Sunday, November 22, 2009

I promised one more post, so here it is.

I won't go over the banquet very thoroughly, but I will say it was nice, as usual, and Coach Carr cried, as usual.

In case you didn't know, Jessi Stas and Faith Rohn were named to the all-tournament team at NACA. They don't give all the different awards that they used to, just offensive and defensive MVP. We didn't get either of them. Here's a link to the website (you'll have to cut and past into your address bar): http://nacasports.com/assets/Uploads/2009%20Volleyball%20Tournament.pdf

I put together a grid of where some of the player finished in various stat categories, both in the region per the NWI Times and the state, per Maxpreps. Here is the link to the document:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhSbYCLoD5vTdDNHVnhvOGhJNGNqUkhHX29iS0JINWc&hl=en

Here is a link to the NWI Times volleyball stat leaders: http://www2.nwitimes.com/varsity/?sport_id=6&show=leaders


Hoping that all the girls' offseason pursuits increase their skills for next year. Best wishes to the club teams of Taylor, Faith, Ally and anyone else playing club. As I mentioned earlier, I will still be around in some capacities next year, so if I don't see you sooner, I'll see you next season.

Now, it's on to basketball. First games tomorrow. Should be.........interesting

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Congrats to Rachel Eizenga!

Congrats to Rachel Eizenga, who was named AVCA/Maxpreps Player of the Week in Indiana for the week ended November 2. Here's the email I received:


AVCA High School Player of the Week - Indiana

Player of the Week of November 2

Rachel Eizenga

Calvary Christian High School (Highland): 40-3

5’8, Junior, Setter

Week of October 25 – November 1, 2009: 11 Games Played

Stats

Assists: 77

Ast./Game: 7

Kills: 14

Digs: 11

Aces: 9

Blocks: 2.5

The MaxPreps/AVCA High School Player of the Week Program is a partnership between the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and CBS MaxPreps, Inc. Each week MaxPreps and the AVCA recognize deserving student-athletes at the high school level who have demonstrated outstanding play on the court throughout the week of competition.

Statistics entered at MaxPreps.com by the high school coach are used to determine the week’s winner.

Winners receive a certificate and a letterman’s patch from MaxPreps and the AVCA.

The winners of the AVCA Player of the Week Award are recognized on the largest high school sports website in country, MaxPreps.com. Find complete high school volleyball coverage at:
http://www.maxpreps.com/national/volleyball.htm

Players who receive the award will also receive a virtual patch on their player profile on MaxPreps.com – recognizing them as one of the elite players to receive this prestigious award.

Previous Players of the Week

Fawn Ryan
Batesville High School (Batesville): 28-3
Junior, Outside Hitter/Setter
Week of October 18 – October 25, 2009: 8 Games Played
Stats
Kills: 30
Kills/Game: 3.75
Assists: 5
Ast./Game: 0.625
Digs: 25
Aces: 9
Blocks: 6

Allyson Morey
Muncie Burris (Muncie): 33-0
5’8, Senior, Setter
Week of October 11 – October 18, 2009: 9 Games Played
Stats
Assists: 97
Ast./Game: 10.778
Kills: 6 Digs: 27
Digs/Game: 3
Aces: 3

Lesley Wilzbacher
Evansville Central High School (Evansville): 16-10
5’8, Junior, Setter
Week of October 4 – October 11, 2009: 7 Games Played
Stats
Assists: 67
Ast./Game: 9.571
Digs: 34
Digs/Game: 4.857
Kills: 3
Aces: 1
Blocks: 1

Lexie Pawlik
Penn High School (Mishawaka): 22-3
6’1, Junior, Setter
Week of September 27 – October 4, 2009: 11 Games Played
Stats
Team Hit %: 33.7
Assists: 129
Ast./Game: 11.727
Digs: 33
Digs/Game: 3
Aces: 16
Blocks: 2.5

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Double sadness

What a difference a day (or two) makes. After the Patriots looked so good on Wednesday and Thursday, expectations were quite high for Friday. The first team up on Friday morning was Hearts for Jesus. As you have read, our finest game of the year was the two pool sets against Hearts in pool play. Hearts has a very good team, but the girls should have had confidence going into this one, as they had beaten them so soundly just two days before.

This game was at 9:30 at Wolf Creek Baptist Church. This was bad for many reasons. First, the time. Regardless of how long we had been down there, it still was 8:30 Central time. Calumet is NOT a morning team. In addition, the gym had no scoreboard, little room between the courts and the bare walls, tile floors, and was twenty miles away from the camp. That's the physical problems. There also were competition problems. First, we were flat. Second, the reffing was incomprehensible and one-sided. Before you accuse me of being biased, Coach Carr was told by a observer not from our cheering section that he had never seen such a game reffed so one-sidedly. Rachel was called for double hits three times early. She was not doing anything differently than she had done all year. After the third call, she stopped trying to overhand set and was just bumping it up. The refs (the up ref, especially) saw some brushing up against the net by Taylor and Rachel, but didn't see Hearts' big middle hitter raking the net twice on her follow through. After falling behind 14-4, the put together a little rally to pull with 16-9. But then another phantom brush of the net, this time by Jessi, was called, and the girls just fell apart. A defensive error, a ball dropping, two aces, a kill, yet another alleged setting error on Rachel, another defensive error and it was 24-9. After a serving error by Hearts, they dinked one for a kill and the set one disaster was history.

