Monday, September 27, 2010

And now, Saturday's recap

You knew I would get around to it eventually. And if the play on Saturday was more exciting, I would have been motivated to get to it sooner. So here it is.

As you recall, the girls finished undefeated in pool play on Friday, 10-0, so our first bracket play game was at noon on Saturday. Schaumburg and First Baptist of Mishawaka played to determine which would have the privilege of playing the Patriots, and it was Schaumburg winning 25-11, 25-21. Schaumburg was in the most competitive pool, the Red, and despite finishing 5-5 were only fourth in the pool. So they were better than their seed.

It was 3-3 after the Patriots scored three and gave Schaumburg three on unforced errors. Schaumburg then made a couple of their own errors (serving and hitting). After a Schaumburg kill, Emily matched it and Ally followed it with an ace. A few minutes later a Taylor kill made it 11-7. Rachel then put one down, and the game was effectively over. Ace by Taylor. Kill by Faith. After a well-placed Schaumburg dink, kill by Faith. Kill by Emily. Then consecutive errors by Schaumburg made it 18-8. The team played evenly until 23-13. A nice block by Holly was followed by a nice kill by Taylor and set one was history. Set two was the Faith set. By my computations, she had six kills, two aces and two blocks. Schaumburg really didn't have a chance and Calumet won the set 25-10 and the game.

Calumet's quarterfinal opponent was Indy Silver Lightning, one of Calumet's victims in pool play. Indy got there by upsetting Heritage Hall, the second seed from the yellow pool, winning 15-14 in the third set. I don't know if Calumet started out a bit overconfident. but Indy opened up a 7-5 lead. That seemed to get the Patriots' attention and they got down to business. Actually Indy started to fall apart. Ally got a dink kill, then Indy followed it up with three hitting errors. After an Indy point, it was Eizenga time. A kill by Rachel, then three consecutive aces by Emily. Then the teams exchanged errors until at 15-13 Calumet decided enough was enough. Dink kill by Holly. Ace by Ally. Block by Rachel. Ace by Taylor. Etc, etc. Emily's closing ace made the final score 25-17. Set two was anticlimactic. CCS jumped out to a 13-2 lead and kept it up. The result was convincing 25-8 win and a berth in the semifinals.

In the meantime, because basically I didn't know how good all these teams were, Heritage Christian was facing off against Crossroads in another quarterfinal game on the other side of the bracket. These were the two of the top three teams in the tournament, as far as I could tell (apologies to Quentin Road). But since I didn't know how good Crossroads was, and knowing that they were pretty weak last year, I put them in our pool instead of making them a top seed in another pool. The final score reflected the closeness of the two teams. I believe the scores of the games were 25-22, 20-25, 15-13, with Crossroads coming out the victor.

Calumet's opponent in the semis was Lakeland. Lakeland is coached by Gary Siebert, who has coached for many years against Coach Carr. The difference is that Gary has coached for at least three different organizations while Coach Carr, of course, has been the coach of Calumet. Well I guess you can say that she has coached for three different team names - Calumet Baptist, Calvary Christian and Calumet Christian. Anyway, Gary has an interesting coaching style - mainly that he scouts the opponents and exploits what he sees as their weakness. He uses a lot of dinks on offense (mostly to the setter) and different defensive schemes. Our girls really hadn't seen this, as he had not coached one year and we didn't play against him in another. Most of our girls weren't on the team yet when we played him last.  And one more thing, Coach Siebert's youngest daughter is an excellent defensive player. In the game, it took a while for the girls to get used to his team's play. We also made a lot of unforced errors. The result - a 17-12 lead for Lakeland in set one. However, one of the characteristics of this years' Patriots is long point runs, and that's what happened here. Usually it's either Taylor, Holly or Rachel serving when they get these runs, and in this case it was Taylor. She served twelve straight points after we got the serve back and on a nice kill by Holly on a Lakeland over-pass, Calumet ended set one winning 25-17.

CCS carried the momentum into game two. The Patriots never trailed in this game, leading early at 3-1 and 4-2, and then stretching it out to three, four, five. All the girls played well in this game; errors were reduced and everyone was getting kills. Faith especially started recognizing the defense and putting her spikes in different areas, but everyone got kills, and everyone got excited when Jenna closed out the set and game with a kill. Final score was 25-15.

