Season finale

It seems like we just started the season last week and now it's over. Oh, wait. We did start last week. The season wrap-up was a quad at Gurnee on Monday, which included the same teams as last Friday, plus Parkview Baptist Academy, a school in Northlake.

We came with only six, as the DeCooks had another engagement and could not make the matches. However, this left us with what essentially was players from last year, so the guys were used to playing with each other. Basically the difference was the setters - Steve and Tim replaced Eric and Craig. I moved Josiah up to start right front in place of Neal, and put Justin in where Josiah usually starts, opposite from where Josiah started this game. Otherwise the starting lineup was the same.

Strange the difference three days makes. We opened against Crossroads, which lost to both us and HRK on Friday without taking a game. And it looked like more of the same on Monday. Justin seemed to recover his serving touch, Stephen, serving underhanded, was dropping them into the holes, Jake was pounding the ball, we had some good blocks and won rather easily, 25-15. And, fitting with our usual pattern, we started getting sloppy in the second. Poor passing and setting led us to a second game loss, 25-17. We picked it up a little in the third, but poor passing continued to be our Achilles heel. Crossroads jumped out to an early lead, and maintained it for a 15-10 match-clinching victory.

The second game was against the host team, the HRK Eagles. We eked out a three-game win on Friday, and Monday's game was similar. As fitting our usual modus operandi, we won the first game. I don't have the score, but I believe it was about 25-19. And in the second game, we predictably struggled, even after I told the team that this was our first game. This game was also close, but I believe we lost, 25-20. The third game didn't follow exactly the same as Friday's but the final score was the same. But instead of coming from way back, we actually held a 14-12 lead. We then gave up two straight points, but then pulled out the next two points for a 16-14 match-winner.

After another short break, we took on Parkview. We had watched a couple of their games against the other teams, and knew that they weren't very polished. The first game reflected this, as we jumped ahead early and led at one point 24-11. The guys (and Kelsey, who I subbed in a bit) then relaxed a little and gave up a few points, but eventually got the last point for 25-15 win. In the second game I subbed Kelsey in more (even illegally) and we tried to run a 6-2, which we never practiced. Anyway, we still won 25-17.

So we finished the tournament 2-1, for a second place finish. For the record, Crossroad completed the day undefeated for the tournament victory. To show how close the teams were, Crossroads finished last on Friday. The final record for the season was 4-2, a great improvement over last year when we were 0-4.

We sadly say good-bye to Jake, Tim and Josiah. Jake and Josiah were also with us last year, and Tim joined us this year. We appreciate their participation and attitude and will miss them. Looking forward to next year - tell your friends and neighbors, we will need some new players for next year.