Sunday, September 23, 2012

Aunt Voula

I'll explain the title later.

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

That's an axiom that has become a cliche, but it describes this season, and particularly this past Calumet Regional Volleyball Invitational, to a T, to use another cliche.

I'll try to dig out from under this pile of cliches. What I mean by that is the Patriots turned over seven players from last year. Only two remain, Ally and Mandi, while the two top hitters, one of the setters, another top hitter and the libero are gone. But even with all the new players, the success continues. Tournaments CCS never would have dreamed of playing in, much less winning, five years ago but were captured by what we thought was a once-in-a-lifetime group of players the last couple of years are still owned by Calumet. Three weeks ago it was Kankakee Valley, and this past weekend the Patriots captured their own tournament for the fourth year in a row, defeated this the Crossroad Crusaders, the same opponent in last year's championship match (although this year they needed only two games.) Another "same" from last year was the last name of the MVP - Rohn.

Along with the change in the makeup of the team was the expectations. Last year, the year before, and possible the year before that, Calumet was the favorite. In 2010, the Patriots weren't even tested on their march to the trophy. In 2009, there was a little scare in the semis, but the finals were somewhat anticlimactic. Last year we thought we would roll, but the championship game was very tightly contested and we barely survived 15-13 in the third game. This year, to quote the title character, "We never think this could happen for you! Never! NEVER!" Well, maybe that is a little bit of an overstatement, but that came to mind as I was thinking about the events of this weekend, reflecting back about my thoughts during the offseason, before I saw what this team could become.

On Friday, the Patriots opened pool play against possible the weakest team in the tournament, the Kankakee Trinity Academy Eagles. Not much needs to be said about the most lopsided contest of the weekend, other than the Patriots won 21-3, 21-3. Next up was the Rivertown Patriots, a homeschool team from Grand Rapids, Michigan that used to be known as WMCAA. This one was much tougher - Rivertown ended up as the second seed out of our pool - and the girls struggled a little bit. Serve receive was a problem as it has been the last few games. CCS did get out to a 16-11 lead as their hitting and blocking was pretty good, but Rivertown scored three aces in a row, then after a Calumet hitting error, they got another ace to tie it up. A couple of Rivertown errors gave Calumet the lead again. The game ended on a block and then a kill by Ally, 21-17. Continued sloppy defensive play put CCS in an 11-5 hole to open the second the second set. An alarm of sorts must have gone off at this point, as we went on an eight-point run behind solid blocking, then after giving up a point, scored seven more in a row. They gave up another, but closed it out on a back row kill by Kaylie 21-13.

Fort Wayne Falcons White was our next opponent. Fort Wayne used to have two homeschool volleyball teams, the Falcons and the Angels, but the Angels disbanded and the Falcons got a lot of their players. They now have two teams, Black and White, essentially an A and a B team. The White teams is the B team. They were better than a lot of recent Angels teams, but not very strong. We started out slow again, as we did against Rivertown in the second set, but at 6-6, the girls went on a run again, this time 14-1. The offense was strong and everyone contributed. One point later we wrapped up set one, 21-8. The momentum and the offense continued into the second set as the Patriots ran out to a 10-1 lead. Our errors were the source of most of the points FW scored down the stretch, but the lead was never threatened in the 21-9 second set win. At 7:30 we faced Arthur-Okaw, a team we played several times last year. They lost their star from last year but were still pretty tough. I think they were a little intimidated by us as the committed a lot of hitting errors. In both sets we led 6-1 and they were both essentially over. The first set saw a lot of kills from Olivia, and the second was characterized by aces from Ally. The scores were 21-10 and 21-11. Somonauk Christian was our final opponent. They only had one loss coming in, but they must a played a weak schedule. Ally came out pounding it. At 11-2 we started making some errors, but a block by Olivia and Lee put the Patriots back on track, and they soon finished the 21-11 set win. The second set saw kills from all the hitters and a Cassie ace finished up the 21-10 second set win and the fourth straight year of perfect pool play.

Because of the success on Friday, the girls' Saturday schedule didn't begin until noon. Schaumburg, who hasn't seemed to play well against us at all the last few years were our first opponent, I'm sure to their regret. This match was not an exception. At 2-2 the Patriots scored with four straight kills. After a hitting error by Schaumburg, they called a timeout. The blocking team of Lee and Olivia stuffed one, then Ally found a hole and Lee put one down and it was 10-2. A little while later the blocking team stuffed another one for a 15-4 lead. SCS put together a mini-run of six out of seven points, but couldn't sustain the momentum, as they committed numerous hitting errors and the girls wrapped up the 25-14 win with an Ally kill. SCS kept it close early in set two. At 6-5, Olivia got a kill, Ally scored on a dink, and Olivia paired up with Stephanie for a block. Ally dialed it up here and the game was soon in hand. Olivia closed out the 25-12 quarterfinal win with kill and a nice dink.

