Three-peat

It was only three years ago that winning our tournament and Quentin Road were big deals. Winning a public school tournament was, at least to me, not even thought of. Way beyond what little Calumet Christian could accomplish. Then, when the team actually did get to play (and do well) in some big-time tournaments, I figured that when this class graduated, that would be it, and CCS would go down to being able only to contend with the weaker public school programs again. Wrong. Behind some magical defense, timely offense, and steely resolve, the Patriots powered through the Kankakee Valley tournament again, winning for the third straight year, beating the host team in the championship game as we did in 2010 and 2011.

We like to see new teams when we go to these tournaments, but the two teams in our pool were a team we had beaten already (Gavit) and another we would play later in the season (Hebron). The first game was against Gavit, who we beat at the Argo tournament to open the season. This time was a little tougher, at least the first set, but the girls got the job done. The Patriots opened with a seven-point run, with Faith getting a block and a kill, two kills from Ally, and three Gavit errors. That set the pattern for the whole game, with some good play by CCS, including a nice block by Ally on game point, adding to poor play by Gavit, leading to a 25-13 Patriot victory. Game two was a struggle. The match stayed close early on. Both teams had success hitting until a couple of Gavit hitting errors gave the Patriots a 10-7 lead. Gavit stormed back with a block followed by two aces to tie it up. CCS pulled back into the lead at 15-12. We served it into the net, then Gavit ran off four straight errors. Our errors plus some solid hitting by Gavit allowed them to get to within two, but a dink kill by Olivia stopped the streak, and Mandi closed out the 25-19 clincher on a kill off an over-pass.

The girls started flat against Hebron, a seemingly inferior opponent. A questionable call on a second-hit dink by Ally gave Hebron a 4-0 lead. Kaylie stopped this run with kill from her libero position. We seemed to have a hard time picking up their medium-speed hits, and the resulting kills prevented the Patriots from quickly getting back into the game. Finally, down 10-7, the girls scored four in a row - kill by Olivia, ace from Lee, kill by Mandi, and a back-row kill from Ally. Hebron tied it on the next point, and then tied it again at 13, but CCS took control at that point. One remarkable sequence had Ally scoring four points in row on dink kills, then after a Hebron point, threw one  more in for good measure. Mandi followed that with two aces, Hebron scored one more point, and the girls had a 25-15 set win. We made a lot of errors early on in set two, allowing Hebron to stay close. The score was tied at nine when CCS took over. They scored nine in a row, including three aces by Kaylie and four hitting errors by Hebron. We made a few errors which allowed Hebron to get to within seven, but at 24-14 Olivia found a hole with a dink and we were on to the top pool.

The tournament format was such that after the first round of pool play, the teams were put in pools based on where they finished in their pool. North Judson and Kankakee Valley were the other two first place teams. North Judson was our first opponent, and they were looking pretty good. They gave Kankakee Valley a good game, and we were looking at a tough match to get into the championship.
I thought something was strange when the teams got started, and then realized their best player, #13, was not out there. Was it an injury? Discipline issue? I didn't know. North Judson appeared very listless and disinterested while the Patriots jumped out to a 13-3 lead and gradually added to it until a NJ serving error ended it at 25-10. I started asking around about their missing player, and there was some word about a car accident. We made a lot of errors early in game two to keep North Judson in it, but at 12-9 CCS North Judson started making a lot of errors of their own and we began to pull away. Two consecutive Ally aces closed it out at 25-13. We then found out the star player's close friend had just been killed in a car accident, which explained her absence and the distracted play of the remaining players. Some of our girls asked to pray with some of theirs, and the offer was gratefully received.

Once again Kankakee Valley would be our opponent in the championship game. Although this wasn't a classic bracket championship game, it would be the game that decided who took home the trophy. At the outset it looked like a championship game. Strong play on both sides - KV hitting, our defense - and few errors made for some beautiful volleyball. Neither team had greater than a one-point lead until a KV ace made it 10-8, Kankakee Valley. We caught up again, and then at 11-11, a volley took place that seemed to take ten minutes. Great hitting by KV was offset by fantastic defense by the Patriots, with Mandi digging some blasts right to the setter, as well as Kaylie and Amanda. Finally Ally finished the most exciting point of the day with a dink that found the floor. That seemed to the the turning point. At 14-13 KV served out, then Ally did one of her dinks over on the second hit when everyone was expecting a set. A back-row flat-footed kill by Ally was sandwiched by hitting errors by KV. KV took their second time out, which apparently is the "running" time out, as their coach had them running sprints from sideline to sideline during the timeout. It didn't help, as Ally pounded two more down from the back row, then moved to the front row for another two kills. On game point, Faith and Ally stuffed a KV hit - 25-15, CCS. We were sort of in control of most of the second set, but we could never get more than a four-point lead. Mandi, Olivia and Stephanie were getting more kills in this game and Faith had a nice block, but at 20-16, CCS, KV got their slide working and their six-footer began to put some balls down. We would only scored one more point, while KV had kill after kill, eventually scoring six of them in their last nine points. Through in three Patriot errors and KV had game two, 25-21. Set three would only be to fifteen, so whoever got the hot start would have a big advantage. Advantage, CCS. KV scored the first point, but a dink kill by Ally answered it. Then an ace by Cassie, a nice block by Ally and Faith and a KV hitting error made it 4-1. KV scored three of the next five on two kills and a CCS net violation which made it 6-4. The next KV serve was bad, which opened up the floodgates. Olivia followed with her most emphatic kill of the day, causing Kankakee to call their second time out. It didn't help. Stephanie scored on a dink (net violation, KV), Ally put another second hit/set to the hole in the middle of the defense, Stephanie got another dink, Ally served two aces, and a KV hitting error made it 14-4. A mini-LGFS ensued, but after a couple of points, Ally shot a set to the back corner which fell, and the tournament was Calumet's. Again.