found that Trinity had improved. Calumet, however, got an early lead and gradually increased it to 19-11. Trinity played well from this point, but Calumet got the victory, 25-18, with the final point on a spike by Elizabeth. Calumet had an easier time in the second game, mainly because they played their best. The final score was 25-13, which doesn't seem very exciting, but the final three points were: 1)Kara blocked a spike, which Trinity returned barely over the net to Calumet on the first hit, and Kara buried it; 2)Faith had a big hit, and 3)Faith had a HUGE hit.

After a delicious lunch (thanks, moms) Calumet faced the host team for their final match of the day. Grace is in a rebuilding year, with many young players on their roster. Calumet continued with their momentum built in the earlier matches, and defeated Grace, 25-13 and 25-15.

Last year, Calumet played in a quad in Lafayette early in the season. The results were the opposite of this one. Faith-Lafayette, Fulton County, and a Catholic school whose name escapes me all defeated Calumet. (The girls did turn it around by the end of the year.) The level of competition was much higher in last year's quad, but it was great that the girls could get an opposite result this year, and hopefully this will give the girls some confidence for the rest of the year.

Lots of changes

What a difference twenty four hours makes.

As of last night, the Eizengas were playing exclusively on the JV team and only seven were going to be on the varsity team. But the injury bug was caught by Amy, as she sprained her ankle at practice. So now the Eizenga girls are going to play varsity at the Grace quad tomorrow just so Calumet/Calvary can have a full team.

So tonight was the REAL opening of the season for the junior high and the JV teams, but not for the varsity. THEY got to play yet another exhibition, this time against some young men and alumni players.

I was not able to attend the junior high games but I got a report from Coach Boss. They played very well against Portage's JV team and won 25-14, 25-14. Coach Boss reports that she was able to substitute liberally with B team members and they played very well.

After that, the JV "b" team played Portage Christian's varsity team. Calumet/Calvary won this one easily as well, 25-4, 25-11.

The next game involved the JV "a" team playing Duneland Lutheran's varsity team. These games were very well played by both sides, but Calumet/Calvary won in three straight, 26-24, 25-17, 25-16.

The last game of the evening was the varsity team less Amy, Taylor and Tina, plus Rachel and Emily against Kelsey Boss, Stephanie Carlson, and various and sundry young men. They presented a good challenge for the girls. The play was spirited and competitive as well as a little ragged. The girls hustled and their serving was very good. Their hitting was good, while defense, coverage and service reception were OK. The girls won 25-17, 18-25 and 25-22.

Tomorrow the varsity finally gets to play actual games, as the team takes on Trinity, Grace and Covenant in a quad meet at Grace tomorrow, beginning at 9:00 AM. The girls are all over at our house tonight. Coach Carr is here as well to make sure the girls actually get some sleep tonight. The Eizengas will join us tomorrow morning for the trek down to Kankakee. The info for the roster additions are:

Rachel Eizenga, #11, So, 5'8", S/MH
Emily Eizenga, #?, So, 5'8", S

See you tomorrow.

Traditional kickoff of the season

The second (and official kick off) of the season was tonight at Lake Hills with the junior high and JV intrasquad games and the alumni game for the varsity.

The junior high game and the JV games were mixed squads of the A and B teams. For the junior high game, Kelsey coached one of the teams and Tina coached the other. In the interest of time, the match was limited to two games, with each team winning one. Tina's team won the first, 27-25 with Kelsey's team winning the second, 25-15. Asked about how the players looked, Kelsey said, "Well, they played better than they practiced."

The JV game as mentioned above, was between two teams taken from both the A and B teams. In this game, Coach Carr coached one of the teams and Jene Becerra coached the other. Jene has been helping out at practice and accompanied the teams to Maranatha for the camp as well. The play was pretty good for the first game of the year. As with the junior high, the teams split two games, with Jene's team winning the first, 25-16 and Coach Carr's team winning the second, 25-23.

