Saturday's recap

Saturday was a little different than Friday. OK, a lot different. A lot lot different. But we knew that going in. Lafayette Central Catholic, the host school, was ranked #7 in the state in 1A. Eastern Greene finished in the top 16 in 2A last year as a very young team. Andrean is on the way up since Naveed Nisam took over coaching. And Rockville was 28-5 and finished in the top eight in 1A last year.

The girls opened up against Eastern Greene at 10 local time. Kelsey and I got there just as play was starting. Both teams started out a little ragged, and neither team held more than a one-point lead until it was 8-8. Then Eastern Greene started pulling away. The Patriots were having trouble getting to the net for blocks and were often late getting up, while EG found their hitting rhythm. #7, who is a sophomore, really started hitting the ball hard, and quickly it was 16-10. Faith had a couple of kills in the next few points, but CCS couldn't get anything else going and EG stretched the lead to 20-12. The CCS scored three in a row, the last on a Taylor kill before EG scored three of their own - 24-15, EG. Game over, right? Not quite. Taylor got a dink down and Rachel got a kill before EG made two errors and it was 24-19. Then a Taylor kill, hitting error by EG, an ace by Ally and a setting error by EG made it 24-23. But that was it for CCS. EG crushed a spike and game 1 was over, 25-23, EG.

The second game started like the first. The Patriots jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a dink and an EG error, but from there to 11-10, there was only one lead of more than one point by either team. But then it was CCS's turn to start pulling away. A kill by Faith, an error by EG, then three consecutive aces by Taylor stretched the lead to 16-10. Then a bad pass by CCS was followed by two kill dinks, Faith and Rachel, and the Patriots led by 7. Then the wheels came off. Three kills, a bad pass, and block brought EG to within two. The teams traded points to 21-19; then it was a killfest by EG. They scored five of the next six points to make it 24-22 EG. Rachel then got a kill to make it a one-point, but alas, we had a mishit and the girls lost by the same score as game 1, 25-23.

Lafayette Central Catholic was the next opponent, immediately following. (BTW, each team had a bye. Ours was the last game of the day.) I don't know exactly what the problem was, but LCC led 7-0, mostly due to errors on our part. They still led 11-5 when the Patriots started to make their move. They outscored LCC 7-1 to tie it up. In that run, Ally and Taylor had a couple of kills and Emily had an ace. One thing to note about LCC - almost every player had a killer jump serve. Thankfully Emily played probably the best defensive game of her career and neutralized a lot of their serves with perfect passes. The teams traded points for a while, with CCS even holding a two-point lead at 17-15. A block and two kills and an CCS error gave LCC a 21-18 lead, which they maintained to the end of the game, scoring the winning point point off a quick-set kill, 25-22. 

The girls started slowly again in the second game, with LCC getting some kills and dinks to give them a 10-4 lead. LCC made a few errors at this point, and CCS got back to within two at 11-9. Then the teams took turns scoring one or two points until it was 16-14, LCC, when we made an error, one of those jump serves found the floor and then another CCS error made it 19-14. The lead then ranged from two to four points until it was 24-20. Rachel got a kill on an overpass (not literally on a overpass, like on a highway. We were playing in a gym. Little volleyball humor there for ya.). Faith put one down. Then an ace. Then a LCC hitting error and it was tied at 24. Alas, that was the last CCS point of the game. A kill and a CCS setting error closed out the game and match - final score, 26-24.

Andrean was up right after that one. The girls had played and beaten Andrean twice in scrimmages before the season. So the possible mental effects of that were: 1) CCS had confidence and would play loose or, 2) Andrean would be out for revenge. Or maybe neither. I'm not a sports psychologist.  The first game was tight throughout. Faith had several kills, and Andrean had their quick working. No team had more than a three-point lead in this one until CCS went up five at 24-19 following consecutive Ally aces. Andrean got three straight before Taylor got a dink to fall to close out CCS's first game win of the day, 25-22.

The second game stayed close until a couple of dinks and Calumet hitting error gave Andrean a 15-11 lead. Then streaky Calumet scored six in a row which included an Emily block and kill and a Faith kill and it was 17-15 CCS. Andrean got four of the next five and they were up by one. The teams were even until it was 22-21 Andrean. They scored two at that point, Ally got a kill to pull within two, but a net violation on Rachel was called, which none of us saw, and the game was Andrean's, 25-22.

The third game was to fifteen. The Patriots had early leads at 3-1 and 5-3. Andrean then had a four-point run before Faith got a dink to fall. After two more Andrean points, Ally got a dink kill, Andrean pounded one, Ally got another dink kill, and Andrean pounded two more down, which was followed by a CCS hitting error and it was 13-8. A service error by Andrean and an ace by Taylor brought CCS to within three, but then kill, kill, Andrean and the match was over.

Fifteen minutes and a quick bite later the girls' last game began, against Rockville. And even after playing all those games, the girls were sharp. They led 8-1, and not a single point they scored was unforced. Taylor had a kill, Holly had a kill and two aces, Faith had a kill and a dink kill, Emily had a kill and Rachel got a dink down. CCS let up a little from there, but they kept Rockville on their heels, made very few mistakes, and Rockville closed out the game with two hitting error. The final was 25-12.

Rockville got things together a little bit for the next game. Calumet made a couple of errors and Rockville started getting their offense together. Rockville had the early lead 6-4. Now it was Calumet's turn to get things together. In their 8-0 run, Faith had a couple of aces and Ally and Taylor had kills, but the rest of the points were from Rockville errors. Then the Patriots started making some errors. Rockville slowly crept back into the game, finally tying it at 15. Then it was CCS's turn for a run. A lift by Rockville, a Taylor ace, a dink kill by Holly, another ATL (ask Taylor), a kill by Faith and one more point (I can't read my notes for this one) and it was a 21-15 CCS lead. CCS led 22-18 when Rockville scored with a dink, but then a Rockville error was followed by a Rachel ace. Faith then put the exclamation point on the game with a nice kill, and CCS took the game and the match, 25-19.

Several random observations: Calumet represented itself well against some very, very good opposition. A few points here and there and the tournament could have been theirs. The game differential for the day was as follows: -2,-2,-3,-2, +3,-3,-5,+13,+6. Not one blowout; not one easy game win for the opponent. The defense started weak, but really came on later in the day and was their strength. The blocking was not good, but covering was. Hitting and setting were inconsistent. It's too bad these games couldn't have been spread out through the season, because after next week's tournament at Kankakee Valley, tought opposition will be rare. Eastern Greene won the tournament, but only after the tie-breakers were figured out, because they, Andrean, and Lafayettee Central Catholic all finished 3-1. CCS was 1-3 and Rockville was 0-4.

Tuesday at East Chicago. Last year we beat them handily; we will see if they have improved.

My rant is imminent.