Toledo Volleyball Club

TVC 14-1 Finishes 2nd!

The 14-1 team fell just short in their quest for a National Championship yesterday in Dallas.  They lost in the finals of the 14 National division to a team from Hawaii-Maunalani.  They had a great tournament, losing just two matches.

The quarter final match against Colorado Performance was very exciting, with TVC pulling away at the end of both games to get the victory.   Next up was Club West from California.  Club West was the only team that to that point had beaten the 14's.  They were in our first day pool-which goes to show you that that pool was no picnic.

The girls were determined to make a better showing against Club West and came out firing on all cylinders.  They won in two and the Club West fans, players and coaches were exceptionally gracious in defeat-wishing the girls good luck in the finals.

The other semi final match pitted Maunalani against Club One a team we had beaten fairly easily the day before in our 3 team pool.  The match between Club One and Maunalani went back and forth and it looked like Club One had it won, up 8-4 in the pivotal 3rd game.  But, we all know about 3rd games, and Maunalani pushed through for the victory.

They used that momentum in the final match on the big stage.  We never really got any rhythm going in game 1 and lost 25-17.  Maunalani got out to another good lead in game 2, but we started to eat away at their lead.  At one point, we had it tied at 19, before Maunalani went on a 5 point scoring spree.  Down 19-24, it appeared the match was over.  But the girls who have not any quit in them all year crawled back into it-tieing the game at 24.  We traded points back and forth, with Maunalani finally getting the winning point with the final score of 27-25.

I know the girls were disappointed-but when they (and their parents) have a chance to reflect back on this season, they will know what a remarkable season it was.  They played in 10 tournaments, and finished no lower than 2nd-and that includes a qualifier, the bid tourney, Nationals and several 15 National tournaments.  It was quite a run for this team.

Congratulations to Coach John Buck, Pam Buck and Sarah Buck.  Congratulations to the players- Emma Romstadt, Madison Strall, Madison Haupricht, Erin Williams, Shelley DeHenning, Jocelyn Uchic, Kelsey Reiner, Cassidy Croci, Taylor Swint and Katelyn Felix.  Special thanks to Parent Rep extraordinaire- Vince Croci.

I had the pleasure of traveling back last night on the same flight with several of the 14-1 families and coaches.  The pilot made a special announcement of the girls' accomplishment and they received a "sitting" ovation from the other passengers.  That was fun.

Well, I am back to reality.  Over 400 emails and I have to get my house ready to accomodate our LPGA golfer, Erica Blasberg.  I am chairman of Player Registration and Private Housing-so the next few days will be busy, busy, busy.  I am looking to decompress next week!

All in all, it was a great 9 days in Dallas.  For the first time in club history, all teams advanced to the top half and all had legitimate shots at getting to the gold round.  Congratulations to all of the players, coaches and special thanks to the parents who made it possible for their daughters to participate in this cult thing, we call club volleyball.

Final Finishes-
TVC 13-1            11th/48 teams            American Division
TVC 14-1            2nd/48 teams             National Division
TVC 16-1            23rd/48 teams            National Division
TVC 18-1            19th/48 teams            National Division

Enjoy the summer everyone.  Look for updates on the website for Open Gyms and information for next season.

Michelle

TVC 14-1 "Golden Girls" on a Mission in Texas!

Happy Independence Day Everyone!  There were fireworks of the volleyball sort today when the 14-1 team steam-rolled through the competition on Day 3.  The girls were a little nervous to begin the day, but quickly settled in and dispatched with the #3 seed in their pool in 2 quick games.  Next up, was the tournament's #1 overall seed-Club One.  I had a brief nightmare when I walked in and saw the Club One girls with their powder blue uniforms and their "Clover" symbol.  Their 18-1 team of last year was responsible for the TVC 18-1's lone loss at Nationals last year during the crossover match.  Well, our 14's are a superstitious group, and I sure wasn't going to add to it by sharing my thoughts.  The match started off with both teams trading points, and it appeared that Club One was playing at a higher level than they had played in their earlier match when we officiated them.  They kept a lot of balls in play and force you to either end the point with a kill or an error.  Fortunately, we had way more kills than errors and once we settled in, we won the match in two games rather easily.