Set #2 looked like it going to be a repeat of set #1. A kill by Faith made it 1-1, but then two kills followed by another double call on Rachel made it 4-1, Hearts. Then, some signs of life. A Faith kill. A Hearts hitting error. An ace by Rachel. Now it was a game at 4-4. After a serving error, Kara got a kill and Taylor got a dink kill. The Patriots led 6-5. We fell behind again, 10-8, before a kill by Jessi and a couple by Taylor tied it back up again at 11. They got a dink kill before they made a hitting error. Back and forth it went. A Taylor kill tied it at 17. The momentum was broken by a hitting error, followed by two Hearts kills and then another hitting error. 21-17, Hearts. We scored two, but then, you guessed it, a double hit call on Rachel. Finally the ref noticed Hearts in the net, but then a kill and a block put Hearts on the doorstep, 24-20. It wasn't over yet. Two kills by Faith sandwiched around an ace by Rachel make it 24-23. Too little, too late. Hearts put down a kill and it was loser bracket for Calumet.

We soon found out our opponent was Broadfording, who we would play at the camp at 2:00 PM. Broadfording, who we split with in pool play and had defeated in the first game of bracket play. If we win the game, we play Hearts again for the championship (we would have to beat them twice). If we lost, it meant we were done with a third-place finish. The girls did play well. Faith struggled with her hitting, Broadfording blocked well, and our defense (serve-receive) was very poor. Calumet fell behind 13-6 because of this. We pulled to within five at 15-10, but then Broadfording began pounding the gifts given to them. More poor defensive play and a very bad call put the Patriots down 23-12. Rachel left her feet to pull a ball back that was overpassed, and a Broadfording girl reached over the net and blocked it. Instead of calling Broadfording for a an over-the-net violation, they called Rachel for a backrow attack. Anyway, Faith dinked one in but followed that with a serving error - 24-13, Broadfording. Rachel bumped one over that fell, Ally got an ace, Taylor blocked on, Ally got another ace and it was 24-17. Broadfording then hit one into the net, Jessi got a dink kill, and Broadfording hit two more into the net. 24-21 Broadfording. Kara got a kill. Could it be? Of course not. A very questionable double call on Rachel ended the game. How the ref could end the set on iffy judgment call was beyond all of us.

Set 2 was different. The girls fell behind early, but got back to within one at 9-8. They stayed there til it was 13-12. Broadfording pulled out a little bit til it was 18-15. Then a lift call (legit), kill, kill, ace, block and it was 23-15. Jessi got a kill, but then a net violation ended the tournament for Calumet. Game analysis: the defense was poor, leading to many easy kills for Broadfording.

Second sadness: now it's all over. I will do some statistical stuff later, but for now, I'm just thinking about what an experience for my girls and myself it has been to be part of the Calumet program. I also will expand on this, maybe after the banquet. It's been fun, I will miss having a daughter in it, but I'm not leaving it altogether. It's too much fun.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

One down, two to go

This morning the Patriots faced Broadfording of Maryland again. Broadfording had finished fourth in the seeding, and had defeated Cornerstone in the first round earlier this morning. We had played and split with Broadfording yesterday morning. Broadfoarding had finished 4-4 in pool play, defeating Cornerstone twice, splitting with us and Crossroads, and losing twice to Community Christian.

Since their first round game went long, the girls had a lot of time to warm up waiting for them (they played in a different location). So they didn't have their usual early-morning lethargy. They came out smoking, with aces, big hits by Faith and all-around good play. The lead got as big as 21-8 before the you-know-what, but the girls finally finished it after giving fifteen to Broadfording.

The second game was different. We started out a little too loose, and Broadfording really turned up the heat with spikes. Faith also was pounding it, but we were making service errors (four of their first eleven points were from that). We also passed poorly and kept popping it back over the net for them to kill it. From 9-6 to 17-12, we trailed by three to five points. Finally at 17-12, Faith got a nice block. She followed that with two kills, Broadfording served into the net, and Rachel put in an ace. But from there, we broke down again, with a Kara hitting error, a couple of kills by BF set up by poor passing on our part. This was halted by a dink kill by Faith, but then they got another kill, an ace (perfectly placed), and after a hitting error, finished the girls off with a couple of dinks to win 25-19.

The third game started out great. Taylor dinked it and got an ace sandwiched around a hitting error by BF, and we led 3-0. But then they started killing it again. Faith tried to match them, but we kept making errors to offset that. At 9-9, Kara got a big block, they made a hitting error, Jessi and Taylor got kills, and then after a kill by BF, Taylor bumped one over that surprised them and fell, and Faith made a nice hit to finish them off.