We had heard that the Indy Silver Lightning were good, but weren't sure how good. They finished first in the their pool and beat a pretty tough Fort Wayne Falcons Black team in their semifinal, so they were pretty good. They were big and athletic, with several hitters. Ally came out on fire. She had five kills and a block in a 9-3 Patriot run to open the match. Indy called a time out to slow her down. It seemed to work. Indy scored six of the next eight to pull to within two. Then Indy bookended two net violations around kills by Ally (back row), Faith and Stephanie to break it open. After a Patriot receiving error, CCS scored five more in a row and it was a rout. Indy did get some kills later, but Stephanie finished the 25-16 with a kill. We struggled a bit to open up the second set, but it was more Indy good play rather than our poor play. Indy had four kill for their first four points, then we started having some hitting problems. An Indy ace gave them a 7-3 lead, which would prove to be their biggest lead of the match. They hit one out which Lee followed with an ace. Mandi put one down before Indy scored two of the next three. Ally took over here. Four kills plus a shared block with Mandi were part of a seven point run. Indy got their hitting going again which allowed them to get back to within one at 15-14. Ally grabbed the momentum back, and Mandi, Olivia and Faith kept it. Olivia had two kills and Mandi had one down the stretch. Faith's kill ended the 25-17 set win and a berth in the championship game.

Crossroads gave us all we could handle in our contests against us last year. They had one dominant player, so dominant that Division 1 schools are recruiting her even though she is only 16. One player that they didn't have was their savvy setter of last year. It didn't look like they had any one to replace her. However, it also looked like the big hitter, #7, was better and smarter than last year. After an opening prayer by Dan Obinger and the roster introductions the match began. Crossroads led 3-1 when Ally and Annika (#7) started trading kills. Three by Ally, three by Annika. Crossroads bracketed two hitting errors around two kills by Stephanie for four straight by Calumet. Olivia then absolutely rejected a big kill by Annika and CCS led 9-6. Errors were committed by each team. Olivia, Stephanie then Faith each scored on kills to make it 13-8. Calumet gave one up, then Ally and Annika went back at it. Back row kill by Annika. Back row kill by Ally. Kill by Annika. Dink kill by Ally. Kill by Annika. Block by Annika. Ally then dinked one out and Annika dinked one in to tie it. Kill by Ally. Kill by Ally. Kill by Annika. We had a hitting error, they had a serving error. They had two defensive breakdowns, then Ally scored two aces. Annika hit one out and the Patriots led 23-17. The Crusaders scored two in a row, the second on an Annika kill. A block by Olivia and Lee put Calumet one point away. Annika crushed one from the back row, then Crossroads scored on an ace Coach called a timeout. Crossroads then couldn't return a ball and the Patriots had game one, 25-22.

 Set two pickup where set one left off. A hitting error gave us the first point, then alternating kills by Ally and Annika, three by Annika and two by Ally made it 3-3. We messed up a return, then Ally scored on a kill then an ace. Annika blocked one before Stephanie got one down, then Ally from the back row, then Olivia. Lee completed the run with an ace and it was 9-5, CCS. Annika ended the run with a back row kill but Olivia followed this with a kill then an ace. Crossroads scored the next five, including a block and kill by Annika. They hit one out, then were called on a questionable carry on a dink attempt. They scored two kills in a row to tie it up again, which Ally answered with a spike and a dink. Annika dinked one in but they served out on the next point. We made two errors to make it tied again at 16, but then they served out again. We opened up a little room with a block by Olivia followed by an Ally ace, then a beautiful block by Olivia on Annika. Another hitting error was the last point in the five point streak. Crossroads ended the run with a downball that we partially blocked but fell on our side. We couldn't return the next serve,, then we were called on a some violation on what looked like a very nice dink kill by Olivia. 21-19, CCS. Ally pushed the lead back to three on a backrow kill, then the teams traded hitting errors. 23-20. Mandi got a nice kill to put the Patriots to within one of the championship, but Annika delayed things for a bit with a back row kill. On the next point, Annika raked the net on a kill attempt, and the championship was ours. Again.

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