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.