On the other side of the curtain, Quentin Road was (surprisingly) eliminating Crossroads in three. Crossroads won set one 25-12 and it looked like it was going to be a two-game blowout. Quentin Road seems to be a very mentally strong team, not getting down when things were going against them, while Crossroads showed their youth a little, getting flustered and not handling adversity as well as they might. Quentin Road got it going in set two and won 25-14. The momentum flowed into set three and they took that as well, 15-10, to set up the championship match - Calumet vs. Quentin Road. We have a long history with QR. One of my memories of seasons past was that one of the three losses Calumet had in Rachel Kizer's senior year was against QR, the only regular-season loss they had that year. We also always play in their tournament.

The game itself was not exactly what you would expect for a championship game of a twenty-four team tournament. CCS scored the first three, but then QR scored four. Well, the Patriots gave them to QR. Four straight hitting errors by CCS was the source of those points. The girls settled down and scored the next five. From there they methodically increased the lead, with the final margin of thirteen (25-12) being the largest of the set. And, oh yes, the final point? A kill by Jenna, of course. Game two was a mirror of game one. Tie at 4, then Calumet steadily adding to the lead until it got to thirteen at 20-7, then maintaining a lead around there until a Faith kill (sorry, Jenna) closed out the set, game and tournament, 25-13.

This makes two consecutive Calumet Regional titles for the Patriots, and three out of the last five years. And, befitting a champion, individual honors were many for the girls. Taylor Lindbloom made second team all tournament and Rachel made first team, to the great delight of her family. And to no one's surprise, Faith also repeated as MVP.

The JV plays Grace's teams tomorrow at home and the teams go up against Ridgewood in Joliet on Friday. The JV also has a tournament at Luther East on Saturday. Come out and support your 25-3 Patriots when you are able.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Championship weekend recap

That was fun.

A bit anticlimactic, but fun.

Calumet successfully defended its title at the Calumet Region Volleyball Tournament this weekend, defeated Quentin Road Christian in the championship, 25-12, 25-13.

The weekend started out with a few glitches. We had made some last-minute changes to the program, line judging assignments and other things. Not all of these made it to all the places they were published, so there were some discrepancies. Oh well. We got through it and when the volleyball got going, most of these faded into the background.

The Patriots started out against Commumity Baptist at 12:45, a team they had defeated easily earlier in the season. The girls started out a bit slowly, as it seemed the girls remember this and weren't that into the game. Or it was just the first game and they needed to get warmed up. Whatever the case, at 8-7 the girls started to pull away with kills from Holly and Ally and aces from Emily and CCS pushed the lead to 14-7. After giving up a couple, the Calumet hitting, dinking, blocking and acing continued until CCS closed it out with a kill from Faith, 21-12. Game two was not as competitive. Calumet was hot early and late in this one, jumping out to a 8-1 lead, then running away from Community at the end and winning 21-7.

At 2:30 the girls played Indy Silver Lightning, a homeschool team from, you guessed it, Indy. Indy was at the tournament two years ago, but were not there last year. Calumet opened up an early lead of four, kept it around there to 11-7, then putting it away at the end with a 5-0 run to win 21-10. A highlight of the game was a BIG HIT from faith that made it 15-8. Game two was similar to game one - close early, then Calumet pulling away late. This game finished at 21-12 on an Ally kill.

The third game was against Crossroads. Crossroads is a homeschool program in the far western suburbs of Chicago. They came to the tournament for the first time last year, and were, well, a young program. Kind of scrappy, but not very impressive. This year was completely different. They have a freshman hitter that hits like a freshman. A college freshman. A college freshman guy. Wow. Some serious power resides in her shoulder. But they are also young. The Patriots moved out to a 14-4 lead in game one, but then Crossroads made a little move, mostly behind big hits from their freshman. A dink kill by Crossroads made it 17-12. Then Faith put on a little hitting show. Behind a couple of her kills and a nice double block by the Eizengas, The girls closed it out 21-14. Crossroads was a little stunned by the loss, it seemed, as Calumet jumped to a big early lead. Between great Calumet play and some hitting problems by Crossroads the lead got up to fourteen at 17-3. The girls made a few errors here, but just a few, but on a kill by Kassie Ballah - Yay!- the girls won 21-6.