The last game of the night was a best-of-five match between alumni players and the varsity. The varsity was without Tina Schnoor and Taylor Lindbloom, who are out with a broken arm and broken patella, respectively. Also, since Jessie Clark had just returned from vacation and hadn't practiced, she did not play. Rachel and Emily Eizenga were brought up from JV for this game. The alumni team consisted of Kelsey Boss '08, Stephanie Carlson '08, Karissa Porter '07, Amanda Anderson '06, Ashley Anderson '04, Alli Carr '04, Rachel Carr Schmucker '00, and Ruthie Olsen Carmien '99. Penni Harris Jeralds '96 was the referee. The team played well considering the injuries and new players, but were beaten in four games by the alumni, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23 and 25-15.

The 2008 season is shaping up to be a challenging one, with the top two hitters graduated and the two important returning players out with injuries. The roster for opening night on Friday will be as follows:

Kara Boss, Jr, #17, 5'6", OH
Amy Broadbent, Sr, #16, 5'10", MH
Anna Choate, Jr, #12, 5'6", DS/L
Jessie Clark, Jr, #9, 5'9", S/OH
Faith Rohn, Fr, #21, 5'7", S/OH
Elizabeth Short, Sr, #15, 5'6", MH
Jessi Stas, Jr, #7, 5'9", OH

Calumet/Calvary lost Kelsey Boss, Stephanie Carlson, Jene Becerra and Kait Wirkowski to graduation. The team will miss the hitting and leadership of Kelsey and Stephanie and the defense of Jene and Stephanie; they will be difficult to replace. The '08 team has three players who moved up from JV: Kara, Elizabeth and Anna; and the others are returning players.

This is the roster to begin the year, but is subject to change if JV players are brought up or either of the two injured girls return before season's end.

To recap last year:

I cannot find my records from last year, so I don't recall the JV record. I do remember that it was below .500. That really didn't reflect the talent on the team, as it was split into two roughly equal squads.

The varsity finished last year at 26-13-4. I believe their record over the last 21 games was 17-4. Highlights included:
- Making the quarterfinals in the Calumet tournament
- Making the quarterfinals in the Quentin Road tournament
- Taking second place in the state tournament to Fulton County
- Taking second place in the NACA national tournament in Division II (beating Ballard on the way - woohoo!)

The girls have a lot to live up to. They're off to a good start with their play at Maranatha. I trust that Coach Carr and Coach Casey will do their usual remarkable job.

No braggin' rights

Well, the parents won, but with Faith, Jessie, and Taylor not there, we can't say we beat the varsity team. Even without half the team, the varsity did beat the parents in the first game. The parents regrouped and then took three straight from the team.

In case you didn't hear, Taylor underwent successful surgery for a broken kneecap, not a torn meniscus as previously suspected. Her recovery time is expected to be six weeks. Tina just got a new cast and her doctor said that her arm is healing slowly.

Hopefully the team can get used to the new rotations/lineup by the season starts. Coaches Carr and Casey have their work cut out for them, but I trust they will do a great job.

Tomorrow....

Coach Carr had the audacity to tell me to "bring my game".

Well.

Not only don't I need to be reminded of this, this sentiment needs to be directed to the girls.

I always bring my game.

Seven and one half more hours.

Six days

until the parent game.

Be afraid, girls.

Be very afraid.

They're baaaaack

Well, camp is over and everyone is home. I think. First-hand reports say that it was a great week. The Calumet machine continues to roll. Another first place finish. Who doubted? (Well, maybe me. I should know better by now). It sounds like our JVa would have cleaned up the JV division if they would have let them play there. It was nice that Ally could share one or two awards with the other JV girls.

Now get some sleep, girls.

Coach, I'm very competitive? Extremely competitive is more like it. However, I will be on my best behavior in the parents' game which is only thirteen days away. That is, if everyone plays up to my standards :-)

Looking forward to another successful Calumet season. Go Jessie, Jessi, Faith, Taylor, Amy, Kara, Elizabeth and Anna. And the JV team. And the other JV team. And the junior high team. Both of them.

PS. I would post pics, but it looks like Facebook is the better way to display these. Take a look at Kelsey's and Taylor's.

Calendar is now up to date

I have finished entering the schedule on the calendar. I will fill in the TBA when they are A.

