Crowning achievement on an incredible year

YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was because I wore my throat out at the first game on Friday and didn't have much left for the big one.

Yes, The Big One.

For the first time in its history, Calumet Christian has won the NACA Division I (yes, division I!!) National Championship in volleyball.

Wow.

Which was all I could say upon the completion of the 25-17, 25-14 annihilation of Hearts for Jesus Christ squad which wrapped up the victory late, very late, last night. Very late.

Let me get to the preliminaries. As I mentioned in my previous post, this tournament was shaping up like last year's. As we did last year, we faced Hearts for Jesus in the second round of the tournament. As it was last year, if we would defeat them, we would be one victory away from winning the national championship. But this year was quite different. Last year we were sent off to a cold dark unfinished gym at a church a long way away from the camp. Rachel was called at least six times for doubling on her sets, Hearts was determined to get us back after losing to us in the pool play round, and we got wiped out in the first game 25-10. We came back after getting down big in the second, but we fell short 25-23 and were relegated to the losers' bracket. The girls were quite dispirited and went down to defeat to the team they had beaten in their first bracket game.

But this was a new year. We weren't not coming off an exhausting trip to Pennsylvania the week before. The team was stable and unified all year. The players all had one more year of experience and were improved.  The game began with both teams showing their strengths. Their big hitter got a kill, which was answered by smashes by Taylor and Faith. Two Calumet errors were then sandwiched around another Faith kill, and it was 3-3. A third Faith kill then got the girls on a run. Rachel began firing aces and Ally got a kill, then Hearts ran off three straight hitting errors. 10-4, CCS. After a serving error, the Patriots got it going again. They scored five straight until a defensive lapse broke the string. Another error plus a Hearts kill enabled them to pull within nine, but Taylor answered with a couple of aces, Calumet scored four straight and it was a rout. Several of our errors contributed to Hearts' closing the gap to nine again at 22-13, but Faith then said, enough. Kill, Hearts error, and then a block by Faith ended what was supposed to be a tough game, 25-13.

An aside: you might notice I mention a lot of CCS errors. Most of those errors are due to the high risk/high reward style of play the Patriots employ. Most teams, if they tried all the stuff our girls do, would have a much higher error count than we do. Also, that style makes Calumet volleyball very exciting to watch. Anyway, back to the game.

Hearts seemed to be a little stunned with how easy the CCS buzzsaw went throught their team in game one, because they came out for game two a bit out of sorts. Of course, the continued high level of play by the Patriots contributed greatly to that. Calumet ran it up to 8-2. Hearts then had a partial mishit, which, as they often do, fell in after brushing the block put up to stop it. Ally got it back on a kill, which Hearts answered with a dink and an ace. Looked like game on. However, after letting Hearts get to within two, spike and dink kills started coming from everywhere. Soon the girls led 22-12, and it looked like a repeat of game one. Not so fast. Hearts didn't get here by being an inferior team. Primarily by dinking, Hearts ran off five straight. Ally matched their dinks with one of her own, but that didn't stop Hearts. Another dink kill and a net violation made it 23-19. CCS got one of the two needed on a miscommunication by Hearts, but they just couldn't put them away. Kill, ace, kill and it was 24-22. Hearts' magic ran out at that point, they missed on a serve, and the girls were guaranteed at least second. And the only way they would get second would be to lose two straight matches to whoever came out of the losers' bracket.

The championship match(es) for Div. I were scheduled for 8:45. We went over to watch Portage's soccer team play in their championship game, leaving just before it ended to go watch the loser bracket championship to see who we would play. The two teams were Hearts and Evangel, so we were rooting for Evangel, kind of, because we wanted a) a different team than ones we already played, and b) to be able to say that we beat all of the top teams. Hearts had a different idea, and dispatched Evangel rather easily. We all headed over to the house that Coach and several of the moms had rented on campus, to eat. I periodically snuck over to the gym to watch some of the other championship games, and it wasn't looking good, timewise. As I mentioned, this is a double elimination tournament. The first game of every championship match then is between a team with one loss and one with none. If the team with the loss would win, then each team would have one loss and they would have to play again. That's what happened with DIII, which was the first chamipionship match scheduled. D IV followed. Same thing. Things were now running at least a half hour behind. We left as the D II match was beginning, to eat supper. When we came back, they were still playing. The first match. Which, of course, was won by the team coming out of the loser's bracket, which meant one more best of three match. This one went only two, but by the time their awards, trophies and banners were presented, it was over an hour past the scheduled time for our match. Thankfully, the game was played by teenagers, who were used to staying up late.

