Tonight the girls traveled down to Lafayette AGAIN, this time to play Heritage in the quarterfinals of the state tournament, or the regional finals, however you want to look at it. Yes, to Lafayette to play a school that's about five miles away from our home court.
The girls had played Heritage twice earlier in the season, defeating them in tightly contested games both times. The first time was a regular season game in which Calumet won in three straight, with the first and third games being quite close. The second time was in the semifinals of our tournament. That game saw the Defenders win the second game before succumbing in the third. So we were ready for a competitive game.
Except someone forgot to tell Heritage. At least in the first set. After a Taylor kill to get the serve, Taylor ran off eleven consecutive points to make it 12-0. Taylor lost the serve after a timeout, but Calumet maintained a ten-point or better lead through the end of the game before scoring five of the last six points to defeate Heritage 25-9 in game 1.
The second game was more competitive, especially after Heritage discovered the double block. The second stuff block for Heritage brought them to within two at 16-14, but then Faith put one between the blocks, Taylor blocked one of theirs, they dinked one out, Kara got a kill, a Heritage hitting error, another kill by Kara and a kill by Taylor gave the Patriots a 23-14. At this point the team performed their usual generosity by giving Heritage four points before closing it out with a kill by Taylor and a Heritage hitting error.
The third game kind of started like the first, in that Calumet jumped out to an early 10-3 lead, with three kills from Faith and two from Kara. Heritage then had a mini-run to close to within four. From there the Patriots slowly pulled farther and farther ahead, with some hitting by Faith and a lot of error commited by Heritage. The score eventually reached 24-15, before the LGFS occurred (late-game flat spot). Heritage ran off seven straight points before final getting the winner on a block by Emily Eizenga.
Tomorrow I give my impressions of the first weekend at the tournament.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Perfunctory
per⋅func⋅to⋅ry /pərˈfʌŋktəri/ [per-fuhngk-tuh-ree]
–adjective 1. performed merely as a routine duty; hasty and superficial: perfunctory courtesy.
2. lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm; indifferent or apathetic.
Yep, that pretty much sums up tonights waste of ti.. er game.
The mess also known as the ICSTS tournament began tonight, with a lovely trip to Lafayette to play a group of students from Providence Cristo Rey that I hesitate to call a team. Yikes. If the girls weren't totally disinterested, it might have been three shutouts. As it was, the girls won 25-8, 25-4, 25-4. This was pointless for both teams. (A frightening aspect: Providence Cristo Rey beat another team to get to play us.) Total playing time: about 40 minutes. Travel time to and from Lafayette: about 180 minutes.
And we get to go back again tomorrow, this time probably against Heritage. Heritage is one of three teams to win a set from us all year, so this game should be good.
NOTE: I began a blog entry a couple weeks ago, but didn't finish it until yesterday. However, it still posted with the original date. Scroll down to the September 30 entry if you want to read it. It's some more of my thoughts about the ICSTS.
–adjective 1. performed merely as a routine duty; hasty and superficial: perfunctory courtesy.
2. lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm; indifferent or apathetic.
Yep, that pretty much sums up tonights waste of ti.. er game.
The mess also known as the ICSTS tournament began tonight, with a lovely trip to Lafayette to play a group of students from Providence Cristo Rey that I hesitate to call a team. Yikes. If the girls weren't totally disinterested, it might have been three shutouts. As it was, the girls won 25-8, 25-4, 25-4. This was pointless for both teams. (A frightening aspect: Providence Cristo Rey beat another team to get to play us.) Total playing time: about 40 minutes. Travel time to and from Lafayette: about 180 minutes.
And we get to go back again tomorrow, this time probably against Heritage. Heritage is one of three teams to win a set from us all year, so this game should be good.
NOTE: I began a blog entry a couple weeks ago, but didn't finish it until yesterday. However, it still posted with the original date. Scroll down to the September 30 entry if you want to read it. It's some more of my thoughts about the ICSTS.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Double post
Lots of activity over the last couple of days. First, on Monday, the team scrimmaged against the Prairie State College team. Stephanie Carlson, former Calumet player, is now a key player on the Prairie State team, so through her the scrimmage was arranged. The Prairie State team was just returning from a successful trip to Rhode Island, winning all their games there, to give them a season record of 25-6.
