You don't get a blog entry after a disappointing loss, at least for a few days. That's the pattern.
Anyway, here on the eve of the final final national tournament, NACA, I am going to give you a few observations of the second day of the NCSAA nationals.
First of all, the tournament was a little better run than last year. Improvements: The refs were far better. Good devotional/call to service to kick off the tournament. The girls weren't harmed by the filthy dorms (because they didn't stay there). The only other game going on during the championship game was the third place game. The final was in the evening. Negatives: Still no all-tournament team. Championship team only gets a banner. Weird pool set up to seed the bracket play. Unbalanced pools. Weird brackets in that the second place team (us) didn't get a bye but the fourth seed did (which turned out not to be too bad of a thing for us, because we got to play another game). Dorms still filthy and bad (heard this from other teams that were there for the first time). Not enough play - too few teams. Too many weak teams. Overall impression: they are moving in the right direction.
And now for our play. We were able to play three games because of the weird bracket; the downside was that the first two games were against teams we played the day before - first MCAC. We beat them easily the day before; we beath them easily again, 25-13, 25-9. I'm not going to go into any detail about this game; MCAC is a young team and a young program and is not in our class.
The second game was against Covenant Classical, who we had split with in pool play. It was more a classic Calumet performance this day, even down to a pair of LGFSs (late game flat spots). Game 1 started with hits by several players and a lot of aces by Faith, who broke out the jump serve, and the girls led 24-10. The the LGFS, and Covenant scored eight straight. Finally Calumet closed it out for a 25-18 win. The second game was similar - same assorted kills, same Faith aces, and soon it was 22-11. Then the you-know-what, and the girls kind of stumbled to another 25-18 win.
Christian Community awaited us for the final. They were pretty much the same team that rolled through this tournament last year. No one had gotten close to them this weekend. In game one, the girls had their usual fast start. Christian Community made a few hitting errors, we got some kills and the girls had leads of 12-7, 14-11, and 16-13. Chr. Comm. then pulled even at 16 and from that point on, no one had a lead of more than two points. After a hitting error, CC led 24-23 and could have closed us out. But they made two consecutive errors and we were within one of winning. A stuff block brought them back even, then they got a kill to get within one of winning. Then, of all things, a serving error. But they followed this us with a kill. 27-26, CC. Faith then rode to the rescue - big kill, then a block, then another kill, this one down the line, to give the Patriots a 29-27 win.
Game 2 saw a lot more hitting by Calumet, especially early. Jessi put one down to give our girls a 12-9 lead. CC kill, kill, block, Calumet hitting error, Calumet hitting error and all of a sudden it was 14-12, CC. Kills by CC and errors by the Patoriots enabled CC to pull ahead and win, 25-20.
Game 3, oh boy. Calumet had a 16-10 lead at one point. Our girls were hitting the ball like crazy and it looked really good. Starting there we had MGCS (middle game comatose spot). Before the finally served the ball into the net, they ran off thirteen straight points. After they finally broke the streak, Taylor had a kill for our last point, and CC took game three, 25-18.
Game 4 was anticlimactic. The girls stayed close up until 16-13, but then it became a CC killfest. CC outscored Calumet 9-2 from that point on and won game 4 and the match.
Now we are at NACA. The competition looks fierce. We start tomorrow at 9 central time against a state champion, undefeated team from Maryland. I am excited.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Perfect pool play record is no more
Calumet's perfect record in pool play in tournaments in 2009 ended tonight with an opening set loss to Covenant Classical in the third pool play match this afternoon. We were told by the tournament organizer that they would be our toughest competition in our pool, and he was correct. However, we could have played better and won that game.
Covenant's game was marked by solid blocking. Their defense was good and their hitting was good, but the blocking was very good. And then we played like we were surprised that anyone would block any of our hits, in the first game, especially. They also played nearly error free volleyball in that game. We did jump out to a 7-3 lead in that game with a little blocking of our own and nice hits by Faith and Jessi. Then they began to dink us and they also get those blocks going, and all of a sudden they were leading, 12-10. Taylor then got two straight hits and then a dink kill to put us back ahead. Some errors by our girls and two blocks by Covenant Classical put them back in front, 16-14. And then it was back and forth until it was tied at 22. Covenant got two on errors, then after a kill by taylor to make it 24-23, Ally mishhit her serve, giving game one to Covenant, 25-23
Game two picked up where game left off. Mainly because of our errors and their blcoking, they took the lead at 8-5. A block by Kara and a kill by Taylor got Calumet going, as they went on a 12-1 run to go up 17-9. They increased in a little more as the game wore on, and appropriatley finished with an ace by Ally and the Patriots had game two 25-15. This was important, as head to head point scores would determine who finished first in our pool.
