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.