Hearts for Jesus awaits us tomorrow at 9:30. We played the game of the season against them yesterday to defeat them 25-16 and 25-19, so they should be ready for us. If we win, we will play the winner of the loser's bracket in this double elimination tournament for the championship. If we lose, we have to win two games, on in the loser's bracket and one in the championship game to win it all.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

I guess we belong in Division I

Very quick update before I go to bed: Pool play today consisted of two-set games against four of the five other teams in our division. We started with a split with Broadfording, which should have been a sweep except for the LGFS in game 1, turning a 23-19 advantage into a 25-24 loss. Our second game was against Crossorads of NC, and we swept and swept easily 25-12, 25-16, with a lot of sub play in the second game. Third was against Hearts for Jesus, a team that had defeated the team twice that defeated us in the finals of the PA tourney. We played our best game of the year and swept them, 25-16, 25-19. Faith was awesome in these games, and everyone else played great. To finish up, we played Cornerstone, another top team. We smoked them in the first game, 25-12, but lost the second 25-20.

Following the completion of pool play, the standings were as follows: Calumet, 6-2; Community Christian of OK (the one team we didn't play), 5-3; Hearts for Jesus of OH, 4-4; Cornerstone of FL, 4-4; Broadfording of MD, 4-4; and Crossroads of NC, 1-7. The three 4-4 teams are listed in the order they finished in the seeding. (The rules for teams with the same records were first, head-to-head; second total points given up.) The teams, except for Crossroads, are very evenly matched. Bracket results might be completely different than the seeding. What we do know is that we play tomorrow at 10:30 against the winner of Cornerstone and Broadfording.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

See the pattern?

You don't get a blog entry after a disappointing loss, at least for a few days. That's the pattern.

Anyway, here on the eve of the final final national tournament, NACA, I am going to give you a few observations of the second day of the NCSAA nationals.

First of all, the tournament was a little better run than last year. Improvements: The refs were far better. Good devotional/call to service to kick off the tournament. The girls weren't harmed by the filthy dorms (because they didn't stay there). The only other game going on during the championship game was the third place game. The final was in the evening. Negatives: Still no all-tournament team. Championship team only gets a banner. Weird pool set up to seed the bracket play. Unbalanced pools. Weird brackets in that the second place team (us) didn't get a bye but the fourth seed did (which turned out not to be too bad of a thing for us, because we got to play another game). Dorms still filthy and bad (heard this from other teams that were there for the first time). Not enough play - too few teams. Too many weak teams. Overall impression: they are moving in the right direction.

And now for our play. We were able to play three games because of the weird bracket; the downside was that the first two games were against teams we played the day before - first MCAC. We beat them easily the day before; we beath them easily again, 25-13, 25-9. I'm not going to go into any detail about this game; MCAC is a young team and a young program and is not in our class.

The second game was against Covenant Classical, who we had split with in pool play. It was more a classic Calumet performance this day, even down to a pair of LGFSs (late game flat spots). Game 1 started with hits by several players and a lot of aces by Faith, who broke out the jump serve, and the girls led 24-10. The the LGFS, and Covenant scored eight straight. Finally Calumet closed it out for a 25-18 win. The second game was similar - same assorted kills, same Faith aces, and soon it was 22-11. Then the you-know-what, and the girls kind of stumbled to another 25-18 win.

Christian Community awaited us for the final. They were pretty much the same team that rolled through this tournament last year. No one had gotten close to them this weekend. In game one, the girls had their usual fast start. Christian Community made a few hitting errors, we got some kills and the girls had leads of 12-7, 14-11, and 16-13. Chr. Comm. then pulled even at 16 and from that point on, no one had a lead of more than two points. After a hitting error, CC led 24-23 and could have closed us out. But they made two consecutive errors and we were within one of winning. A stuff block brought them back even, then they got a kill to get within one of winning. Then, of all things, a serving error. But they followed this us with a kill. 27-26, CC. Faith then rode to the rescue - big kill, then a block, then another kill, this one down the line, to give the Patriots a 29-27 win.

Game 2 saw a lot more hitting by Calumet, especially early. Jessi put one down to give our girls a 12-9 lead. CC kill, kill, block, Calumet hitting error, Calumet hitting error and all of a sudden it was 14-12, CC. Kills by CC and errors by the Patoriots enabled CC to pull ahead and win, 25-20.

Game 3, oh boy. Calumet had a 16-10 lead at one point. Our girls were hitting the ball like crazy and it looked really good. Starting there we had MGCS (middle game comatose spot). Before the finally served the ball into the net, they ran off thirteen straight points. After they finally broke the streak, Taylor had a kill for our last point, and CC took game three, 25-18.

Game 4 was anticlimactic. The girls stayed close up until 16-13, but then it became a CC killfest. CC outscored Calumet 9-2 from that point on and won game 4 and the match.

Now we are at NACA. The competition looks fierce. We start tomorrow at 9 central time against a state champion, undefeated team from Maryland. I am excited.