I'm not going to go into much detail about the later game against Redeemer. Suffice it to say, we didn't play well in game one and only won 25-20. Game two was a little different, as Calumet led 10-2 at one point and 21-9. From there each team scored four, and the final was 25-15.
As of this writing, we don't know who we play. I'll let you know as soon as I do.
Covenant's game was marked by solid blocking. Their defense was good and their hitting was good, but the blocking was very good. And then we played like we were surprised that anyone would block any of our hits, in the first game, especially. They also played nearly error free volleyball in that game. We did jump out to a 7-3 lead in that game with a little blocking of our own and nice hits by Faith and Jessi. Then they began to dink us and they also get those blocks going, and all of a sudden they were leading, 12-10. Taylor then got two straight hits and then a dink kill to put us back ahead. Some errors by our girls and two blocks by Covenant Classical put them back in front, 16-14. And then it was back and forth until it was tied at 22. Covenant got two on errors, then after a kill by taylor to make it 24-23, Ally mishhit her serve, giving game one to Covenant, 25-23
Game two picked up where game left off. Mainly because of our errors and their blcoking, they took the lead at 8-5. A block by Kara and a kill by Taylor got Calumet going, as they went on a 12-1 run to go up 17-9. They increased in a little more as the game wore on, and appropriatley finished with an ace by Ally and the Patriots had game two 25-15. This was important, as head to head point scores would determine who finished first in our pool.
I'm not going to go into much detail about the later game against Redeemer. Suffice it to say, we didn't play well in game one and only won 25-20. Game two was a little different, as Calumet led 10-2 at one point and 21-9. From there each team scored four, and the final was 25-15.
As of this writing, we don't know who we play. I'll let you know as soon as I do.
Quick update
We are through two pool play game, and so far, so good. The first was against Faith Community Elite of Ohio, which we believe is a homeschool team. They weren't bad, and we were slow on defense and just not into it. Even so, we came out with a 25-18, 25-19 win.
Second game was against MCAC, a team we had beaten easily early in the season. This time was no different. Although MCAC looked to be a little better than they were earlier this year, they had just played a tough match against another pool team and were a little tired. We won the first 25-6 (really 24-7, because we got a point we shouldn't have.) The second was just a bit tougher, as both teams played better, but Calumet got the victory 25-11.
What appears to be the two toughest teams in our pool are coming up. We're enjoying a little lunch and "homework" time right now before we play again at 4 (3 Central time).
I will try to update again tonight.
Signing off, Mrs. Ross (ask the girls about that one).
Second game was against MCAC, a team we had beaten easily early in the season. This time was no different. Although MCAC looked to be a little better than they were earlier this year, they had just played a tough match against another pool team and were a little tired. We won the first 25-6 (really 24-7, because we got a point we shouldn't have.) The second was just a bit tougher, as both teams played better, but Calumet got the victory 25-11.
What appears to be the two toughest teams in our pool are coming up. We're enjoying a little lunch and "homework" time right now before we play again at 4 (3 Central time).
I will try to update again tonight.
Signing off, Mrs. Ross (ask the girls about that one).
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
OK, I think I'm over it enough now to post
No, no, I'm not. Sorry.
Just kidding.
It has been four days since we traveled down to Lafayette for the thirty-seventh time in the last two weekends, this time to finally take on Faith Christian for the state championship. Faith, who had given us our only loss of the season to date. Faith, against who we wanted to correct that one black mark on our season record. Faith, our nemesis.
It was not to be.
Again, we were wondering what went wrong after the fourth set of the game, a fourth set that went to 31-29 before we went down, and lost the match three games to one. Again, the girls defeated Faith in the first game and dropped the next three. Well, where shall I start.
Oh, yes, the first game. Last time the girls rolled to a 24-11 lead before giving up a few point, and then finishing off Faith 25-16. This time the girls fell behind 4-0 before they got their first point, on a hitting error by FCS. That started a little run for the Patriots helped by a couple of aces by Taylor and a hit by Faith, and Calumet took a 6-4 lead. From that point until an ace by Jessi gave the girls a 19-16 lead, no team led by more than two. But from here, Calumet maintained a three or four point lead until 23-20, when FCS made two errors to give the Patriots the game one victory.