The game started out close, sort of like each team was getting an idea about how the other team played. Then Prairie State started imposing their dominance. They had one tall athletic girl who could pound the ball. They also had a very gifted setter. Once they got a few points going, some of our girls started tightening up a little, and the lead increased quickly. Prairie State ended up with a 25-13 win.
The second game went a little better for the girls, but Prairie State continued to demonstrate that they were a college team and our girls were not. Faith was all over the court, doing her best to keep them in it, but troubles with serve receiving among other errors kept the Patriots from making a game of it, and they lost 25-15.
Prairie State's coach sat down three of his starters for the third game. By that time most of the nervousness had worn off for Calumet, and this game was very competitive. The game was close throughout, but Calumet scored the last two points to pull out a 25-22 win.
For the games that actually counted, Calumet traveled up to Schaumburg to play both Schaumburg Christian and Quentin Road at Schaumburg Christian's fantastic new fieldhouse. With the old gym, there could be at least five games going on at the same time. As it was, I think there were nine games played over three time slots, with JV, junior high and varsity games taking place. I will mention that the JV team defeated Quentin Road after losing twice to them earlier in the year. The junior high team struggled, losing their games against Schaumburg and Quentin Road. Now, on to the varsity.
I arrived late for the Schaumburg game. They were leading early in the second game. The parents that were there reported that the team had defeated Schaumburg in the first game 25-15. There wasn't much high-level play in the second game, but the girls did win the set 25-16.
Quentin Road was next up, immediately following the Schaumburg game. Earlier in the year, Calumet had traveled up to Quentin Road and defeated them 25-12, 25-13. The girls were playing at a high level in that game. Tonight, the girls didn't play at that level. The first game started out well. The Patriots jumped out to a 4-1 lead behind kills by Kara and Faith. But due mainly to Patriot errors, Quentin Road crept back in to the game, and eventually took the lead at 12-11. But from there, the girls outscored the Eagles 14-3, as Taylor got several kills, and then several aces. The game ended on an ace by Jessi.
The second game was not a good game for Calumet. This one went the opposite of the first one. Our girls played well early and led 12-5 at one point. After giving up three points, the girls matched it an led 15-8. Some back-and-forth scoring brought the score to 17-11. Things went south from here. Kill by QR. Hitting error. Another kill. Another hitting error. An ace. Faith broke the streak with a kill, but QR matched it. QR then committed a hitting error, but then scored on a dink. A hit by QR that went off our block. It went like this, no team scoring more than two in a row until the end. Our girls had two set points that they couldn't get, then Quentin Road had one but Calumet got a dink in. Finally QR hit one out and the girls escaped with a 29-27 win.
Next up is a first-round game in the state regionals against the winner of the 15th and 18th seeds on Friday. We should win that one easily, and then next after that should be Heritage, which would be the third time we will have faced them this season. That game will be at 5:10P CST at Faith Christian School in Lafayette. I will blog tomorrow about the wonderful format and seeding of the state tournament.
The game started out close, sort of like each team was getting an idea about how the other team played. Then Prairie State started imposing their dominance. They had one tall athletic girl who could pound the ball. They also had a very gifted setter. Once they got a few points going, some of our girls started tightening up a little, and the lead increased quickly. Prairie State ended up with a 25-13 win.
The second game went a little better for the girls, but Prairie State continued to demonstrate that they were a college team and our girls were not. Faith was all over the court, doing her best to keep them in it, but troubles with serve receiving among other errors kept the Patriots from making a game of it, and they lost 25-15.
Prairie State's coach sat down three of his starters for the third game. By that time most of the nervousness had worn off for Calumet, and this game was very competitive. The game was close throughout, but Calumet scored the last two points to pull out a 25-22 win.
