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Greetings from Miami Beach, Florida

I realized this morning that those of you who are not connected to TVC’s twitter page are probably not getting any updates of our team’s progress here at Nationals in Florida.  I will give you a recap of the day to day events.

Day 1, Friday, June 25th
The 16’s started play today at 8 am.  I missed the first match because our flight in the night before was delayed and it was past 3 when we got to the hotel.  The hotel is in Coconut Grove-which is a nice area about 20 minutes from the playing site.

When I arrived at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the 16’s were getting ready to play match #2.  They lost their first match and lost it badly.  Their second match was against Dinamo out of Texas-and they played marginally better, but lost again.  Nationals are set up so that the first two days you are playing in a 6 team pool.  In order to advance, you have to finish in the top 3.  Down 0-2, it was looking bleak, but not impossible for the Girls of Sparta (their nickname for themselves)  Coach Sonny Lewis and Coach Dana Chapman were filling in for Brie Hagerty who was back in Toledo attending her brother’s wedding reception.  They made a slight tweak to the line-up and the girls won their third match easily.  They were finished playing for the day and headed back to the hotel.

Friday, the 12’s and 13’s started arriving-as their play started on Saturday afternoon.  The 16’s graciously invited me to their team dinner, but I was still tired from the travel the night before.  So, I spent a quiet evening watching TV-following the Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett news specials.  Michael and I are the same age, and I certainly grew up in the Charlie’s Angel’s era-never could get that hair.

Day 2, Saturday, June 26
16’s started on fire in their first match of the day.  They demolished Nebraska Elite in 2 and were now 2-2.  The pool was a very evenly matched pool, with only one undefeated team (our final opponent)  the rest of the teams were 2-2 and the pool finish would come down to the last match.  We figured out all of the different scenarios.  We knew a win over the undefeated team would get us in the top 3.  If we lost, we would have to hope we got a game off them and that Club Red would beat Nebraska.  Bottom line, we needed a win to assure ourselves of advancing.

The girls were focused and determined and played great.  They came out and worked hard and won game 1 against a very scrappy Fox Cities team.  The first rally of the match went back and forth several times.  We knew we were in for a battle.  We lost game 2 in a close one and it was down to game 3.  Meanwhile I am pacing back and forth between our court and the court where Club Red and Nebraska were playing just to keep on top of all scenarios.  I was somewhat relieved when Club Red won game 1 of their match.  But, I was even more relieved when we won the match against Fox Cities.  This win tied us with Dinamo with a 3-2 record.  Since Dinamo had beaten us on Day 1, they finished 2nd and we finished 3rd.  Good enough to advance for a chance at Gold.

I had a few hours to kill before the 12’s and 13’s started and I headed over to South Beach with the coaches and some of our former coaches who are now coaching college.  We had lunch at NEXT-which is a kind of funky, cool spot.  The waitress with the white jeans gave new meaning to the term “painted on” jeans.” Wheeew!  It took forever to get our checks, so I had just a few minutes to get back to catch round 1 of the 12’s and 13’s.

12’s and 13’s were on the same exact play schedule, so I started watching the 12’s, who were absolutely demolishing their opponent.  I raced over to the 13’s court and they too, had won easily in 2.  Both teams played at 5 pm, and I stuck around to watch the 13’s play and win again.  So far, so good.  Both teams were 2-0.  I left to head back to the hotel, as I had reached my limit of volleyball watching.  (Yes, even I have a limit!)

I arrived in time to partake in the 16’s barbeque.  The hotel has a really nice grilling area and the staff here has been awesome, letting us pretty much take over the breakfast room for our team dinners and activities.  The 16’s put on their team video-which was fun to see.  Jana Smyth and Deb Zimmerman did an awesome job of chronicling the year in pictures and Jana set it to music.  That was fun.

Day 3, Sunday, June 28th
16’s are  now in a 3 team pool.  Top two teams advance to the gold play-offs.  As the #3 seed, we were scheduled to play at 8 and 9.  We came out of the box quickly and played well in game one, after getting behind to City Beach from California, we came back and won game 1, 25-23.   Game 2 was all City Beach.  On to the dreaded Game 3.  It was a back and forth match-we were up 8-7 at the switch and 11-10 at one point.  Unfortunately, they finished strong and we ended up losing 15-13.  It was a demoralizing loss-and the girls had to turn around and play again right away against a very formidable Orlando Volleyball team.  I know I am not telling tales out of school when I say the girls from Sparta played probably their worst volleyball of the season in that match.  It was a disappointment to everyone-themselves included.  Dreams of gold were gone and they had to refocus on winning the bronze cross-over match later that day.