Game two started the same way. Before we knew it, the score was 3-0, FCS. But there was no Calumet run this time. FCS kept up the pressure, we make a couple of hitting errors and quickly it was 10-3, FCS. Calumet made a little run to get within five at 13-8, but the rally fizzled as FCS kept finding the holes with their dinks and wiped out the Patriots, 25-15. One strange (or telling) stat from this set was we had one kill the entire set.
We improved our start in game three, as we only fell behind by two before we got our first point. We stayed close to FCS the entire game, with a Jessi kill bringing us to within two at 18-16. FCS put one down, a couple of defensive errors, and a kill dink pushed FCS's lead out to six, and FCS came out with a 25-18 game three win.
The start in game four was again weak for our girls. This time they were down 4-0 before a service error by FCS gave us our first point. The girls got a couple more before FCS pushed it back out to a four point lead at 8-4. FCS maintained that until it was 15-11, and then Calumet came back with five straight points to go ahead, triggered by a Jessi kill. The girls fell behind by three again at 22-19, then got a kill from Taylor, a hitting error by FCS and an ace by Ally to tie it up. FCS then scored the next two and were one point away from closing out the set, game and state championship, leading 24-22. Jessi stepped up for us here, with two kill dinks. From there it was one point for FCS, one point for Calumet. Taylor's kill tied it up at 29 before FCS got a kill, then another point (I was so upset I didn't record nor do I remember how the last point was scored) to beat us again and to take the state championship.
Arggh.
A quick summary of Tuesday's game against Goshen:
Goshen played much better than they did against us in the state semis, but it wasn't enough to even take a game, as Calumet defeated them for the third time this season, 25-17, 25-16, 25-20. Faith was really on Tuesday night, with nine spike kills and a couple of dink kills to go with her three aces. While the score in the first game was close for a while, even tied at 16, the game was really never in doubt as the girls scored nine of the last ten to get the win. Game two was the same except that the last tie was at 13. The girls took hold of the game from that point to win by nine. In game three, the Patriots led 16-9 and 21-12 before a little LGFS (look up the acronym in an earlier post) made it a 21-18 game. Calumet scored three in a row before Goshen got their last two. Then an Ally back-row kill ended the night.
Anyway, we have an opportunity to beat another team that handled us pretty easily last year here at Pennsylvanian, Christian Community from Ohio. We won't face them until Friday; until then, we have some unknown teams in our pool plus the MCAC Wildcats, who we played earlier this year. I'll try to update during the day; otherwise I will write something tomorrow night.
Just kidding.
It has been four days since we traveled down to Lafayette for the thirty-seventh time in the last two weekends, this time to finally take on Faith Christian for the state championship. Faith, who had given us our only loss of the season to date. Faith, against who we wanted to correct that one black mark on our season record. Faith, our nemesis.
It was not to be.
Again, we were wondering what went wrong after the fourth set of the game, a fourth set that went to 31-29 before we went down, and lost the match three games to one. Again, the girls defeated Faith in the first game and dropped the next three. Well, where shall I start.
Oh, yes, the first game. Last time the girls rolled to a 24-11 lead before giving up a few point, and then finishing off Faith 25-16. This time the girls fell behind 4-0 before they got their first point, on a hitting error by FCS. That started a little run for the Patriots helped by a couple of aces by Taylor and a hit by Faith, and Calumet took a 6-4 lead. From that point until an ace by Jessi gave the girls a 19-16 lead, no team led by more than two. But from here, Calumet maintained a three or four point lead until 23-20, when FCS made two errors to give the Patriots the game one victory.
Game two started the same way. Before we knew it, the score was 3-0, FCS. But there was no Calumet run this time. FCS kept up the pressure, we make a couple of hitting errors and quickly it was 10-3, FCS. Calumet made a little run to get within five at 13-8, but the rally fizzled as FCS kept finding the holes with their dinks and wiped out the Patriots, 25-15. One strange (or telling) stat from this set was we had one kill the entire set.
We improved our start in game three, as we only fell behind by two before we got our first point. We stayed close to FCS the entire game, with a Jessi kill bringing us to within two at 18-16. FCS put one down, a couple of defensive errors, and a kill dink pushed FCS's lead out to six, and FCS came out with a 25-18 game three win.