For the games that actually counted, Calumet traveled up to Schaumburg to play both Schaumburg Christian and Quentin Road at Schaumburg Christian's fantastic new fieldhouse. With the old gym, there could be at least five games going on at the same time. As it was, I think there were nine games played over three time slots, with JV, junior high and varsity games taking place. I will mention that the JV team defeated Quentin Road after losing twice to them earlier in the year. The junior high team struggled, losing their games against Schaumburg and Quentin Road. Now, on to the varsity.
I arrived late for the Schaumburg game. They were leading early in the second game. The parents that were there reported that the team had defeated Schaumburg in the first game 25-15. There wasn't much high-level play in the second game, but the girls did win the set 25-16.
Quentin Road was next up, immediately following the Schaumburg game. Earlier in the year, Calumet had traveled up to Quentin Road and defeated them 25-12, 25-13. The girls were playing at a high level in that game. Tonight, the girls didn't play at that level. The first game started out well. The Patriots jumped out to a 4-1 lead behind kills by Kara and Faith. But due mainly to Patriot errors, Quentin Road crept back in to the game, and eventually took the lead at 12-11. But from there, the girls outscored the Eagles 14-3, as Taylor got several kills, and then several aces. The game ended on an ace by Jessi.
The second game was not a good game for Calumet. This one went the opposite of the first one. Our girls played well early and led 12-5 at one point. After giving up three points, the girls matched it an led 15-8. Some back-and-forth scoring brought the score to 17-11. Things went south from here. Kill by QR. Hitting error. Another kill. Another hitting error. An ace. Faith broke the streak with a kill, but QR matched it. QR then committed a hitting error, but then scored on a dink. A hit by QR that went off our block. It went like this, no team scoring more than two in a row until the end. Our girls had two set points that they couldn't get, then Quentin Road had one but Calumet got a dink in. Finally QR hit one out and the girls escaped with a 29-27 win.
Next up is a first-round game in the state regionals against the winner of the 15th and 18th seeds on Friday. We should win that one easily, and then next after that should be Heritage, which would be the third time we will have faced them this season. That game will be at 5:10P CST at Faith Christian School in Lafayette. I will blog tomorrow about the wonderful format and seeding of the state tournament.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Champions again!
The Calumet Christian (yes, we're back to Calumet - I don't have to change the blog name!) Patriots defeated an old rival to win the Quentin Road/Dayspring Classic volleyball tournament yesterday, their second tournament victory of the year.
As you read, we went undefeated in our pool, finishing 8-0. The day wasn't without adventure, as you also read, with the late start we all got due to some miscommunication, and the wrong turn by Coach Carr's vehicle which caused her, Jessi Stas, Holly Schaap, and Tina Schnoor to completely miss the first set against Southside, and with some struggles against weaker teams. But the girls got the job done, which set the stage for Saturday's events.
We had already examined the bracket possibilities before the tournament started, and realized that we would face Saline, if we got there, in the semifinals. We were a little disappointed that we couldn't play them in the championship, but of course there was nothing we could do about that. We also speculated about Calvary of PA in the finals, but that turned out to be a wrong assumption.
In our first game, we played Westchester. They were in our pool and we had beaten them on Friday, 25-11, 25-14. We figured that this wouldn't be a tough game, and we were right. The girls played like they played in their first bracket game in the Calumet Invitational, like a machine. Even with a lot of substitutions in the second game, the girls rolled to a 25-4, 25-4 whitewash.
