15-Gold

3rd place in the 15 club division.  We entered the tournament #7, which is higher than we have ever started, but we quickly proved that we deserved it.  We went 8-1 on the weekend.  Every girl on our team contributed to our success this weekend.  Briana Mason, our setter, played every point of every game.  She found our strong hitters, and perfectly placed the ball for them over and over.  Her jump serve, which fell just over the net, earned us many points.  Olivia James found her armswing this weekend.  We saw her hitting like never before.  She was a strong force in the middle, as well as on the outside in transition.  Her blocking and quick feet have improved tremendously - all shining this weekend.  Roxanne Lucero, our defensive specialist, was successful with a top spin serve, which fell short over the net.  She was amazing in her defensive coverage of the back of our court, running our serve receive and passing perfectly to our setter.  April Esser, with a shoulder injury, also contributed defensively.  Her passing was fantastic - she could always be counted on to make those great plays.  Just when we thought a play was over, April would be on the floor making a great save.  Molly O'Hagan saw time as both a middle blocker, and as an opposite.  While setting has not been a focus of her volleyball training, blocking definately has been.  She was a strong blocker everywhere we needed her.  Her quick offense, up in the air on every play, definately set the pace of the game with the other team.  Hailey Gregor's quick feet and low platform passed many perfect passes this weekend.  She could always be relied upon to dig that cross-court shot.  Her 23 inch vertical was evident as she took swings on the outside also.  She has become very good at placing the ball well.  Erica Palmer proved to be a very good passer also. Her serve was awesome and reliable.  Her defensive efforts provided us with many side-out opportunities.  She is a natural athlete with smart court-sense and a strong belief in "TEAM".  Morgan Crosta was amazing on the outside.  She has a bullet armswing that went down more times than not.  Especially in the games against Sierra Nevada and Hang Ten on Sunday, Morgan was an integral part of our offense.  She is our go-to hitter.  Chloe McGuire was one of our other power hitters.  As a middle blocker, she has very quick feet, and an incredible reach.  Most of the time, she hits over the block.  She earned us many points with her smart placement of the ball - she is a very focused athlete with amazing court sense.  Her blocking was huge on Sunday in our playoff matches.  Terren Dominguez has a determination about her that we all admire.  She fights for every point, never letting a ball drop.  Playing defense most of the weekend, she could be relied upon to get us that side-out dig, or put a run of serves into the court.  She also unites our team with her constant positive energy.  Finishing 3rd place at this tournament was huge for our team and for our club.  There were 75 teams in our division.  Sundays matches showed the true ability of our girls to perform under pressure.  They fought for every point and earned each one.  The first two days of the tournament, many games were at a much slower pace, so it was difficult to find our rhythm.  The Gold Bracket gave us two great matches where we worked hard for six straight games.  I am so proud of this team.  It truely was a team effort.

14-Gold

The girls came out strong on Friday with 25 team kills, 27 digs, and 11 serving aces.  Rhiannon Snoen had 4 solo blocks against Quake City.  On Saturday, we struggled a little but the girls played hard.  Our serving was very consistent and we had a great attitude. Hilary Parsons had 12 set assists. Caroline Peters played awesome defense while Freddie Brandt was aggressive at the net.  On Sunday, we seemed a little tired and we struggled to wake up.  We had some fun and the girls played new positions.  Caroline Peters played great defense again with 9 digs. We finished the weekend off with a good attitude, and 41st in the tournament.