First Baptist of Danville was next. When I put the pools together, I assumed this team would be our toughest competition in the pool. They played us pretty tough at Quentin Road last year and had their good middle hitter back. That didn't prove to be the case. Hitting by Taylor, Emily and Ally and a lot of FB errors made it 19-3. They seemed to lose their intensity at this point but eventually won it 21-8. FB got over their jitters or whatever it was in game two. After a "heifer", FB led 7-4. This sooned turned around. Hits by Taylor sandwiched around a hit by Rachel tied it up. With FB leading 10-9, two straight hits by Faith gave CCS back the lead. Then two kills by Rachel and another kill by Faith made it 14-10, CCS. The Patriots methodically pulled away and won 21-13.

The final game of the evening was against Fort Wayne Angels. The Angels took fourth last year, so in the seeding I expected them to play well this year. Not so much. They hadn't won a game yet when it became time to play us. And hadn't won a game when we finished. Not even close. I won't go into a lot of detail here, other than to say that we won 21-3, 21-5. Highlight of this match was the kill by Jenna (yes, Jenna!!_ to close out the game.

Well I'm exhausted and am having trouble keeping my eyes open, so I'll give you Saturday's results tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Quick recap of Tuesday's game

We're getting ready for the big tournament this weekend. Kristi and Kara are getting ready to go to a women's conference in Indianapolis this weekend, so things are kinda hectic around here. Only a quick recap of the Westville game:

I thought game one was going to be indicative of the entire night. That wasn't to be. More on that later. CCS got the first three points, but then the girls started getting a little sloppy and, after an ace, Westville led 6-5. Which led us to Rachel time. Fourteen points and seven aces later, Coach Carr showed some mercy and subbed her out. The Patriots kept it up and won game one, 25-8.

Game 2 started like it was going to be the same as 1. After a couple of Westville hitting errors it was 7-2, CCS. Patriot error fest time then ensued. The girls muddled around until the lead was only one at 11-10. The game was one of little streaks until finally, after giving up three on game point, CCS won 25-18.

The girls were also not real sharp in game three. They did get the lead up to seven at 14-7 and kind of held it there to the end of the game. Coach Carr subbed some the the "new" girls in - Rebekah (sp?) and Jenna got some playing time here. I have to note here that Rachel got called for a carry on a bump set. A bump set. How can a bump be a carry? [head-scratching] The refs seem to have it out for her. Anyway, the girls ended up with winning the game 25-18 and the match.

Friday begins the big tourney. Calumet is the defending champ. Come on out and support the Patriots and see them repeat. Rumor has it that there will be college scouts there, but you didn't hear that from me. 12:45 against Community Baptist starts it off for Calumet. Go Patriots!!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

8-1 against public schools

This morning, the surging Patriots went into Hebron High's beautiful gym and defeated the host Hawks in four games. This game was a late addition to the schedule, arising from contacts Coach Carr made at the Kankakee Valley tournament. Oh, and in case you're wondering, CCS's other two losses were against Catholic schools.

This was kind of a strange game, a game of streaks and momentum. The opening game began a kill by Taylor. Good start. An ace by Holly and three kills by Faith gave CCS a 6-2 lead. That didn't last long. A couple of kills, a couple of CCS errors and a nice block, and Hebron led 8-7. No team led by more than a point until CCS eked out a two point lead at 15-13 on a kill by Rachel. By 18, Hebron had caught up again. It was still even at 21 when Hebron scored on an ace, a couple of CCS errors, and closed it out with a dink kill.

So how do you explain what happed in game two? I have no explanation. There were some nice hits by our girls and some aces, but mostly there were errors. Hitting errors, serving errors , setting errors, defensive errors. Did I miss anything? Oh yes, net violations. And almost all of them by Hebron. CCS got the serve back leading 5-2, and when Rachel finally hit one into the net, it was 15-2. From there, other than two little three-point Hebron runs, Calumet dominated. Everyone contributed with hits, digs and other good plays. When the dust settled, Calumet had game two, 25-9.