The second game was against Arthur. This was a little bit of a surprise for a couple of reasons. First, we figured Calvary of PA would win their pool, but they only finished 5-3 in pool play. So after Friday's play was over, we thought we would be playing them in the quarterfinals instead of the finals, like we might have if they won their pool. But Calvary lost to Arthur in the first round of the tournament.(Background information: Three years ago, the last year Calumet had a near-perfect team, we came up against Calvary in the finals of this tournament. Calvary had, that year, one of the best teams I've seen in the four years I have been watching most of the varsity games. Calvary beat us, I believe, 25-14, 25-16. We lost two other games the whole year, which I believe were a pool play game in Nationals against Fulton County and a late-season game against Quentin Road which had beaten easily earlier in the year. So we figured if Calvary was back, they must be really good. They weren't.) Arthur had one really good middle hitter, one good middle hitter, and then the rest of team. In game one, the girls established that they were the superior team, dominating the game 25-13. In the second game, the girls decided that this was the game in which they would lose focus. Due mostly to our errors, the girls found themselves trailing 13-9. After a little 4-2 run by Calumet, they were still trailing 15-13. Then, a kill by Faith. A block by Faith. A shanked pass by Arthur. Two consecutive aces by Rachel gave the Patriots a 18-15 lead. Then four errors by Calumet with a kill by Faith in the middle of it made it a 19-19 game. Then Taylor got a kill, Arthur made a error, an ace by Kara, a kill by Faith, a dink by Jessi and another ace by Kara gave the Patriots a 25-19 win.
As expected, Saline was up next in the semifinal. Same as the Patriots, Saline had not lost the whole tournament. For those of you not with the team last year, Saline is a very conservative team from Kentucky. They don't look like much, not at all like athletes, especially in their very long shorts and long socks, but they are very smart, very good defensively, and generally do not get flustered. They do have one girl, Sarah Mills, who is a very gifted and smart player. From what I could find on the Net, they didn't lose so much as a set last year except the one to us in the final last year. Coach noticed that Sarah did all the blocking, so she made sure to distributed the hitting across the front row.
The first game went as many do for the Patriots. They were somewhat even with Saline, but service and hitting errors kept our girls from getting a bigger lead. At 12-9, the errors were fewer, but the hitting, that the girls had been doing all game, continued. Two kills by Faith, two kills by Kara, and an ace by Jessi contributed to pushing the lead out to 18-11. Then the usual flat spot for the Patriots occurred, as Saline put down some dinks and down balls and pretty soon it was 20-16. From there it was back and forth, with Calumet making many errors between kills by Jessi and Ally, but at 22-19 the girls finished off Saline with a backrow kill by Ally, and ace by Jessi and a Saline hitting error.
The second game had the Patriots jumping out to 11-4 lead. Saline began to come back, helped a lot by errors by our girls, including a net violation and back row attack violation. It was 12-11, then 14-12. But then Jessi began a long streak of serving as Faith had several kills. Calumet scored nine straight points before a kill by Saline. Then a kill by Kara and an ace by Rachel put the Patriots into the finals.
The other semifinal was between Ridgewood and Freedom Farm. Some of the girls wanted Ridgewood; others wanted a new opponent so were cheering for Freedom Farm. Ridgewood ended up winning, beating Freedom Farm in three games. We had faced Ridgewood the weekend before, winning in three tough games. Ridgewood came out fired up to play us. Our girls came out flat. There were net violations, out of rotation violations, blocking errors, hitting errors and service errors. At one point, Ridgewood was up by six at 16-10. Ridgewood hit one into the net, Taylor put one down, Jessi got two kills and it was a two point game. But then the girls scored nine in a row, which included kills by Jessi and Faith, aces by Taylor and some hits out by Ridgewood. Ridgewood then got two on a dink by Faith that went out and a block, but Calumet got the next two with the last a kill by Faith to win game one, 25-20.
The second game began very even, with some good play by both teams. but at 11-11 the Patriots scored six in a row, mainly because of hitting errors by Ridgewood. After giving up a point, the girls then outscored Ridgewood 6-2 to give Calumet a commanding 23-14 lead. Ridgewood regrouped to score four straight before Calumet stopped the streak. At 24-18 Ridgewood called a timeout. Faith was serving. Because there was no room when there were two courts per gym, Faith hadn't jump served all day. She didn't jump serve at all during the final game to that point either, but she pulled it out for this point. And of course it was perfect and dropped in for an ace, giving Calumet the set, game and tournament championship.
