Lots of games, mostly wins

Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yes, the Covenant Christian match. That means I only have FIVE matches to cover here. Yes, five, as in five in five days. I guess Coach was preparing the team for our tournament. Or something. Anyway I will recap the matches briefly here.

Thursday was Hebron. I only saw the first two sets - more about that later. We had faced Hebron in the Kankakee Valley tournament, so we knew what we were up against, which was a mediocre defensive team that ran their offence through their middle hitters, neither of which was taller than 5'8". We tried to help out Hebron to start the game, committing numerous hitting errors. When we weren't hitting the ball into the net or out, we were pounding it down. They scored three of their first four points on our errors; we scored our first six points on kills, which came from Mandi, Olivia and Ally. The girls actually were behind early, 4-2, but then ran off eight straight and twelve of thirteen to blow the set open. In that sequence, three straight Patriot points came from Lee kills. A kill by Ally from the back row gave CCS an eleven point lead, then they scored the last four to take set one, 25-11. The Patriots fell behind again in the second set, scored four in a row to go ahead 7-4, but then made two errors to let Hebron back into it. Hebron then got their hitting game going and trailed only 15-14. That was short-lived as they hit the next two out. Mandi was the hitting star down the stretch as the Patriot scored the last seven to win set two, 25-16. Set three was after I left, but I can report that they won 25-13. I left watching a good team dominate in person to watch a bad performance (Bears) on television. Not sure how smart that was.

I did not travel to Lafayette to watch the girls play Faith. I have been to Lafayette more times than I care to remember over the last six years, and I knew Faith wasn't very good. Not anymore, anyway. 31-29.....smh.....grumble....grumble...oops, sorry, where was I? Oh yes, Faith. CCS won the match 25-16, 25-12, 25-14. Ally had twenty kills, Cassie had fifteen assists and Kaylie had ten digs.

I did travel to the remotest hinterlands of Indiana to watch the girls in the Tippecanoe Valley tournament. This was the first time we participated in this one, and it was a pretty good one. Our first opponent was Knox. Knox falls in the Times coverage area, so this was an important one. However, it was a relatively early one for our girls, especially coming on the heels of matches on Thursday and Friday. Those are my excuses and I'm sticking with them. Anyway, the girls couldn't quite get it down and went down to defeat 25-23, 25-20. I did not get there in time for the first set but did see the second. The Patriots led early. After a Kaylie ace made it 5-2, we committed a hitting error, a defensive error and served one into the net. All we need was a net violation and a setting error and we would have covered the bases. We continued to struggle as Knox got their hitting going, eventually taking a 9-7 lead. We fought back and consecutive kills by Faith put us back up by one. Knox hit several into the net and out; we took the lead. Knox started finding the court with both their hits and serves; Knox tied it up. A bit later an Olivia kill made it a three-point lead, but then we stopped being able to return their serves, which were very good. When we did get one up, it wasn't right to the setter. On the last three, we barely touched the ball. Three straight aces capped an eight point run by Knox and they had the victory and we no longer had a chance to win.

Next up was the host team, Tippecanoe Valley. Even though Mandi was sidelined with a twisted ankle, it didn't slow the Patriots a bit. The girls had their hitting, blocking and serving shoes on, and TV seemed to not know what hit them. Before you knew it, it was 13-3 CCS. We gradually increased the lead, mainly by aces, which we got from Ally, Olivia (2) and Kaylie. Since Mandi was out, Cassie was playing front row, and she finished the 25-12 set win with a kill. TV started hitting better in set two, and the set was close throughout. Two kills and an ace put TV up 7-3. They led 9-5 when they committed a serving error. Stephane followed with a kill, then Ally got one from the back row, and Faith also put one down to tie up the game. TV went ahead again by three and kept the lead until Ally and Lee had back-to-back kills to tie it up at 15, then an Ally ace gave the Patriots the lead. Back-and-forth it went from there. TV led for the last time at 19-18. CCS scored five straight. In that sequence was a nice double block from Ally and Faith, but the best point was the last one. It was a very long volley, highlighted by a fabulous no-look (at least that's how it appeared to me) save on a scramble at the net by Stephanie. She shot her arm out and slightly behind her as she was falling out of bounds and popped the ball right to a teammate. Eventually Ally finished it with a kill, but that was the defensive play of the year so far. After a TV kill, Ally got another kill and then a block to finish the set and match, 25-20.

Last up was Heritage of Monroeville, Indiana, sort of near Fort Wayne. They were very tall. It turned out they could hit, but maybe not quite as well as they looked like they could. Their defense was solid, but at this point the girls were warmed up and had gotten a little used to the new rotation without Mandi, who Coach held out as a precaution because of her turned ankle. Ally had three kills early, leading to a 5-2 advantage. A couple of hitting and one shanked pass gave Heritage the lead at 7-6. We then righted the ship and ripped off seven in a row, highlighted by back-to-back kills by Olivia. Heritage's height came into play as they got the offensive game going and they gradually got back into the game, finally tying it at 16. Heritage gave us the next two points on errors and we never trailed again. CCS had kills from Ally, Olivia, Kaylie and Stephanie, who got the last one to close out the 25-20 victory. Heritage really had trouble hitting to open the second set and CCS took advantage. An ace from Olivia gave the Patriots an 11-5 lead and it looked like a rout. The lead eventually grew to 17-9 as the girls blocked very well while Heritage made fewer errors. CCS still led 23-17 after Cassie tipped one to a hole. Heritage then scored six straight on four kills and two hitting errors by the Patriots (LGFS!). Stephanie stopped the bleeding with a well-placed dink, then Ally got a dink kill as well to end it and the Patriots had second place.

This week it's Westville there on Tuesday (I will not be there) and then the tournament on Friday and Saturday. We are the three-time defending champions of that tournament, but there are some powerhouses coming that will make it tough. Come on out and cheer on the girls and let's make it a fourpeat!!