So, here we were, playing Hearts again. And here I am, sitting at the scorer's table, being the libero tracker. I don't feel like explaining what that means; the important thing was that I really couldn't cheer, but since my voice was nearly gone already anyway, I guess this was OK. And since tracking the libero doensn't really take a lot of work, I was still able to take notes on the game. This game started out with some stellar play. Both teams were killing it and making few mistakes. CCS began to creep ahead. An ace by Holly gave Calumet a two-point lead. It went to four on beautiful stuff block by Ally and Emily. It was even from there until Taylor scored an ace sandwiched by two Hearts hitting errors. Six point lead. Calumet let down a little here, making some unforced errors and allowing Hearts to get back to within three at 18-15. At 20-17 Taylor put one down, followed by Faith crushing an over-pass. Taylor scored an ace, Faith crushed another and a well-placed dink by Rachel put Calumet within one set of winning it all.

In set two, the early play was even. It seemed both teams were tight, as three of the first four points scored were on service errors. A kill by Hearts cured their error ills, and a kill by Faith cured ours. At 4-3, Hearts, Faith hammered it down. Emily followed with a kill of her own, then Hearts couldn't handle a Faith jump serve. After a CCS error, it was kill by Taylor squared. They doubled on a set, Emily got an ace, and Hearts muffed a kill. A dink by Ally made it 12-5, Patriots. The teams ran off a streak of four errors, two by each, before Holly tipped on it to make it 15-7. Hearts block. Kill by Faith from the back row. 16-8, CCS. We were starting to taste it. I was barely maintaining control at the table. A CCS service error was followed by a Hearts kill to bring them back to within six. They botched a serve; we went into the net. 17-11. They doubled again on the set (nice to see the set double calls going the other way, right, Rachel?) and then misfired on a spike. 19-11. Two straight Patriots errors made it a six point game. A dink by Ally was followed by a CCS hitting error. 20-14. Taylor crushed one. 21-14. Then, on what looked like was going to be a broken play, Holly, the only person who could get to the second ball, went up as if to set it. At the last second, she twisted in the air and put one down with authority. Huge boost for the team. 22-14. Taylor found a hole. 23-14. Big block by Holly and Ally. 24-14. Game, match, tournament, national championship point. The ball went over to Hearts' side. They fumbled it around and it fell on their side.

25-14.

Bedlam. Screaming girls in the middle of the floor. Parents who weren't taking pictures were screaming as well. Some who were taking pictures were screaming. A quick handshake at the net and more clumping, screaming girls. Things would settle a bit and a couple of players who hadn't congratulated each other would come together and hug and scream. More jumping and screaming. Coach Carr hugging, crying, and smiling. Various family members coming out of the stands. High fives, hugs and cheering. I just stood there for a long time saying "Wow", over and over again.

It was great. I highly recommend being part of National Championship program to everyone.

Then the awards. Taylor, Rachel, Ally and Emily were named all-tournament. Faith won best offensive player and MVP. Holly should also have made all-tourney and Rachel should have been most valuable setter in my opinion, but it is what it is. They are all champions.

Then the trophies were presented. Trophies are OK, but we have won several already this year. But we hadn't gotten a banner. Until now. Receiving the banner got the biggest cheer from the team and families, and it looked real good in front of the girls in various pictures. Oh yes, pictures. I counted 425,324 pictures taken in the half hour after the championship was won. Well, a lot anyway. I didn't take my camera because with facebook, I didn't need to. I'll see every possible player/trophy/banner/plaque/parent combination there in the next several days.

My only regret is that I didn't get to experience this with Kara. I did with Kelsey in 2006 when we won the DII championship, but we just couldn't get over the hump last year. This was good, but not the same.

Possibly more thoughts on this as I have a few more days to digest it. I will blog on the awards banquet and probably some comments on the stats before I wrap this year up.

YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!