The start in game four was again weak for our girls. This time they were down 4-0 before a service error by FCS gave us our first point. The girls got a couple more before FCS pushed it back out to a four point lead at 8-4. FCS maintained that until it was 15-11, and then Calumet came back with five straight points to go ahead, triggered by a Jessi kill. The girls fell behind by three again at 22-19, then got a kill from Taylor, a hitting error by FCS and an ace by Ally to tie it up. FCS then scored the next two and were one point away from closing out the set, game and state championship, leading 24-22. Jessi stepped up for us here, with two kill dinks. From there it was one point for FCS, one point for Calumet. Taylor's kill tied it up at 29 before FCS got a kill, then another point (I was so upset I didn't record nor do I remember how the last point was scored) to beat us again and to take the state championship.
Arggh.
A quick summary of Tuesday's game against Goshen:
Goshen played much better than they did against us in the state semis, but it wasn't enough to even take a game, as Calumet defeated them for the third time this season, 25-17, 25-16, 25-20. Faith was really on Tuesday night, with nine spike kills and a couple of dink kills to go with her three aces. While the score in the first game was close for a while, even tied at 16, the game was really never in doubt as the girls scored nine of the last ten to get the win. Game two was the same except that the last tie was at 13. The girls took hold of the game from that point to win by nine. In game three, the Patriots led 16-9 and 21-12 before a little LGFS (look up the acronym in an earlier post) made it a 21-18 game. Calumet scored three in a row before Goshen got their last two. Then an Ally back-row kill ended the night.
Anyway, we have an opportunity to beat another team that handled us pretty easily last year here at Pennsylvanian, Christian Community from Ohio. We won't face them until Friday; until then, we have some unknown teams in our pool plus the MCAC Wildcats, who we played earlier this year. I'll try to update during the day; otherwise I will write something tomorrow night.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The preliminaries are over; time for the big event
All the formalities required to get to this point have been completed. It's time for the main event.
Calumet vs. Faith.
The game we all knew was inevitable is now upon us. Last night in Lafayette, the Patriots quickly dispatched the Goshen Blue Blazers, 25-6, 25-8, 25-18, after which the Eagles of Faith Christian even more quickly ended the season of Horizon Christian, 25-10, 25-10, 25-5.
As you all know, we faced Goshen in the championship game of our tournament about a month ago (a month already!), and the game was, while not really close, entertaining and well-played, and won by Calumet 25-16, 25-17. We had watched a little of Goshen's win over Clinton the previous week, and they looked pretty good while winning in four. So we figured on a good game for the semifinals. Well, it wasn't a good game.
The first set began with great hitting. Jessi set the tone with a big hit to begin the game, which was followed by an ace by Taylor. Then a kill by Faith, a nice block by Jessi, a kill by Jessi, a power dink by Jessi - it was the Jessi Show for a bit - and another ace by Taylor before she served one into the net. 7-1, Calumet. After some point exchanges which included a couple of kills by Goshen's eighth-grade star, Faith began serving. And serving and serving. Her jump-serves completely befuddled Goshen as she served eleven straight points, including six aces. The girls gave up a couple of points before finishing the set.
The second was similar to the first, except the stellar serving streak was by Jessi, and it came earlier in the game. At 2-1, Calumet, Jessi began serving and served until it was 14-1. She had five aces in that stretch, and was helped along with four kills by Faith. A few points later it was 17-3 when Goshen took a timeout. That seemed to settle them a little, and they kept the deficit steady to 21-7. But Calumet outscored them 4-1, with a kill by Kara finishing the set.
The third set seemed like it was going to go like the first two, even though Coach Carr had moved people around and changed a starter. First Taylor got a couple of aces, and then Rachel did, and pretty quickly it was 8-2. Then a little streak of poor defense afflicted the Patriots, and Goshen got to withing 12-9. The girls righted the ship for a bit, though, and stretched out the lead to 19-13. A block and a defensive error gave Goshen a couple of points, Calument got those back, then Goshen put one down and served an ace but followed that up with a service error. Taylor got a kill to make it 23-17, but a service error of our own followed. Finally, Kara got a dink kill and Emily fittingly ended the game with an ace.