I don't have practices listed, but I am showing the camp. If you miss a practice, don't blame me.

Calendar/Schedule

I have added a calendar at the bottom of the page which will eventually contain all the games (and perhaps other activities) of the all the teams. This will be the best way to show the schedule. Also, if you click on an event, there is a link to a map to the event site.

If anyone has any other suggestions for things to include here on the blog, please let me know by leaving a comment.

New play for the new season

Some inspiration

Poplessness

is imminent.

Map

Hey look! A map at the bottom of the page that shows all the places we play. The blue spots are varsity games, the yellow ones are junior high only and the purple one is JVb and junior high. The red one without a dot is Lake Hills. Roll over the spots and it shows the name and address.

Schedule

Seven more days of pop.

But I'm sure everyone has given up pop (and candy and fast food, etc.) already because of your single-minded pursuit of volleyball excellence.

Yeah, right.

Anyway, Coach Carr asked me to post the season schedule, so here goes:

Practice: July 8, 10, 15, 17 @ Lake Hills 9:00-11:30
July 22, 24 @ Griffith Baptist JV 9:00-11:00 V 11:00-1:00
July 27-Aug. 1 Maranatha Camp


Aug. 5, 7, 8, 12 @ Lake Hills 9:00-12:00


DATE OPPONENT SQUAD TIME LOCATION
Aug. 19, Tuesday Intersquad games JH/JVa/JVbAlumni 4:30 / 5:30 / 6:30 Home
Aug. 22, Friday Portage Christian JH / JVb 3:00 / 4:00 Home
Aug. 22, Friday Duneland Lutheran JVa / V 5:30 / 6:30 Home
Aug. 23, Saturday Grace, Kankakee Quad Match V TBA Away
Aug. 26, Tuesday Grace, Plymouth JH / JVa / V 4:00 / 5:00 / 6:00 Away
Aug. 29 & 30 CBS JV Tourney JV TBA Home
Aug. 29, Friday Crown Point Chr. JH 4:00 Away
Sept. 2, Tuesday Christian Liberty JH / JVa / V 4:00 / 5:00 / 6:00 Home
Sept. 5 & 6 South Side Tourney JH TBA Away
Sept. 5, Friday Quentin Road JVb / JVa / V 4:30 / 5:30 / 6:30 Away
Sept. 9, Tuesday Heritage Christian JH / JVa / V 4:00 / 5:00 / 6:00 Away
Sept. 12 &13 Christian Liberty Tourney V TBA Away
Sept. 12, Friday Victory Christian JH / JVb 4:30 / 5:30 Away
Sept. 16, Tuesday Trinity Academy JVb / V 3:30 / 4:30 Home
Sept. 16, Tuesday Covenant JVa / V 5:30 / 6:30 Home
Sept. 16, Tuesday Stone Church JH 4:00 Away
Sept. 19, Friday Lady Crusaders JH / V 3:30 / 4:30 Home
Sept. 19, Friday Granger Christian JVb / JVa 5:30 / 6:30 Home
Sept. 23, Tuesday Westville H.S. JVa / V 5:30 / 6:30 Away
Sept. 23, Tuesday Portage Christian JH / JVb 4:00 / 5:00 Away
Sept. 26 & 27 CBS Tourney V TBA Home
Sept. 30, Tuesday Grace, Kankakee JH /JVa / V 4:30 / 5:30 / 6:30 Home
Oct. 3, Friday Ridgewood JH / JVa / V 4:30 / 5:30 / 6:30 Away
Oct. 7, Tuesday Victory Christian JH / JVb 3:30 / 6:30 Home
Oct. 7, Tuesday First Baptist, Mishawaka JVa / V 4:30 / 5:30 Home
Oct. 10, Friday Quentin Road Tourney V TBA Away
Oct. 10, Friday TBA JH
Oct. 14, Tuesday Faith, Lafayette JH / JVa / V 4:00 / 5:00 / 6:00 Home
Oct. 17, Friday Community Baptist JVa / V 5:00 / 6:00 TBA
Oct. 17, Friday TBA JH Home
Oct. 18, Saturday Varsity Regionals
Oct. 21, Tuesday Quentin Road JVa / V 3:30 / 4:30 Home
Oct. 21, Tuesday LaLumiere JVb / V 6:00 / 7:00 Home
Oct. 24 & 25 Varsity State
Oct. 28 - Nov. 1 NACA

All times are CDT
October 21st is Senior Night.