I left right after the match to head to the airport to pick up my husband John, and Brie.  I had to give Brie the sad news that the team was no longer in contention for gold.  She arrived at the playing site and the girls rebounded and played very well to win their cross over match and would be playing for bronze the next day.

Meanwhile, the 12’s continued their winning ways, finishing their pool undefeated.  They had some testy matches, but found a way to win.  The 13’s had some testy matches and unfortunately did not win, however, their 2 victories at the beginning of the tournament put them in a 3 way tie that they won, so they advanced to the top half.  They had to stick around forever on Sunday night until the pool was over to make sure there were not going to be any play-offs.  There weren’t and they were still alive for Day 3.

Day 4, Monday, June 29th
John and I arrived at the playing site as the 16’s first match was already underway.  They had a 5 point lead and looked to be in command of the first game.  As those who follow volleyball know, momentum can change in an instant-and it did.  They ended up losing game 1 25-23.  This team has made tremendous strides this year-they qualified for the first time for Nationals, they came in 2nd in the Big South Qualifier-they did a lot of good things.  Yesterday, they could not find a way to win their first round of bronze match.  I know they will learn from the experience and work even harder next year-now that they have had a taste of success.  It was a fun year and I am very proud of each of the girls and appreciate the great job that Brie and her assistant, Gwen Hazlett did with the team.  We are going to miss Gwen, as her husband got a new job in late May and she moved the Southern Indiana and was not able to continue with the team.

12’s and 13’s were now in their 3rd day, 3 team pool.  Finish top two and have a chance at Gold.  12’s first match was against their OVR friends, Cincy Classics-you hate to come all the way to Miami and play a team you have played several times.  But, that is the way the schedule ended up.  12’s won easily and were now on a 6-0 match record roll.

Next up for 12’s was St. Louis CYC.  CYC teams always seem to get the better of TVC-and today it was no different.  All the things the 12’s had done right seemed to go wrong in this match.  Because they finished 2nd in the pool, they now had to play the #1 seed for a chance to advance to gold.  But, over on the court where that pool was being played, it was total chaos.  1 beat 3, 3 beat 2, 2 beat 1.  All tied-all matches went to 3.  So, the 12’s had to sit around and wait until that pool got sorted out to find out who they would play.

Finally, it was time to play and their opponent was Extreme.  The team played an incredibly good match-and won game 1 fairly easily.  They had a 2 point lead for most of game 2, until Extreme came back and their big hitter rotated to the front row.  She made some key plays at the end of game 2 to seal their 25-23 victory.  On to game 3.  Our girls continued to play well and had a 10-6 lead at one point.  Again, their big middle rotated to the front and she was the difference.  The girls lost 16-14 in a very hard fought contest.  They and their coaches, Melissa Mugler and Tammy Cox were crushed, but they knew they had a chance to come out today and win the silver division and finish 5th overall, so they are hoping to do that.

13’s were in a Pool of Death.  Their two opponents were clearly more developed and stronger.  Our girls hung with them in both matches and played very well, but they were unsuccessful.  The bad news is they had to come back at 9:00 p.m. to play their bronze crossover match.

John and I decided to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary a day early, so we headed out to Key Biscayne and had a lovely dinner on the water overlooking downtown Miami.  It was a great meal, and a nice opportunity for us to spend some time together.  We only talked about volleyball for a few minutes of the dinner.

I received word from Coach Wes Hortstman of 13-1 that their 9 p.m. crossover match would probably not get played until 11 pm, as the court was running behind.  Coach Buck kept me updated with text messages.  They finally played after 10 pm.  They lost game 1 and had a good lead in game 2, but ran out of gas at the end, losing 25-23.  Today they will play for Flight 1.  I know they are disappointed right now-but again, I try to remind them-you made it here and there are a lot of teams back in Ohio who just wish they had the chance to be where they are today.  I hope they finish on a positive note!

Well, that is my update.  I have to get ready and head down to the convention center and see how the 13’s are doing and catch the 12’s in silver.  Maybe we will take a walk on the beach before we get ready to watch the 15-1 and 15-Mizuno teams who start at 3 and 4 today.

Happy 25th Anniversary John!  Thanks for coming down to celebrate with me!

I will write more tomorrow.  Sign up for twitter for quick updates on how the teams are doing.  Go to www.twitter.com/toledovbc to get to our page!

Over and out from Miami.

Michelle

 

2008/2009 TVC Parent Evaluation

Thank you for taking the time to complete the following evaluation.  Your input is essential as we continue to strive to improve TVC.  Please send your completed evaluations to Michelle Hills at 4743 Carriage Crossing, Sylvania, OH  43560 by June 10, 2009 The evaluations are used by the board to assist us in making TVC a better club. 

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