We then ran out to grab a bite before returning to watch the anticpated annihilation of Horizon by Faith. But when we walked in, it was 7-7. Hmmm, what's going on here. But soon the earth returned to its axis and Faith began establishing its dominance. From that point Faith outscored Horizon 18-3 to win 25-10. The second game went like the first, with Faith starting a little slow, but then imposing it superiority bit by bit to win the second by the same score. Horizon was done for the third game and Faith rolled 25-5. Faith is a very precise, methodical team. They don't get flustered and they play very evenly. They're not prone to emotional streaks; they just play their game and wear down the opponent.
Today's game should be fantastic. We're a different team than when we barely lost to Faith five weeks ago. Everyone come on out and make some noise. We haven't had to do that for a while.
Calumet vs. Faith.
The game we all knew was inevitable is now upon us. Last night in Lafayette, the Patriots quickly dispatched the Goshen Blue Blazers, 25-6, 25-8, 25-18, after which the Eagles of Faith Christian even more quickly ended the season of Horizon Christian, 25-10, 25-10, 25-5.
As you all know, we faced Goshen in the championship game of our tournament about a month ago (a month already!), and the game was, while not really close, entertaining and well-played, and won by Calumet 25-16, 25-17. We had watched a little of Goshen's win over Clinton the previous week, and they looked pretty good while winning in four. So we figured on a good game for the semifinals. Well, it wasn't a good game.
The first set began with great hitting. Jessi set the tone with a big hit to begin the game, which was followed by an ace by Taylor. Then a kill by Faith, a nice block by Jessi, a kill by Jessi, a power dink by Jessi - it was the Jessi Show for a bit - and another ace by Taylor before she served one into the net. 7-1, Calumet. After some point exchanges which included a couple of kills by Goshen's eighth-grade star, Faith began serving. And serving and serving. Her jump-serves completely befuddled Goshen as she served eleven straight points, including six aces. The girls gave up a couple of points before finishing the set.
The second was similar to the first, except the stellar serving streak was by Jessi, and it came earlier in the game. At 2-1, Calumet, Jessi began serving and served until it was 14-1. She had five aces in that stretch, and was helped along with four kills by Faith. A few points later it was 17-3 when Goshen took a timeout. That seemed to settle them a little, and they kept the deficit steady to 21-7. But Calumet outscored them 4-1, with a kill by Kara finishing the set.
The third set seemed like it was going to go like the first two, even though Coach Carr had moved people around and changed a starter. First Taylor got a couple of aces, and then Rachel did, and pretty quickly it was 8-2. Then a little streak of poor defense afflicted the Patriots, and Goshen got to withing 12-9. The girls righted the ship for a bit, though, and stretched out the lead to 19-13. A block and a defensive error gave Goshen a couple of points, Calument got those back, then Goshen put one down and served an ace but followed that up with a service error. Taylor got a kill to make it 23-17, but a service error of our own followed. Finally, Kara got a dink kill and Emily fittingly ended the game with an ace.
We then ran out to grab a bite before returning to watch the anticpated annihilation of Horizon by Faith. But when we walked in, it was 7-7. Hmmm, what's going on here. But soon the earth returned to its axis and Faith began establishing its dominance. From that point Faith outscored Horizon 18-3 to win 25-10. The second game went like the first, with Faith starting a little slow, but then imposing it superiority bit by bit to win the second by the same score. Horizon was done for the third game and Faith rolled 25-5. Faith is a very precise, methodical team. They don't get flustered and they play very evenly. They're not prone to emotional streaks; they just play their game and wear down the opponent.
Today's game should be fantastic. We're a different team than when we barely lost to Faith five weeks ago. Everyone come on out and make some noise. We haven't had to do that for a while.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Lots of people, little noise
The irresistible force continued on tonight, defeating the Southside Torchpersons (a little political correctness for you) in three straight, 25-6, 25-12, 25-23.
This was a workperson-like effort (PC spasm again) in that the girls didn't show much fire for this game - in fact, the most fire was for Tina getting a kill in the third game. But the girls did play well. They established their dominance in the first game. This one wasn't one of those games where the girls jumped out to huge lead and then lost interest at the end of the game. This was a good, focused effort from the beginning to end. Most of our point were on kills rather than errors by the opponent, so it was a little more entertaining than some of their other blowouts this season.
