Sunday

We started out ranked 27th out of 38 which put us 3rd in our pool.  Our first game was against Sports Shack which was ranked 9th.  The girls came out ready to play and won 25-20.  That was a great start to our tournament and a huge ego boost for the girls.  They won the second game easily 25-10.  Our second match was against Velocity 12's.  This team was a lot tougher.  The girls fought hard the entire game.  The lead went back and forth all the way.  We were up 24-23 and a yellow card against the other coach sealed the win for us.  The girls came out just as strong the second game but unfortunately could not hold on, losing 24-26.  This sent us into a third game which the girls were determined to win.  They started out well, worked together and won 15-10.  This win secured 2nd place in our pool!  After lots of screaming from the girls, we had one more match for the day.  Our last match was against Laguna Beach.  They were also undefeated for the day.  I think the girls were still celebrating the earlier win because they did not play as well as they had been.  We lost the first game 14-25.  They worked a lot harder in the second game but ended up losing 23-25.  Even though we ended with a loss, the girls were very excited about the success of their day, as they should have been.  They moved up from 27th place to 10th place.  This meant our team was guaranteed a top 16 finish!

 
Monday

This team has been consistent this year with playing amazing every other tournament and then not so well at the ones in between.  Unfortunately, today followed that trend.  After a great first day of play, the girls struggled today.  Our first match was against Onipa'a.  The girls were very excited to play a Hawaiian team.  Onipa'a was very strong.  We did not play well and lost both games 8-25 and 16-25.  Our next match was against Beach Cities.  It seemed for us on this day, when things are bad, they are really bad.  We did not pass or serve well and lost 4-25 and 6-25.  This dropped us from 10th place to 15th place.

Tuesday

It was a new day and the girls had a whole new energy.  It would be there last day together.  The goal was to have fun and work together and that is just what they did.  Our first match was against Onipa'a again.  The girls on the two teams got along very well so it was fun to play them again.  We played much better and worked well as a team.  Unfortunately Onipa'a was just too much for us and we lost 22-25 in both games.  Our next match was against Protege.  They were also a very good team.  The girls played hard but could not pull it out.  We lost 16-25 both games.  The girls played much better today and worked well as a team.

I am very proud of this team.  The girls were doing amazing things all week.  They were diving all of the floor making great saves, serving tough, hitting well and even tried a couple of quick hits out of the middle!  They worked very hard and earned their way up to 15th out of 38 from 27th our of 38. This was a great achievement for the girls.  They ended up as the highest ranked team from Oregon and from our region!

Every girl on this team made significant improvements throughout the last eight months.  It was amazing to watch.  They are a great group of girls to work with and it will be a lot of fun to see what they are going to do in the years to come!

Thanks for a great season (two seasons for some of you :)!  I am very proud of each one of you!