After the trophies for first and second were handed out, the all-tournament team was announced. There are only six all-tournament slots at the Dayspring Classic. They announced them in reverse order of votes received. First announced was Beverly Black of Quentin Road, then Monica Schlabach of Pathway, our very own Jessi Stas, and Dominique Stegall of Ridgewood. The final player named was the MVP, and that announcement had very little to no suspense. Of course it was Faith Rohn, making it two-for-two for her in MVP tournament awards.
Tuesday is a trimatch against Schaumburg and Quentin Road at Schaumburg. Then the state regionals with their ridiculous schedule this weekend. I will post on that later this week.
As you read, we went undefeated in our pool, finishing 8-0. The day wasn't without adventure, as you also read, with the late start we all got due to some miscommunication, and the wrong turn by Coach Carr's vehicle which caused her, Jessi Stas, Holly Schaap, and Tina Schnoor to completely miss the first set against Southside, and with some struggles against weaker teams. But the girls got the job done, which set the stage for Saturday's events.
We had already examined the bracket possibilities before the tournament started, and realized that we would face Saline, if we got there, in the semifinals. We were a little disappointed that we couldn't play them in the championship, but of course there was nothing we could do about that. We also speculated about Calvary of PA in the finals, but that turned out to be a wrong assumption.
In our first game, we played Westchester. They were in our pool and we had beaten them on Friday, 25-11, 25-14. We figured that this wouldn't be a tough game, and we were right. The girls played like they played in their first bracket game in the Calumet Invitational, like a machine. Even with a lot of substitutions in the second game, the girls rolled to a 25-4, 25-4 whitewash.
The second game was against Arthur. This was a little bit of a surprise for a couple of reasons. First, we figured Calvary of PA would win their pool, but they only finished 5-3 in pool play. So after Friday's play was over, we thought we would be playing them in the quarterfinals instead of the finals, like we might have if they won their pool. But Calvary lost to Arthur in the first round of the tournament.(Background information: Three years ago, the last year Calumet had a near-perfect team, we came up against Calvary in the finals of this tournament. Calvary had, that year, one of the best teams I've seen in the four years I have been watching most of the varsity games. Calvary beat us, I believe, 25-14, 25-16. We lost two other games the whole year, which I believe were a pool play game in Nationals against Fulton County and a late-season game against Quentin Road which had beaten easily earlier in the year. So we figured if Calvary was back, they must be really good. They weren't.) Arthur had one really good middle hitter, one good middle hitter, and then the rest of team. In game one, the girls established that they were the superior team, dominating the game 25-13. In the second game, the girls decided that this was the game in which they would lose focus. Due mostly to our errors, the girls found themselves trailing 13-9. After a little 4-2 run by Calumet, they were still trailing 15-13. Then, a kill by Faith. A block by Faith. A shanked pass by Arthur. Two consecutive aces by Rachel gave the Patriots a 18-15 lead. Then four errors by Calumet with a kill by Faith in the middle of it made it a 19-19 game. Then Taylor got a kill, Arthur made a error, an ace by Kara, a kill by Faith, a dink by Jessi and another ace by Kara gave the Patriots a 25-19 win.
As expected, Saline was up next in the semifinal. Same as the Patriots, Saline had not lost the whole tournament. For those of you not with the team last year, Saline is a very conservative team from Kentucky. They don't look like much, not at all like athletes, especially in their very long shorts and long socks, but they are very smart, very good defensively, and generally do not get flustered. They do have one girl, Sarah Mills, who is a very gifted and smart player. From what I could find on the Net, they didn't lose so much as a set last year except the one to us in the final last year. Coach noticed that Sarah did all the blocking, so she made sure to distributed the hitting across the front row.
The first game went as many do for the Patriots. They were somewhat even with Saline, but service and hitting errors kept our girls from getting a bigger lead. At 12-9, the errors were fewer, but the hitting, that the girls had been doing all game, continued. Two kills by Faith, two kills by Kara, and an ace by Jessi contributed to pushing the lead out to 18-11. Then the usual flat spot for the Patriots occurred, as Saline put down some dinks and down balls and pretty soon it was 20-16. From there it was back and forth, with Calumet making many errors between kills by Jessi and Ally, but at 22-19 the girls finished off Saline with a backrow kill by Ally, and ace by Jessi and a Saline hitting error.
