Banquet and season recap

The banquet was a fitting wrap-up to what was arguably the best season in the history of Calumet volleyball.
Beginning with the food and ending with lingering players, coaches and family members who didn't want the evening to end, everything about the evening was celebratory and joyful.

The food as usual was very good, which we dove into following Mr. Blakely's opening prayer. It was different this year in that we moved to the worship area (auditorium? sanctuary? whatever it's called) for the program part of the evening, which worked very well with the videos, etc. All of the trophies and awards were lined up in the front, which presented a sort of visual summary of the success the teams had this season. Mrs. Obinger welcomed everyone and the explained the format - team video first, then the coach recapping the season and presented awards. Mrs. Eizenga began then with the junior high. The video was met with much laughing and comments from the team. I'm sorry, but I didn't take notes, so I don't know who got what awards. If you know, please put them in a comment. I do remember Mrs. Eizenga reporting that the A team finished 9-6 and the B team was 4-0.

Following the excellent season highlight video, Coach Franklin got through her presentations as quickly as possible - again, I didn't note the awards, so if you know them, please comment. She didn't remember the records of the teams, so I will recap them here: The A team was 27-7-1. They played more games than usual because they played many games that were originally scheduled as varsity games. The B team was 7-0 and the combined teams were 5-0. These were matches in which the A and B team each played at least one set each. So overall the JV team(s) were 39-7-1. Against varsity teams, the JV teams were 15-4-1. The only JV teams that our team lost to were Illinois Lutheran, Westville and Heritage. Highlights of the season were winning our own tournament for the first time, winning the Luther East varsity tournament, and coming in second in the first SSC conference tournament.

The soccers guys were up next. I didn't note the awards nor the record, but hey, this is a volleyball blog. I do remember that the season was successful and they came in second in the SSC conference tournament. And bananas were involved.

Then, the main event. Coach Franklin put together a fantastic video, summarizing the season without words while capturing the excitement at the end of the national championship game. Coach Carr gave a stirring speech on the spiritual growth of the team, as well as their individual and team athletic development. Some other observations: for the record, Coach Carr cried at 8:35 and 8:55; the team set an unofficial record for most inside jokes in a season; Coach Carr is obsessed with serving (as noted by her mentioning everyone's serving percentage when she spoke about each one); and did I mention inside jokes? The awards were presented and were as follows: Coach's award: Rachel Eizenga; Focus, Fight, Finish Award: Emily Eizenga; Serving award (see?): Ally Rohn; and MVP, Cassie Obinger. Just kidding. Of course it was Faith Rohn. The evening finished up with some beautiful singing by the girls and an eloquent season-summarizing speech by Emily. Mr. Obinger then closed with prayer.

 Just a terrific evening to end a terrific season.

Now, some of my favorite stuff: numbers. Varsity's record was 47-3. That's a great record, but if we had played the schedule we played just two years ago, we would have undefeated, and would have lost one set all year. (There I go with the "we" again. I give up, I'm saying "we" from now on.) Set record against non-IHSAA schools was 84-1, with that one loss to Goshen in the state semifinals. Set record against IHSAA schools was 26-10, so the total for the year was 110 set wins, 11 set losses. Match record was 37-0 against non-IHSAA teams, 10-3 against IHSAA teams. (Update on a previous blog entry about opponents: Lafayette Central Catholic did win the Indiana 1A title.) Regular season record was 17-0, first undefeated regular season since 2005 and fourth overall under Coach Carr. Total points scored: 2,930. Total given up: 1,778. They went 45-5 in first sets, 46-4 in seconds, 16-2 in thirds and 3-0 in fourth sets. They never went five sets with anyone. They are on a 43-game winning streak. They won five out of six tournaments this year, and seven out of eleven over the last two years. Coach's career record is now 468-108-22, a .801 winning percentage.

Individual numbers:

• Faith Rohn: Indiana: 6th in hitting percentage, 8th in kills per game, 6th in aces per game, 29th in digs per game; National: 92nd in hitting percentage (every girl except one higher than her in the hitting categories are 5'11" or taller except one, who is 5'9").
• Taylor Lindbloom: Indiana: 22nd in hitting percentage, 48th in kills per game, 2nd in aces per game (by a small fraction); National: 67th in aces per game.
• Rachel Eizenga: Indiana: 18th in assists per game, 28th in aces per game.
• Ally Rohn: Indiana: 27th in hitting percentage, 37th in assists per game.

Well, I guess that's it. Next years should be great as well, if the coaches can figure out how to plug the holes left by Emily and Rachel. Every year I wonder how she's going to replace those that are leaving, though, and every year she does. Next year shouldn't be an exception.