I hope to have a more legible schedule up soon, but Word tables don't translate well to Blogger.

Not much going on

But I thought I would post anyway.

61 days to the parent game, 66 days to the alumni game and 69 days to the opening game.

Sad news about Tina, but at least Coach has a lot of time to decide what to do.

24 days until no more pop.

Happy Fathers Day!

Yea! I win again!

UPDATED TIME AND PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT: I told you the power of suggestion works. Well, maybe I didn't, but I should have. We are having a parents' game! Yea! Mrs. Boss, the Obingers, Mrs. Short, Mrs. Rohn, possibly the Lindblooms and I will be playing the varsity on Thursday, August 14 at 6:30 at Lake Hills. Two great things about this: First, we're having a parents vs. varsity game! I think I might have already mentioned that. Second, it moves the season start up five days! Now, only 76 days until the parents vs. varsity game! Anybody want anything else, since my power of suggestion is so powerful? My fees are reasonable :-)

The links are fixed! The links are fixed!!

A simple email to NACA resulted in the links to the results from last year's tournament and the list of All-Americans being restored at the NACA website. Yea!!

Only 102 days until the intrasquad/alumni/parent games. (Notice how I slipped in the "parent" game. Power of suggestion.) 105 days until opening day.

Back to the boys

Well, the long, arduous boys volleyball season finally came to an end last night, with our third and fourth games of the season. Actually, the only arduous things about the season were the drives up to Gurnee. But we are thankful for the games that we were able to play.

Last night, the Patriots played the same two teams they played last week, the HRK Eagles of Gurnee, the host team, and the SWCHA Saints from the suburbs of Milwaukee. We began against the host team, the Eagles. We had lost to this team last week, but it was our first game and the guys were quite nervous. Well, we started pretty well this time. We opened up a lead and held it throughout, winning 25-22. It appeared in the second game that HRK got over there nerves or rust or whatever it was, and jumped out to a 19-11 lead. We regrouped and made a game of it, but couldn't get over the hump and lost by the same score, 25-22. We seemed to lose that momentum in the third game, with HRK getting the early lead and holding it to win 15-10.

After a break while HRK played SWCHA, we took on the Saints. We were told that the Saints were missing several players and had replaced them with JV players and a couple of girls. (The Saints are usually a co-rec team.) Unfortunately, none of their four big hitters were the absentees. We played pretty well in the first game, but lost 25-14. We couldn't generate much of an offense, and the Saints used all the free balls to set up some huge hits.The second game was more of the same and we lost 25-12. Highlights were some good blocking by Eric and some excellent saves. The guys really hustled, but the difference in experience was very apparent.

After this was a three-on-three tournament. We split our team into three teams, the first consisting of Jake, Eric and Josiah; the second of Luke, Justin V. and Jacob, and the third of Justin D., Craig, and Kelsey. HRK put together two teams and SWCHA has three, so we had a nice eight-team tournament. We started out playing double-elimination. The matches were one game to 15. Our C team started out against the HRK A team. Craig's serves, Justin's passing and Kelsey's all-around play enabled them to pull off the upset, 15-13. Our B team followed against SWCHA's B team. Some excellent hustle by Jacob, blocking by Luke and serving by Justin turned into another 15-13 win for the Patriots. After a game between SWCHA's A team and HRK's B, the Patriot's A took on SWCHA's C team. Our guys looked very good and won 15-5. So after the first round, the Patriots had three of the four winners! The semifinals then followed. The first game, which turned out to be the best played game of the tournament, was our A team versus SWCHA's A team. We played an excellent game, but so did they, and their hitting and experience were the deciding factors in a 15-10 loss for the Patriots. Our B and C teams then played in the second semifinal, with the B team winning, 15-10. The next two games were the loser bracket games, and when these were finished, it was decided to modify things, as it was going to take too long to complete a true double elimination tournament. So we decided to have a consolation championship, and third place game and a championship game. SWCHA wanted to start heading home, so the championship game was scheduled for after the completion of the consolation championship, rather than wait until the third place game was played. So the consolation championship was played, with HRK A beating HRK B. Then our B team played the SWCHA A team for the championship, and it was no contest, with SWCHA winning 15-4.