The second game had the Patriots jumping out to 11-4 lead. Saline began to come back, helped a lot by errors by our girls, including a net violation and back row attack violation. It was 12-11, then 14-12. But then Jessi began a long streak of serving as Faith had several kills. Calumet scored nine straight points before a kill by Saline. Then a kill by Kara and an ace by Rachel put the Patriots into the finals.
The other semifinal was between Ridgewood and Freedom Farm. Some of the girls wanted Ridgewood; others wanted a new opponent so were cheering for Freedom Farm. Ridgewood ended up winning, beating Freedom Farm in three games. We had faced Ridgewood the weekend before, winning in three tough games. Ridgewood came out fired up to play us. Our girls came out flat. There were net violations, out of rotation violations, blocking errors, hitting errors and service errors. At one point, Ridgewood was up by six at 16-10. Ridgewood hit one into the net, Taylor put one down, Jessi got two kills and it was a two point game. But then the girls scored nine in a row, which included kills by Jessi and Faith, aces by Taylor and some hits out by Ridgewood. Ridgewood then got two on a dink by Faith that went out and a block, but Calumet got the next two with the last a kill by Faith to win game one, 25-20.
The second game began very even, with some good play by both teams. but at 11-11 the Patriots scored six in a row, mainly because of hitting errors by Ridgewood. After giving up a point, the girls then outscored Ridgewood 6-2 to give Calumet a commanding 23-14 lead. Ridgewood regrouped to score four straight before Calumet stopped the streak. At 24-18 Ridgewood called a timeout. Faith was serving. Because there was no room when there were two courts per gym, Faith hadn't jump served all day. She didn't jump serve at all during the final game to that point either, but she pulled it out for this point. And of course it was perfect and dropped in for an ace, giving Calumet the set, game and tournament championship.
After the trophies for first and second were handed out, the all-tournament team was announced. There are only six all-tournament slots at the Dayspring Classic. They announced them in reverse order of votes received. First announced was Beverly Black of Quentin Road, then Monica Schlabach of Pathway, our very own Jessi Stas, and Dominique Stegall of Ridgewood. The final player named was the MVP, and that announcement had very little to no suspense. Of course it was Faith Rohn, making it two-for-two for her in MVP tournament awards.
Tuesday is a trimatch against Schaumburg and Quentin Road at Schaumburg. Then the state regionals with their ridiculous schedule this weekend. I will post on that later this week.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Even shorter blog on pool play day at Quentin Road
It's late, I'm tired, so I'm not going to give you a lot.
We opened the day with only six players and no coach. One of the vehicles in the caravan made a wrong turn and went REALLY out of the way, so they were late. No matter - Coach Casey filled in admirably, and the girls did their job, with Ally playing Jessi Stas' position and putting down some kills. The girls beat Southside 25-17, 25-14.
Next up was East Moline. We hadn't faced them at least since before I was following the team. After making short work of them in the first set, 25-11, Coach began subbing liberally and the girls lost a little focus, but they won anyway, 25-18.
Coach Carr then left to go to a wedding. At 4 we took on Westchester, and traditionally a weak team. Again, there was a lot of substitutions. Still the girls won 25-11, 25-14.
With Kelsey coaching again, the Patriots played First Baptist of Danville for their last game of the day. The first game was a struggle, as FB played well and we played poorly. We did finally manage to capture the game, 25-21. The second game went more as expected with our girls making better play. The final was 25-12.
Tomorrow we take on the winner of two weak teams at 10:30 AM. Then the real fun will begin.
Congrats to Coach Car on your 400th career victory. That milestone was reached after Calvary won the second game, against East Moline.
We opened the day with only six players and no coach. One of the vehicles in the caravan made a wrong turn and went REALLY out of the way, so they were late. No matter - Coach Casey filled in admirably, and the girls did their job, with Ally playing Jessi Stas' position and putting down some kills. The girls beat Southside 25-17, 25-14.