The original Hebron team showed up for the third game. They cut way down on the errors from the previous game. We made a few more than we had, interspersed with with a lot of hitting. No team led by more than two (and that only once) until Hebron went ahead 13-10. A four-point run by Calumet ensued, capped off by a very nice block by Faith. It stayed very close throughout the remander of the game. The teams were even at 23. Faith then got a dink kill and Hebron messed up the serve to give CCS game three, 25-23.

Game four was similar to game two. Rachel's quick dink on the second hit stretched the the lead to 12-6. A couple of Hebron points later, the Patriots began a string of points. Taylor had a nice block, then a Holly kill and a Holly dink kill kept it going. Faith then finished strong with several kills. Holly had a nice kill and an ace as well in the run. At 24-12, Ally dinked the ball to an empty space, and Calumet had the victory.

Another quick note: the JV team rolled over Faith on Friday, 25-8, 25-13 and the junior high team won in three - I don't have the scores of that game.

Westville Tuesday. See you there.

Short post for a long night.

Tonight we went to Lafayatte - Faith Christian School, specifically - to play Clinton Christian and the host school in the second consecutive trimatch involving these three teams. Faith is a place we are quite familiar with, having traveled there approximately 73 times last year. Thanks, Keith. Anyway, Faith was our nemesis last year, having dealt us two of our five defeats. The last of the eight games played between these two teams was an intense hard fought win for Faith, 31-29.

This year was a totally different story. But I'll get to that in a minute. Our first game tonight was against Clinton. Last year Clinton played us pretty tough in the middle game, while Calumet beat Clinton somewhat more easily in games one and three. Clinton was a very good defensive team last year. This year they were pretty good on defense, but not great on offense. On to the game.

The Patriots started out pretty slowly. After a Faith dink kill and block made it 2-1 Calumet, the girls made a few errors and it was 4-4. Then the girls started getting untracked. A kill by Faith, then a couple of aces by Faith and a kill by Taylor and a Clinton error made it 9-4. Calumet slowly pulled away behind a flurry of kills and aces, mostly by Taylor and Faith. The game was capped off with a nice kill by Ally and the Patriots had game one, 25-16. 

Game two saw the Patriots run out to a 9-0 lead. Taylor's serving was supported by nice hitting all around, with kills by Rachel, Holly and Faith. After a "heifer" (inside joke), Holly got things headed back in the right direction with a kill. Clinton found their game and stayed with Calumet until it was 19-6. Then Taylor decided the game should be over. Holly had a kill and Clinton made a hitting error, then four consecutive aces by Taylor and her "new" jump serve finished it, 25-6.

Game three was similar to game two. Several errors by Clinton and kills by Rachel, Faith, Emily and Ally gave CCS an 11-3 lead. After giving up a couple of points, Emily got another kill and then it Faith ripped off a couple of aces. The lead stayed around there until Taylor put the match to bed with a kill. Final score of game three was 25-15.

Now it was time to play Faith (FCS so we don't get them confused with our Faith). Five of their starters from last year had graduated. Their JV team was very weak last year so we knew that they weren't going to get much help from there. So what did we do? Started out with three consecutive hitting errors. Finally Emily put one down to get CCS on the board. Further Calumet foundering occurred, then at 5-3 FCS, Faith crushed one. Then it was Holly serving fest. She served twelve consecutive points, including five aces. That made it 16-5. The lead was about ten or so until 20-10, when three straight CCS points moved the lead to thirteen. Some points were exchanged and Taylor finished it off with a kill - 25-13 CCS.

No slow start for game two. Kill by Faith, consecutive aces by Taylor, and a net violation on FCS made it 4-0. That set the tone for the game. Lots of kills pushed the lead out to 11-3. More kills and aces contributed to make it 17-5. FCS got their game working for a short time, scoring four in a row. An Ally kill interrupted that, but then FCS got two more to make it 18-12. We can always depend on Faith to stop the opponent's momentum and that's what she did here. Kill, Faith. The girls methodically stretched the lead until an Emily kill ended it at 25-15.

