Even after graduating five seniors and losing two other players that significantly contributed to Calumet's three-year run of dominance, the Patriots went out to Argo High yesterday and, for the most part, overwhelmed the opposition like was 2011 all over again. Granted, the other teams in the tournament can hardly be construed as tough, which was good for this young and inexperienced team, allowing them to get their feet wet while still winning.
I walked into the gym about fifteen minutes late and immediately looked up at the scoreboard. 8-3, home team. I had a momentary twinge thinking that we were playing the host team, but soon figured out it was Hammond Gavit we were playing, and we were the home team. Whew. The lead soon grew to 14-5, due equally to good play by CCS and errors by Gavit. The lead stayed between seven and ten, as both teams upped their play. A nice block by Mandi pushed the lead to 24-13, and after giving up a couple of points, Ally closed it out with a nice kill. Gavit really took a step back in game two, committing numerous errors and not generating much offense. Calumet scored the first seven points of the set. After a couple point exchanges, the Patriots increased the lead to 17-4. Faith and Ally were hitting well and Olivia was solid at the net on defense. We started making more errors at this point, allowing Gavit to get back to within 19-11. At that point, according to my notes, nine of Gavit's points were off of our errors. That was it for Gavit, though, as CCS scored the last six which included kills by Ally, Lee and Olivia, and ended on a Mandi ace.
Match #2 was against the host team, the weakest team of the group. We built the lead gradually in set one, with the strongest feature of play our serving - the Dragons could not figure out how to return them. Lee served the fifth CCS ace of the set to make it 15-5. The lead kept growing as Argo make error after error, though Olivia did have a couple of kills to contribute to the win. Final score was 25-10. Argo kept it somewhat close early in the second game, tying the game at three. The Patriots went on a little 4-1 run, then Lee started serving and served twelve straight points. Granted, many of the points were on hitting errors by Argo, but her serving was representative of the solid serving CCS had all day. Argo finally got a point on a kill, but the set was essentially over. Faith scored on a kill, then rotated to the serve position and scored an ace. The teams exchanged blocks, then Ally crushed a ball that popped up off an Olivia block. Argo got one more kill, then served into the net to give CCS the 25-7 win.
Goshen Blue Blazers, a home school team and long time opponent, would be our final opponent. By the time we played them, they also had beaten both public school teams, so the match would be for the championship. Goshen has always given the Patriots trouble, even when our record was far superior to theirs. In fact last year, CCS defeated Goshen in this tournament in two tough games, and even dropped a set when they faced them in their second-to-last regular season match (CCS did win 3-1). They would definitely be the biggest challenge of the day. The Patriots appeared to be very tight at the outset. Patriot errors led to a 7-3 deficit. It looked like the momentum would switch when Ally scored on consecutive kills and Faith stuffed a Goshen spike attempt, but Goshen followed by scoring three straight of their own. Goshen's lead got as big as five, and still led by four at 16-12 when the momentum really did change. Five straight by CCS, including two kills by Olivia gave the Patriots their first lead. CCS kept it up, eventually going ahead 23-19 after an Amanda ace. Alas, but Goshen pulled even at 23. Goshen went into the net but a Calumet hitting error evened it up again. Stephanie gave us the lead back with dink kill, then Ally finished it with a kill off of an overpass. Set two could not have been much different. Kill, kill, kill, CCS. Hitting error, Goshen. Ace, kill, kill, block, CCS. Defensive error, Goshen. Ace, kill CCS. 11-0, Patriots. Goshen finally scored, but the set was over. Blocks, kills and aces were coming from everyone. An ace from Ally make it 22-3. Goshen went on little run then, scoring four straight..oh wait..a rotation error was discovered. Goshen had to give up three of the points and Calumet was awarded one. A minute later a Mandi kill finished off the Blue Blazer, 25-5, and gave the Patriots another, yawn, trophy. Well, for these players the trophy wasn't really yawn-inducing. For most, it was their first varsity trophy. Look, a picture!
One significant difference from the last few years - no LGFSs. Well, there's still time.
Big schedule next week: Monday at Merrillville, Tuesday at Schaumburg Christian to take on Schaumburg and Quentin Road, Friday home against Community Baptist of South Bend and Lafayette for the Lafayette Central Catholic tournament. I will not be at the Quentin Road or Schaumburg match, so if anyone wants to write a match summary, please leave a comment and I will send you a email address to send it to.
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