So far, so good...and exactly the same as last year

It's eerie how similar to last year this year's NACA tournament has been for us. Last year, CCS was the first seed in Division I after pool play. This year, CCS was the first seed in Division I after pool play. Last year CCS won their first round match in a tough game. This year CCS won its first round match in a tough game. Last year CCS faced Hearts for Jesus homeschool team out of Ohio in their next game. This year CCS will face Hearts for Jesus homeschool team in their next game.  Hopefully the similarities will end now. I won't go into detail for those not familiar with how things went last year, other than to say that the girls didn't win another match after that first round victory.

 The Patriots won a hard-fought first-round bracket play game this afternoon, defeating Vision (formerly Cornerstone) of Florida, 30-28, 25-22. Cornerstone was here last year, and we played them in pool play where we split two games with them. We didn't see them the rest of the tournament; I think they finished in fourth. They were good then; they are better now. Thankfully we're pretty good too.

It looked like we would win comfortably at points during the first game. After Vision went up 4-3, mostly on well-placed dinks, the girls took control of the game. Five consecutive points by Calumet - kill by Emily, net violation by Vision, dink kill by Emily, kill by Ally and a kill by Faith gave the girls an 8-4 lead. They maintained that four-point lead until a setting error by Vision and a Taylor kill extended the lead to six at 14-8. Shortly thereafter, two consective errors by Vision gave the Patriots a seven-point lead. Vision then began to creep back into the game. Their hitting and blocking became more effective while Calumet started making more errors. Quickly the lead shrank to one at 19-18. A Vision error and a dink kill by Ally gave the girls a three-point cushion. After an exchange of points, Vision scored on two consecutive kills. Faith got one back to bring the girls to within one point of victory at 24-22, but a kill and a CCS hitting error tied it up. Then it was back and forth. Both teams played very well; no points were unearned until, at 29-28, Vision hit on into the net to give the girls one of their toughest set victories of the year.

The Patriots went ahead 3-1 in set two on the strength of kills by Faith and Taylor (Taylor's being a back row kill) before Vision went ahead by two due to three straight Calumet errors and a kill. CCS pulled back even at 5, but Vision scored and then it was back-and-forth for a few points. At 7-6 Vision, Ally scored on a kill, and then Vision committed four consecutive hitting errors. Taylor put one down and Visiion couldn't return a serve by Emily and the lead was six. It got a big as seven at 17-10 on a beautiful stuff block by Emily and Faith, but then, as happened in game one, either the girls relaxed a bit or Vision picked up their game or both. The first part of the comeback apparently was our problem, as three consecutive errors were committed by our girls. Then, after a Faith kill, they matched it and we followed it up with a defensive error bringing Vision to within three. Taylor got it four on the ever-popular bump kill (ask Natalie). After an exchange of points, Vision scored two on dink and a CCS hitting error and it was two-point game. Rachel then paid homage to the soccer tournament going on outside by popping up a ball with her foot (now legal), keeping a rally alive that ended with a dink kill by Ally. That seemed to the momentum-changer, for a minute anyway, but at 22-19 Calumet, Vision scored on a kill, an ace and then a shanked pass by our defense. Tied at 22. Faith got things back on track with a big kill, Holly followed it with an ace, and then after our serve was passed back just over the net, Faith annihilated it and we were moving on after the exhilarating win.

With the double elimination format, that victory ensured at least a third place finish. That will not be enough for this team. They got that last year, and are committed, focused and hungry to take it all. And they have a score to settle with Hearts. Should be great.