The girls started showing a little fatigue. They had a 7-2 lead early, but FCS kept hanging in there. After they pulled to within 11-8, CCS scored three in row. FCS kept hanging around and CCS started making some errors. FCS pulled to within three at 20-17 on a CCS error, but they would only score one more point. Holly put one down and then Ally finished it with an ace.

Quick turnaround tomorrow, as we take on Hebron at 9:30. Girls, let Coach get some sleep tonight.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Movin' on up

The Patriots, now that they entered the top ten, have begun to move up. In the most recent NWI Times poll, Calumet was ranked #9. The game they played Tuesday, however, probably won't have much effect on the poll. The Patriots downed the Covenant Christian Knights in three games, 25-8, 25-9, 25-10.

There's not a lot to say about the game. I think I used the word "perfunctory" to describe a victory last year. That's probably an appropriate term for this game as well. In game one, the tone was set early. Taylor started things off with a kill. After a point from a Covenant defensive error, Taylor hit one of her patented serves for an ace. Shortly thereafter Rachel got a couple of aces of her own. A little later it was Faith's turn. The Patriots ended up with eight aces by my count in the game. Appropriately, Taylor finished things off with two more aces.

Game 2 found Covenant with improved serve reception but not spike reception. By my count, we ended up with twelve kills in the game, including (but not showing up in the stats) a backrow kill by Amanda. And, appropriately again, the game ended by a dink kill by Holly.

The team relaxed a bit in game three, but Covenant really fell apart. Rachel got on a long run of serving, and Covenant got on a long run of defensive errors. It was 4-2 when Rachel began serving and it was 17-2 when Covenant broke the streak when the Patriots committed a defensive error. By that time Coach Carr had put in Cassie O. Shortly thereafter she put in Kaylie and moved Faith to setter. This kept things somewhat even until Covenant served one into the net to end it.

Friday is the trimatch against Faith and Clinton. Reports are that both teams are down, especially Faith who had the farthest to fall. But it's never smart to underestimate any opponent, so the girls should come ready to play. I will see you there.

Oh, and one more thing. The rant is coming.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Two best teams in the ICST tonight.

First of all, let me mention WE ARE #10!!!!! Here's the link (we're listed as Calvary Christian - Coach Carr is working on straightening that out): http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/girls-volleyball/article_6f1e2efd-dca7-5a30-a22f-dc2cbf73d30e.html

The two best volleyball teams in the Indiana Christian School Tournament series played tonight at Heritage Christian High's very nice gym in Dyer. Let me recap the JV game first.

The JV team has one loss this year, and that was to Heritage Christian this past weekend, in pool play at our tournament. The games were pretty close, but Heritage was the better team. We didn't get a chance at a rematch in bracket play when Heritage was upset by Quentin Road in the semifinals, but we got our chance tonight. (By the way, I try to avoid saying "we" this year when I refer to CCS, since I don't have any kids on the team, but since my daughter is coaching the JV, I think I can do it when I refer to them.). Game one began as if Heritage was going to put an exclamation point on the earlier game. CCS stayed even til three, then Heritage began hitting and we began making errors. 10-4, Heritage. The Defenders kept stretching the lead until it was 16-6, due largely to poor back row play by our girls. Granted, HCH is a talented offensive team, but our passing could have been better. Heritage had their biggest lead at 21-10 when things started to go CCS's way. They scored three in a row before a bad serve made it 22-13. Lauren and Rebecca started hitting and CCS was within five at 24-19 before HCH finished it off.

Game two was the opposite. CCS jumped out to the big early lead at 8-1. HCH got three, and the lead stayed around four or five until Heritage scored three in a row to make it 14-12. CCS went on a little run but Heritage matched it. 18-16, CCS. From there, CCS began pulling away. Rebecca had a nice kill in the run, and CCS took game two, 25-16.

Game three was very even. Heritage had a little early lead, as they were blocking and hitting well. We were serving pretty well, but Kaylie cranked it up another notch when she got her chance, scoring three aces in a row and putting us up 9-8. It was nip and tuck from there. Tie, CCS up one, Heritage up one, tie at 11. Three points in a row were scored by CCS at this point, capped by an ace by Cassie Obinger and the Patriots were one point from victory. But, to make it interesting, Heritage scored three in a row of their own, mainly on big hits, to tie it up at 14. CCS got the next point, which I failed to record and I don't remember how it was scored, because I forget that in JV play, the winning team doesn't need to win by two. It was over, and CCS got their sixteenth victory of the year.

