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.