Next up was East Moline. We hadn't faced them at least since before I was following the team. After making short work of them in the first set, 25-11, Coach began subbing liberally and the girls lost a little focus, but they won anyway, 25-18.
Coach Carr then left to go to a wedding. At 4 we took on Westchester, and traditionally a weak team. Again, there was a lot of substitutions. Still the girls won 25-11, 25-14.
With Kelsey coaching again, the Patriots played First Baptist of Danville for their last game of the day. The first game was a struggle, as FB played well and we played poorly. We did finally manage to capture the game, 25-21. The second game went more as expected with our girls making better play. The final was 25-12.
Tomorrow we take on the winner of two weak teams at 10:30 AM. Then the real fun will begin.
Congrats to Coach Car on your 400th career victory. That milestone was reached after Calvary won the second game, against East Moline.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Very short blog entry on FB of Mish
I know it's been a couple of days since the FB of Mishawaka game. I have been formulating a blog entry about the ICSTS (yes, I know I'm a broken record), but I've put that aside to give you a quick update before the big QR tournament this weekend.
The JH and JV started the evening with two easy wins over their FB of M counterparts preceding the varsity game. This was the first game after the loss of a key member of the team, so we weren't sure how things would go. The replacements were Holly in the front row and Tina in the back. The team played a little out of sorts the whole evening as the girls tried to get used to playing with new teammates, and the new players tried to get used to their new assignments. The first game was tied at 6, and the Patriots only led 13-10 at one point. Then Rachel began to serve ace after ace. Sprinkled in were a couple of nice hits and blocks, and the score was 21-10. The usual focus loss occurred, and FB outscored the Patriots 6-2 to pull FB within seven. The Patriots finally got the last two and won 25-16.
The second game was similar. Behind a lot of kills, the girls pulled out to a 19-9 lead. Again, the girls played indiffently with a big lead. There were hitting errors and serving errors and some poor defense, allowing FB to get within seven at 24-17. Finally a back row kill by Ally ended it.
The third was like the first two. The girls led 21-12 in this one before the usual flat spot occurred. FB scored three in a row; Calvary/Calumet got one. FB got another one before Cal/Cal got two to get within one of winning it, 24-16. This time FB scored three in a row before the girls got the final one to win it 25-19.
Quentin Road begins tomorrow at 10AM. I will see you there.
The JH and JV started the evening with two easy wins over their FB of M counterparts preceding the varsity game. This was the first game after the loss of a key member of the team, so we weren't sure how things would go. The replacements were Holly in the front row and Tina in the back. The team played a little out of sorts the whole evening as the girls tried to get used to playing with new teammates, and the new players tried to get used to their new assignments. The first game was tied at 6, and the Patriots only led 13-10 at one point. Then Rachel began to serve ace after ace. Sprinkled in were a couple of nice hits and blocks, and the score was 21-10. The usual focus loss occurred, and FB outscored the Patriots 6-2 to pull FB within seven. The Patriots finally got the last two and won 25-16.
The second game was similar. Behind a lot of kills, the girls pulled out to a 19-9 lead. Again, the girls played indiffently with a big lead. There were hitting errors and serving errors and some poor defense, allowing FB to get within seven at 24-17. Finally a back row kill by Ally ended it.
The third was like the first two. The girls led 21-12 in this one before the usual flat spot occurred. FB scored three in a row; Calvary/Calumet got one. FB got another one before Cal/Cal got two to get within one of winning it, 24-16. This time FB scored three in a row before the girls got the final one to win it 25-19.
Quentin Road begins tomorrow at 10AM. I will see you there.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Calvary downs Ridgewood
Calvary played the Ridgewood Baptist Rams tonight at Calvary's home gym at Lake Hills Baptist. Ridgewood is a perennially strong team, and their record coming in, 13-3-1, indicated that this year was no exception. Their two big hitters from last year returned, Dominique Stegall and Christen Johnson, so we knew their offense would be strong.