Now it was varsity's turn. Heritage gave CCS some tough games last year, including the semifinal match in our tournament in which Heritage won a game, the only one CCS lost in the entire tournament. CCS eventually beat Heritage in three that game. In the other two meetings between these two teams, CCS won both in three, but all were tightly contested except the first game of the state tournament quarterfinal. Which brings me to hint once again at my impending rant. It looks like the way things are set up, there's no way for us to face each other in the state final. But I'll get to that in a later post. On to tonight's game recap.

The first game was notable for how few errors were made by both teams. Points were generally earned in this game, not given. And it was quite even, for a while, anyway. It was back-and-forth, and Heritage held the lead at 9-8 when things started going CCS's way. A nice block by Emily and Ally was followed by KAR (kill-Ally Rohn) then another block, this time by Taylor. Heritage got a couple back, but a KTL (you figure it out) was followed by a Heritage net call and it was 14-11. CCS led by two or three until it was 16-13, but then a KFR (again, I think you know what this is) and a hitting error by HCH made it 18-13. After a CCS serving error, Heritage scored a great point on a great dig, a great save, then a hard pass over the net that fell untouched. Faith quickly kept HCH from getting any momentum with a kill, and CCS rant the score up to 22-15. HCH then started making errors - three hitting errors in a row, and CCS had the first game, 25-15.

|After two Taylor aces (ATLs) to open game two, both teams started making errors. Our hitting was pretty good in this stretch, however, and kills by Taylor and Faith got CCS going. Faith kept it going with three consecutive aces and CCS led 11-6. An ace by Emily and kill by Holly made it 13-6, and the rout was on. Well, not really. Seven consecutive points by Heritage tied it up before a Heritage hitting error stopped the run. CCS then got control back at 19-14 by scoring four in a row, behind aces by Taylor and a KFR. Heritage got to within two at 21-19, but they stopped their own momentun with an error, then CCS completed game two with kills by Ally and Faith after an ace by Rachel, and game two was history, 25-20 CCS.

Game three was the most ragged game, by both teams. There were more errors, but they were spread evenly. The game was tied at 6,8, 10, 11, 13 and 14. Ally had a kill  and an error by Heritage gave CCS a two point lead, and after a HCH kill, the Patriots started putting some space between them and HCH. CCS maintained at least a three point lead until it was 24-21. Then Heritage scored a dink kill and CCS had a hitting error and it was a one point game. Heritage botched the next point defensively and CCS had a somewhat anticlimactic victory, 25-23.

All in all a very exciting night of volleyball, at least I thought so. We will probably see Heritage again, maybe twice (our tourney and state). JV plays the Lady Crusaders there on Friday (the Lady Crusaders beat our JV team last year, and apparently someone spread the word that they beat our varsity. Which was quite humorous.) Varsity, JV and JH at home against Covenant next Tuesday.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Varsity tournament championship

On Saturday, Calumet played in its second tournament in as many weeks. This one was in Wheatfield, IN, at Kankakee Valley High, a team that CCS had played (and beat) earlier in the year. The Patriots' first opponent of the day, however, was Winamac High, a team from just south of Wheatfield. Winamac lost their first game of the year, and then won eleven straight coming into this tourney, so this was going to be tough. And it was.

After a kill by Winamac to open the game, the Patriots went on a little streak. A dink kill by Taylor, blocks by Holly and Rachel and an ace by Taylor gave the girls a 4-1 lead. From there the girls kept a lead, which shrunk to one at 9-8, then again at 12-11. CCS then got four straight, which included two aces by Taylor. The lead stayed at three to five points until a Winamac dink made it 24-22. Faith then put one down to complete the game. The great thing about this game was the fire with which the girls played, and the great saves they pulled off. There wasn't a lot of errors by both teams but a lot of great plays.

