Puget Sound Regionals

Let me first set the stage: at the end of the Power League season, the 64 teams are broken into 3 divisions. ITVC Blue is in Division 2, one of 24 teams. The first day is pool play with the top 2 teams from each pool of 4 advancing to the Gold and Silver brackets and the bottom 2 playing in the Bronze and Copper brackets. Sadly, IT plays well, but finishes 3rd in their first pool and is thus, on Day 2, one of 12 teams playing for Bronze. So out of 24 teams that begin on Saturday, IT is playing to finish between 13th and 24th. So that being settled, we begin our day and win 2 straight matches to secure a spot in the Bronze division. We win another match and are in the top 4. Next match begins (loser goes home) and the girls just look physically beat. We lost the first game and I'm thinking that the streak is going to come to an end. In the 2nd game, we continue to look pretty sluggish until coach calls a timeout and lays into the girls pretty good. It does the trick and we come out and take game 2 and dominate game 3, 15-7. That puts us in the final against NW Juniors Elite from Edmonds, a team which we had beaten earlier in the day. Game 1 sees us rally back from a deficit to take it, but the wheels come off the bus a bit and we drop game 2...so it all comes down to a game 3. It's back and forth but we're up 13-11 and Maddie is serving. Good serve, we handle their volley and push it over for a point. Game point. Maddie takes a breath and lofts a deep serve that looks long. The other team lets it fall, and fall it does, right inside the back line for the ACE and the win! So when it's all over, ITVC finishes 13th out of 24 teams and does it by going undefeated on Sunday.

On the drive back to Kirkland I realized how important that very first round of pool play is. You finish top 2 in your flight and you are playing for a top 12 finish no matter what...but at the end of the day I think today was more satisfying to be right where we were. I cannot express how proud I was of the girls who, in effect, won a 12 team tournament today. The defense was better, which meant the passes were easier for Maddie to set which meant the hitters were in good spots to kill the ball. And everyone stepped it up. We've struggled a bit over the last few tournaments and to see them come out today and go undefeated was like a breath of fresh air. Maddie played every point in 13 games over 8 hours and capped it off with an ace. Club Volleyball Dad is very proud, and I hope the girls can use this as a springboard to play well in Corvallis next weekend and at ECC over Memorial Day. Here's to you, #11 and to your 10 teammates. Well done.