Then, after saying goodbye to the Saints, we decided to play one more regular six-on-six game, Patriots vs. Eagles, to 25 instead of playing a third place game. We began this game by playing well, and eventually held a 24-20 lead. Then we just couldn't get our act together and lost 26-24. After some chaotic hitting practice, we loaded up the vans and headed home.

All-in-all, it was a good experience for the guys, I think, and a lot of fun. I hope the guys saw how much enjoyable it is to play volleyball the right way. Guys, when you are playing in the backyard or at church this spring and summer, try to play it right - three hits, don't lift or double hit, even if everyone else is doing so. Hopefully we will do this again next spring and have a few more games.

Updates/Corrections re: Calumet/Calvary

Got an email from Coach Carr the other day with some additional information regarding items mentioned in the post of April 9:

• 28 girls are going to Maranatha, plus Coach Carr and Coach Boss. Five of these are junior high girls and the remainder are JV and varsity players. (I believe this is all but one of the likely JV and varsity players for the 2008 season.) So apparently people did get their registrations in. I guess you'll need more than one car :-)
• The camp in May is for players entering sixth through ninth grade only
• The May 15th meeting for parents is at the Griffith campus, not Highland.

I added the Calvary Christian School website link as well. The 2008 schedule is posted there.

Remember, only 118 days until the intersquad/alumni (parents? Hmmm?) games and 121 days until opening day.

Mushrooming volleyball

Volleyball, volleyball everywhere. As some of you know, Kristi and I put together a boys' volleyball team, the HSRC Patriots. We were invited to a tournament up in Gurnee by Home Run Kids, a homeschool group located up there. Things changed, and it ended up that we played a couple of games up there last night, one against the host team and another against SWCHA, a Christian home school group from the Milwaukee suburbs.

We ended up with nine guys who attended at least one of the four practices we held leading up to last night's games. Of these, only a couple had played more than backyard volleyball. One of our starting setters could not make the game, so we were at a further disadvantage. Despite this, the guys had showed improvement over the few weeks, and we were interested to see how we matched up against some competition.

Our first game was against the host team. The Patriots were quite nervous, and it showed in their play. It was quite a contrast from a bunch of guys trying to learn volleyball fundamentals in a gym with a fifteen foot ceiling in half of it to playing with refs, line judges, fans, scorekeepers, etc. Gradually, however, they began to fell comfortable and play better. They did end up losing, however, by the scores of 25-14 and 25-21. The host team played the Wisconsin team next. Wow. Some serious hitting by the Wisconsin team. Three guys on the team were 6'2" or taller and they could crush the ball. They wiped out the host team 25-11, 25-13.

I told the guys that they were improving, and if they blocked a couple or dug a couple of the big hits, it might take the wind out of their sails. We did play tough the first game, but lost 25-14. I think, though, the guys got over any intimidation they might have had when they saw they could play with the other team. The second game was much better played, and if a couple of blocks we made fell on the other side of the net, the story might have been different. However, the Patriots lost 25-17. We found out after the game that the Wisconsin team has been playing together for four years, and plays in an adult rec league so they have a lot of game experience. The fact that we were competitive with them bodes well for the team.

Afterwards, the teams played some against each other before the Wisconsin team headed out. All in all, it was a good experience for our guys and they know what to expect a little more now.
Highlights during the games included a huge block by Luke L. during our rally in the last game, solid and consistent defense played throughout the night by our libero, Justin D., great serves (after the first game) by Justin V. and good all-around play by the other guys.

It looks like we'll be playing these two teams again next Friday, along with the Wisconsin team's JV. There also may be some skill competitions, so it sounds like it could be fun.