The second game was more like the ones the girls have played against inferior opponents. Also, Coach Carr subbed a little more this game, and Jessica Neely was called up from JV to play. Anyway, the girls committed more errors in this game, and also Southside got more good passes to the setter which led to more kills. Also, their middle hitter started blocking, and Calumet couldn't pull away early. After a Southside ace and a hitting error by Taylor, the score was 15-12, Calumet. But then the Patriots ran off ten straight points, mainly behind the serving of Taylor, the girls had game two. Taylor broke out the jump serve to finish things off, and she had three straight aces to end the set.
Then Coach really got creative with the lineup, with Tina playing all the way around and Jessica getting playing time. Calumet fell behind early, 6-2, and stayed about that far behind for a considerable part of the game. The girls were down 15-10 and 16-12 before they started their comeback. Kills by Kara and an ace by Rachel contributed to the girls going ahead 19-18. Then Jessi Stas started pounding the ball but so did Southside's middle hitter. We also had some hitting errors, so the score remained close. But at 23-22 Southside, Faith put one down, Tina scored on a non-returnable downball, and Southside hit it into the net to complete the game.
Recognition of the seniors followed, of which there were about 112. OK, that was a little exaggeration. Rev. Broadbent handled the emcee duties for these festivities - thank you, pastor. Then the junior high and JVB team played Victory's teams to close out the night.
State semifinals on Friday night against Goshen Blue Blazers in Lafayette at 6:30 EDT, 5:30 our time. If we win, we play for the state championship on Saturday. Come on out and make some noise.
This was a workperson-like effort (PC spasm again) in that the girls didn't show much fire for this game - in fact, the most fire was for Tina getting a kill in the third game. But the girls did play well. They established their dominance in the first game. This one wasn't one of those games where the girls jumped out to huge lead and then lost interest at the end of the game. This was a good, focused effort from the beginning to end. Most of our point were on kills rather than errors by the opponent, so it was a little more entertaining than some of their other blowouts this season.
The second game was more like the ones the girls have played against inferior opponents. Also, Coach Carr subbed a little more this game, and Jessica Neely was called up from JV to play. Anyway, the girls committed more errors in this game, and also Southside got more good passes to the setter which led to more kills. Also, their middle hitter started blocking, and Calumet couldn't pull away early. After a Southside ace and a hitting error by Taylor, the score was 15-12, Calumet. But then the Patriots ran off ten straight points, mainly behind the serving of Taylor, the girls had game two. Taylor broke out the jump serve to finish things off, and she had three straight aces to end the set.
Then Coach really got creative with the lineup, with Tina playing all the way around and Jessica getting playing time. Calumet fell behind early, 6-2, and stayed about that far behind for a considerable part of the game. The girls were down 15-10 and 16-12 before they started their comeback. Kills by Kara and an ace by Rachel contributed to the girls going ahead 19-18. Then Jessi Stas started pounding the ball but so did Southside's middle hitter. We also had some hitting errors, so the score remained close. But at 23-22 Southside, Faith put one down, Tina scored on a non-returnable downball, and Southside hit it into the net to complete the game.
Recognition of the seniors followed, of which there were about 112. OK, that was a little exaggeration. Rev. Broadbent handled the emcee duties for these festivities - thank you, pastor. Then the junior high and JVB team played Victory's teams to close out the night.
State semifinals on Friday night against Goshen Blue Blazers in Lafayette at 6:30 EDT, 5:30 our time. If we win, we play for the state championship on Saturday. Come on out and make some noise.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
ICSTS Follies
The fun continues.
The weekend in Lafayette began with Mr. Meyers, czar of the ICSTS, pointedly ignoring Coach Carr and our team when we arrived for the exercise in futility that the first game was, which set the tone for the whole weekend. Then, Coach Carr was greeted by a smiling Mrs. Meyers, who asked if we had our scorekeeper, as required from the higher seed. Yes, we had, she responded (me). Then she asked if we had line judges, also as required. No, said Coach. The smile disappeared. Why not? Coach Carr calmly explained that we were assured that we would not have to play on Friday night, so we had games scheduled for the night. Games that our JV had to play since now our varsity had to play here. So all our potential line judges were busy. Playing a game our varsity was supposed to play. Mrs. Meyers was not happy. She was quite cold to us the rest of the weekend.
So, Saturday we got there a little early, so after watching the Goshen-Clinton game for a while Coach Casey, Coach Carr and I wandered over to the other gym to see what we thought we would be the Horizon (4th seed) and Lighthouse (5th seed). As we walked in, we found out that Horizon had won two and the teams were in their fourth game. So apparently the other team had won one. We settled into our seats and took a look at Horizon's opponent. GCS was on their jerseys. GCS? Lighthouse? I took a look at the brackets and realized that the 12th seed had "upset" Lighthouse, the fifth seed. Who was the 12th seed? Why, it was Granger Christian.