After a slow start by the Patriots, Ridgewood made a few mistakes, Jessi S had a big hit, and Calvary gradually pulled ahead, 14-8. Then the girls' offense really kicked in. A hit by Faith. Another hit by Jessi. After giving up a point, Faith got another one. And another one. Then, a big block by Faith. Now it was 18-9. Calvary kept an eight- or nine-point lead until 22-14. Then the girls relaxed a bit and Ridgewood scored three. Taylor stopped their run with a kill, and Faith followed with two more to finish up a 25-17 first game.
The second game saw the Patriots fall behind 7-5 early on, but a rally which included a couple of kills by Jessi S sandwiched around a kill by Taylor, put the girls ahead 13-8. The five point lead was maintained until a block by Faith followed by ace by Taylor (leading ace server among all high schools in the northwest Indiana region) and a kill by Kara opened the lead up to 20-12. After an exchange of points, Ridgewood got a little run going and pulled to within 21-17. Another run by our girls put them ahead 24-18, but couldn't get the final point until they gave two to Ridgewood. Final score of game 2: 25-20.
Apparently there wasn't enough suspense in the first two games for the girls, because in the third game, Ridgewood took the lead at 3-2 and kept it. For a while, anyway. Due to some indifferent play by the Patriots and some good defense by Ridgewood, the Rams gradually widened the lead until it was 20-13. The Patriots ran off four straight points including a nice block by Kara, then gave up two. Calvary got those two back before Ridgewood scored again, making the score 23-20, Ridgewood. Faith then put one down, followed by Rachel, and after the Patriots got one more, it was tied at 23. Then it was back and forth. Ridgewood scored, then Calvary, then Ridgewood, then Calvary. At 25-all Faith had a big hit, then the Patriots closed it out on the next point, and sent home the Rams fans disappointed.
The varsity is now 22-1. Next Tuesday the girls are at First Baptist of Mishawaka. Then the Quentin Road tournament. If you can make it, be there. Especially be there for the second pool play game ;-)
After a slow start by the Patriots, Ridgewood made a few mistakes, Jessi S had a big hit, and Calvary gradually pulled ahead, 14-8. Then the girls' offense really kicked in. A hit by Faith. Another hit by Jessi. After giving up a point, Faith got another one. And another one. Then, a big block by Faith. Now it was 18-9. Calvary kept an eight- or nine-point lead until 22-14. Then the girls relaxed a bit and Ridgewood scored three. Taylor stopped their run with a kill, and Faith followed with two more to finish up a 25-17 first game.
The second game saw the Patriots fall behind 7-5 early on, but a rally which included a couple of kills by Jessi S sandwiched around a kill by Taylor, put the girls ahead 13-8. The five point lead was maintained until a block by Faith followed by ace by Taylor (leading ace server among all high schools in the northwest Indiana region) and a kill by Kara opened the lead up to 20-12. After an exchange of points, Ridgewood got a little run going and pulled to within 21-17. Another run by our girls put them ahead 24-18, but couldn't get the final point until they gave two to Ridgewood. Final score of game 2: 25-20.
Apparently there wasn't enough suspense in the first two games for the girls, because in the third game, Ridgewood took the lead at 3-2 and kept it. For a while, anyway. Due to some indifferent play by the Patriots and some good defense by Ridgewood, the Rams gradually widened the lead until it was 20-13. The Patriots ran off four straight points including a nice block by Kara, then gave up two. Calvary got those two back before Ridgewood scored again, making the score 23-20, Ridgewood. Faith then put one down, followed by Rachel, and after the Patriots got one more, it was tied at 23. Then it was back and forth. Ridgewood scored, then Calvary, then Ridgewood, then Calvary. At 25-all Faith had a big hit, then the Patriots closed it out on the next point, and sent home the Rams fans disappointed.
The varsity is now 22-1. Next Tuesday the girls are at First Baptist of Mishawaka. Then the Quentin Road tournament. If you can make it, be there. Especially be there for the second pool play game ;-)
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