Off-season activity

Time for a post. I talked to Coach Carr last night and asked her about what is going on in with the teams at this point in the off-season. She mentioned a few things:

• Maranatha camp registrations - at this date she has received TWO. Yes, two. So apparently everyone else is so good that they don't need the camp. OR, everyone is just waiting until the last minute. Coach Carr has enough stress in her life, so, you procrastinators, GET YOUR REGISTRATION IN. (This does make transportation a lot simpler, however - she can take everyone up in a car.) Deadline is April 15. Don't forget the $20.
• Calvary camp - This will take place at the Griffith campus on May 12, 13, 15, and 16 from 3:15 to 5:15. Coaches Carr and Boss will be conducting the camp. Registration forms and information will be coming soon.
• Parent meeting for all Calvary/Calumet parents will take place on May 15, 6:30 P.M. at the Calvary campus in Highland. Quoting from Coach Carr's earlier email: "I urge all of you to be there as we will present procedure and policy information for the 2008 season. Any forms that you are missing can be obtained then. If there is a schedule or form that you are missing you can request that be sent to you before the meeting."

Only 132 days until the intrasquad and alumni ( and parents? what about it, Coach?) games. 135 to opening day. Yes, I am counting.

Moving on

to volleyball (the greatest sport in the world). The sports banquet for CBS was held Thursday night, so I'm using this event as the transition from one sport to the next. I know, I know, you're saying volleyball season doesn't begin until August. But no, volleyball fills the vacuum. If there isn't basketball, then there is volleyball.

Anyway, as I was saying (writing?), the banquet was Thursday night, and it was fun if somewhat bittersweet, as this was the last one for CBS. (As you all know, CBS is merging with Calvary Christian School and will eventually be operating under the Calvary name.) The food was light and healthy. Ahem. Well... it WAS delicious. The fellowship was great. It was nice seeing the players and families again.

Coach Carr did a great job recapping the season for both the JV and the varsity teams. She only choked up once (which I believe is the record for the fewest choke-ups by Coach Carr at a banquet). She gave out several awards and the girls presented her with flowers, and her and Coach Casey with mementos for eleven years together. (Apparently the girls don't realize we operate on a ten-based numbering system.) A photo montage put to music was presented, and Coaches Carr and Casey enjoyed it until the last group of photos, when they were seen noticably grimacing. Lots of bad form. I guess their coaching switches are on all the time.

Open gyms are already in full swing. Many of the returning girls are playing on club teams. Camp will be on us before we know it and then it will be wall-to-wall volleyball. I hope to use this blog to recap games and to cover other team matters throughout the season. I can't wait (as if you couldn't tell.)

Annoyed

If anyone is trying to click on the website links, you will have found that they are no longer live. I went on the NACA website, and all the sports info they have is about basketball. I hope they will be including all their sports info on the site again soon.

Final note

The Patriots wrapped everything up with the end-of the year banquet held at Family of Faith Church in Monee, Illinois. Everyone was able to attend, with many family members also in attendance. After prayer, we dove into the delicious food that each family brought. Coach then read various passages from the Bible and talked about the growth of the team and the parallels that can be drawn to our growth in our spiritual walk. He talked of "fundamentals of the faith", and charged the girls with walking with the Lord in obedience to His word. He thanked the parents for all that they did to help this season to come off, after all the turmoil at the beginning of the year. He then invited the whole team to come up. Each member of the team was called forward individually, and Coach told us what the player has meant to the team, what gifts she brought and then he presented each with a Patriots t-shirt and a trophy. Following this, a video was presented that Michele put together. The collective intelligence of several fathers and brothers were needed to get this going, but it finally was accomplished. The video itself was well-done, and brought many cheers and laughs from the team. After some further fellowship and some clean-up, the evening's activities came to a close.

I had a great time doing this blog. I appreciate all the kind words many of you expressed regarding your enjoyment of it. I apologize for not updating it quickly enough after games (I didn't realize that some of you were looking so forward to the recaps!). It was fun and the season was fun.

See everyone next year. Girls - think tall thoughts ;-)