This continued into the second game. Winamac started a little stronger and the game was even at the beginning. At 8-8, a couple of errors by Calumet contributed to seven consecutive points by Winamac. Finally Ally broke the streak by finding a hole. The team exchanged points, and after a serving error by Rachel, it was 20-15 Winamac. CCS would then give up only two more points, while scoring ten of their own. These were highlighted by blocks by Holly and Taylor and kills from several of the girls. It was an exciting, come-from-behind victory, and a match win.

Calumet then played Merrillville, a team CCS had beaten in four earlier in the year. The girls started out about even with Merrillville, but then Merrillville began to pull ahead. They stretched their lead to 17-11 when CCS started getting back into it. They got as close as one, but Merrillville ended up winning the game 25-22. CCS controlled things throughout game two. Their biggest lead in the game was seven, 22-15. It was 23-17 when, yes, you guessed it, the LGFS. Merrillville got to within 24-23 after a kill, but then followed it with an error to give CCS the game, 25-23. Game three was somewhat anticlimactic, as CCS ran out to a 10-3 lead. From there, the girls maintained the lead until an ace by Taylor finished off Merrillville 15-9.

Griffith was the last pool play opponent. CCS lead early, and had a seven point lead at 13-6. Then Griffith woke up with a lot of kills Soon it was 17-17. At 22-22 Calumet made a couple of errors, and then Griffith finished it off with a kill. Griffith was the dominating team to start game two, and CCS couldn't seem to do anything right. Griffith lead 8-1 when a Faith kill got CCS their second point. A dink by Ally got CCS to within 9-5, and there the lead stayed between two and five until it was 16-13, Griffith. Faith killing time. Quickly it was 17-17. A Griffith kill made it 21-20. And then they scored no more. Taylor killing time. An Ally ace ended it, 25-20..


Game three was very even to start. CCS was losing 8-7 when Emily aced a serve, and then Taylor got a kill. After a Griffith error, Emily scored another ace and it was 11-8. From there, CCS gave up one, then a block by Holly, an ace by Ally, a block by Taylor (the girls blocked very well on Saturday - much better than the previous Saturday). After a Griffith kill, Faith scored with back row kill and the girls had another win, and a place in the championship game. (The format was that the first place team in each pool would play each other for the championship).

Kankakee Valley was the other pool victor. In our first match, CCS won easily the first two games, and then the third game was much more competitve, as KV got their slide going. The championship game began, and the girls were a little off. The score was 4-1, KV, after a net violation, and KV kept the lead until Calumet caught them at 8-8. CCS then took the lead after an Emily ace, and never gave it back. They led 14-12 when it really started to go CCS's way. A kill by Faith, a KV hitting error, another Faith kill, KV hitting error, Faith kill, KV hitting error...er, no, Emily broke the streak with a dink kill, etc, etc, until it was 23-12. The usual loss of concentration, then the girls closed it out with an Ally kill, 25-16.

Game two also saw KV go out to an early lead. Again, CCS caught them a 8. Again it was 14-12. This time Calumet didn't go on a long run. A dink kill by Emily was followed by a KV block, then an Ally kill, then two points for KV and it was 16-15. CCS started to put some distance between KV and themselves at this point. A kill by Ally, a block by holly, and a dink by Taylor made it 19-15. After a KV kill, Taylor killed and KV netted. From there, CCS didn't get challenged, and two KV hitting errors gave CCS the game (25-19), match and tournament championship.

Since, as far a I know, CCS hasn't been in tournaments with IHSAA school until this year, this was the first tournament championship of this type in CCS's history. This would have been a great weekend with two tournament championships, but with both being firsts, it was especially sweet.

Heritage on Tuesday. Heritage will probably be our biggest challenger at state. The games are there, so see you there.

Big, big weekend for Calumet Volleyball

Wow.

Not just one tournament championship, but two. Yes, two. Wow.

Well, let's start on Friday, at Lake Hills Baptist. The JV tournament began at 1:00 PM with pool play. Calumet didn't play until 5, as the other pool did their Friday play first. Their first opponent was Schaumburg, who turned out to be tough. At least the first game. Calumet squeaked by 25-24 in the first game, but won easily in the second, 21-13. At seven the girls took on Heritage, who is becoming our biggest rival. Heritage won the tournament last year, and continue to be tough. Heritage turned out to be victorious in this one, 21-17, 21-18. This set things up for Saturday, with the possibility of there being three teams tied with 4-2 pool records in Calumet's pool.