Horizon played Granger to get to the semifinals.
Our JV team always plays Granger's varsity and regularly beats them. I mean, we don't even send our varsity to play Granger because it's too one-sided.
I will need a lot convincing that Mr. Meyers didn't arrange the seeding to get his below-average team into the semifinals. Deserving teams like Clinton and Heritage are done, while Horizon - Horizon who lost to Covenant in three straight after Covenant lost to Heritage in three straight - is still playing while Heritage's season is over. Horizon who needed four games to defeat Granger, is still playing while Clinton's seniors won't get to play high school volleyball again. I'm sorry but if Horizon played ten games against us, Faith, Heritage, Clinton or Goshen, they would lose ten times. It isn't right or fair.
What a lesson these girls are learning.
So now Faith gets to play the cupcake, guaranteeing their spot in the finals while we have to go through Heritage and Goshen to get there. What, we don't have to beat Clinton too? How did they let that happen?
One final thing: Faith gets to choose what semifinal time slot they want - either 6:10 or 8:45 EDT, because they are the top seeded team. So we don't even know what time we play on Friday yet. EDIT: We are playing at 6:10, 5:10 our time.
Apparently at least one coach is starting to see things as we do. However, we'll need a few more to change the way things are set up. Many coaches don't understand what's going on or don't care. But if this kind of thinly-veiled abuse of power continues, more teams are going to be burned. And then hopefully enough teams will say enough is enough.
The weekend in Lafayette began with Mr. Meyers, czar of the ICSTS, pointedly ignoring Coach Carr and our team when we arrived for the exercise in futility that the first game was, which set the tone for the whole weekend. Then, Coach Carr was greeted by a smiling Mrs. Meyers, who asked if we had our scorekeeper, as required from the higher seed. Yes, we had, she responded (me). Then she asked if we had line judges, also as required. No, said Coach. The smile disappeared. Why not? Coach Carr calmly explained that we were assured that we would not have to play on Friday night, so we had games scheduled for the night. Games that our JV had to play since now our varsity had to play here. So all our potential line judges were busy. Playing a game our varsity was supposed to play. Mrs. Meyers was not happy. She was quite cold to us the rest of the weekend.
So, Saturday we got there a little early, so after watching the Goshen-Clinton game for a while Coach Casey, Coach Carr and I wandered over to the other gym to see what we thought we would be the Horizon (4th seed) and Lighthouse (5th seed). As we walked in, we found out that Horizon had won two and the teams were in their fourth game. So apparently the other team had won one. We settled into our seats and took a look at Horizon's opponent. GCS was on their jerseys. GCS? Lighthouse? I took a look at the brackets and realized that the 12th seed had "upset" Lighthouse, the fifth seed. Who was the 12th seed? Why, it was Granger Christian.
Horizon played Granger to get to the semifinals.
Our JV team always plays Granger's varsity and regularly beats them. I mean, we don't even send our varsity to play Granger because it's too one-sided.
I will need a lot convincing that Mr. Meyers didn't arrange the seeding to get his below-average team into the semifinals. Deserving teams like Clinton and Heritage are done, while Horizon - Horizon who lost to Covenant in three straight after Covenant lost to Heritage in three straight - is still playing while Heritage's season is over. Horizon who needed four games to defeat Granger, is still playing while Clinton's seniors won't get to play high school volleyball again. I'm sorry but if Horizon played ten games against us, Faith, Heritage, Clinton or Goshen, they would lose ten times. It isn't right or fair.
What a lesson these girls are learning.
So now Faith gets to play the cupcake, guaranteeing their spot in the finals while we have to go through Heritage and Goshen to get there. What, we don't have to beat Clinton too? How did they let that happen?
One final thing: Faith gets to choose what semifinal time slot they want - either 6:10 or 8:45 EDT, because they are the top seeded team. So we don't even know what time we play on Friday yet. EDIT: We are playing at 6:10, 5:10 our time.
Apparently at least one coach is starting to see things as we do. However, we'll need a few more to change the way things are set up. Many coaches don't understand what's going on or don't care. But if this kind of thinly-veiled abuse of power continues, more teams are going to be burned. And then hopefully enough teams will say enough is enough.
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