I wasn't able to be there for Saturday's game, but got regular text updates from Kelsey and Kristi. Calumet took care of business in their Saturday pool play, defeating Southside twice, and then Heritage took the floor against Schaumburg. If Schaumburg defeated Heritage twice, it wouldn't look good for Calumet in the tie-breakers. Thankfully, Heritage took game one from Schaumburg, ensuring CCS of finishing second in their pool and qualifying for bracket play.

Calumet's opponent in the semi-finals was Grace, suprisingly to some. Quentin Road always has a tough JV team, winning the tournament two years ago and coming in second last year. But Grace topped them in their pool and finished first. Calumet dropped the first one in a close game, 21-19. The second game was quite different, with CCS winning easily 21-10. In the third there was a little controversy. One document indicated that the third game was supposed to be to 15, and in another place it said 21. So Calumet got to fifteen, while Grace was at nine or so, and Calumet began to celebrate. Not so fast. After some discussion, it was decided to play to 21. Grace then made a little run, but CCS held them off 21-17 to win. Again, kind of.

Quentin Road then deprived CCS the opporunity to avenge Friday's loss to Heritage by beating Heritage in three, which set up the final. For some reason I don't have the scores for this game, but I believe that the Patriots lost the first, then won two straight for the championship. We believe that this the first time CCS won their own tournament. I'll have to check this with Coach Carr. Also, we believe that this is the first time that CCS played in their JV tournament without Coach Carr on the bench.

On to the varsity. I'll post separately for that one.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Clean sweep

The Patriots traveled north to the East Chicago Central High gym last night and then returned home with three victories - seven games won, none lost. The JVB team played East Chicago's freshman team and were victorious, 25-14, 25-13. The JVA team played East Chicago's JV team and came away with 25-18, 25-8 win. And the varsity cleaned things up with a 25-15, 25-14, 25-12 win. Last year the girls defeated ECC 25-10, 25-20, and 25-16, so this year's game was a little better.

The girls started out as if they forgot how to play. Both teams were getting many of their points from their opponents' errors, but the Patriots were making more. Because Calumet was the more talented team, however, the score was even at 8. Then the wheels wobbled a little (didn't exactly come off) as ECC ran off five straight to make it 13-8. They didn't exactly run them off themselves, as Calumet committed four errors in that run. Apparently that woke up the girls, because they then went on a thirteen-point run. Six of those points came off Ally aces. Taylor had a dink kill and Holly put one down in the run as well, but the rest of the points were from ECC errors, as they began to unravel. After giving up a couple, Taylor served two aces which alternated with ECC errors, and game 1 was history.

Game 2 saw CCS gradually opening a lead after being tied 3-3. Faith got a kill, then moved to the serving position and got two aces. The lead remained around three until a Holly kill made it 10-6, and that seemed to get CCS going. A kill by Faith, another by Holly, and a Taylor ace preceded a ECC hitting error, before the Cardinals made a nice block to stop the run. Calumet then started another run to get it to 20-9, but then the LGFS reared its ugly head and ECC scored three straight. A dink by Emily followed by an Emily ace got CCS back on track, and they soon closed it out with a Taylor ace.

Game 3 was more of the same, with Calumet jumping out to a 6-0 lead. Calumet got a little soft at this point and made a few errors, but at 8-4 they took off again. Behind a flurry of aces, a couple of kills and several errors by ECC, Calumet opened up an 18-5 lead. Then another mini-LGFS (three straight points by ECC) was followed by alternating errors by both teams, before CCS closed it out with a 5-2 run capped by a Faith ace. 

Back to some stiffer competition this weekend with the Kankakee Valley tournament. Games at 10, 12, 2 and then either 3 or 4, depending on how the girls do in the first three games. The JV tournament takes place at Lake Hills beginning Friday at 1PM. Our first game is at 5, then 7 and 10AM on Saturday before bracket play begins.

Cumulative record of the JV and varsity is now 17-3. JVA is 6-0, JVB is 2-0, combined JVA and JVB is 3-0, and varsity is 6-3.