After a short 30 minute break, we had the match the girls have been working all season for- the Gold/Silver Crossover.  By virtue of our first place finish, we now owned the #1 seed in the tournament and faced the 2nd place team from the #2 pool.  Tensions were high-but in a good way.  The girls were fired up and their parents and fans were on the edge of their seats. There was a lot of support in the stands, in addition to mom and dad, Shelly DeHenning's grandma from Sandusky flew in as did her brother in law who is training to be an air traffic controller in Oklahoma City. Madison Haupricht's uncle Steve has been here all week supporting the team and serving as the chief shuttle driver for the 15 passenger van. Kelsey Reiner's aunt drove up from Houston and we had the Buck family cheering section-including Grandma Joyce and Grandpa John; Coach Buck's daughter, Michelle and her husband, Sam and their two darling boys- Ben and Jackson.  And of course, me! 

Game 1 was back and forth, we would pull away a little, and Extreme would catch back up. We were up 23 - 21 and the parents were imploring the girls to "finish" it.  Extreme was having none of that, and tied the game at 23.  After a quick timeout, the 14-1 girls came out and quickly scored two points to end game 1.  After that, the momentum was clearly on our side and we raced out to a 5-0 lead, forcing Extreme to call an early time out.  The girls kept adding to the lead, and the goal of making it to gold appeared to be a very strong reality. The final score was 25-15.  The girls and their fan club were excited, but it was quite apparent, that this was not their final goal.  Bringing home the club's first National championship is clearly on their mind.  I have had most of the parents ask me what the highest finish the club has had at Nationals.  We have had 3- 2nd place finishes.  My daughter Kelsey was on the team for two of them-at 14 and 17-and this was before USAV divided the club division into National and American.  The other was our 18-2 team 3 years ago - they finished 2nd and I am pretty sure it was in the National Division.  So, a win tomorrow would be a first for the club.  They are three matches away from making club history!  I know it is not going to be an easy task to win it all, but I think this group is up to it.

This will probably be my last report from Dallas, as I will be flying out at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow.  If (When) we make it to the final match-it is supposed to begin at 2:00 p.m. Dallas time and I will not have a chance to send in a report until Sunday.

I hope you have enjoyed my reports.  I am excited to be here, but I am very much looking forward to heading home.  I feel like I have been here long enough to register to vote.

Hope you are all having a great holiday weekend.

Michelle

Dallas.  The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat.

With respect to the late Jim McKay or CBS Wide World of Sports, yesterday was definitely one for the highlight and lowlight film for the 16-1 team. 

Entering Day 3, the team needed at a minimum to win one of their two matches in their 3 team pool to be assured of a chance to play the gold/silver challenge match.  They started off strong against A5 from Atlanta and had a small lead that A5 ate away in game 1.  The first game was 20-25.  Game 2 was also close, but we were on the losing side.  The next match against Saliente from San Francisco was the most up and down match I have seen in quite some time.  TVC came out blazing in game 1, winning 25-12.  Game 2 was the same story, only this time Saliente was on fire.  The final score was 13-25.  Next up, Game 3.  My favorite- Not!  Saliente continued their strong play and were up 8-1 at the switch.  I told one of the parents that we would end the match on the winning side, as the first two games were won on the north east side and that is also the side that Saliente had racked up what appeared to be an insurmountable lead.  Well, not everything is what it appears in volleyball.  The 16-1 girls stepped up their game into over drive and chipped away at Saliente's lead tieing the game at 13.  Each team had several game and match points and with incredible play by everyone on the team, we won the match 17-15.  That was the trill of victory.

Now for the agony of defeat.  With a 1-1 match record, it should have been a no brainer to advance.  All we needed was A5 to beat Saliente.  Well, you can never rely on a team to do your work for you.  They lost miserably in 2.  Three way tie of 1-1.  The team with the best game record automatically advances, the 2nd and 3rd place teams play one game to 25.  Because Saliente won a game off of us, they were the automatic winner of the pool.  We now had to play A5 in the playoff match.  Both teams came out and played well.  In fact, if A5 had played with the same level of intensity in their prior match, they probably would have beaten Saliente.  We ended up losing the game 22-25-and with that loss, our hopes for a gold or silver finish were gone. 

That loss also extended the day for the team, which proved to be a nightmare on many fronts.  Instead of playing at 6-with only a 5 hour break, we now had to officiate at 6 and play at 7 for the bronze/flight 1 challenge match.  Unfortunately, we lost another close one.  23-25, 22-25.  And lucky us, with that loss, we got to officiate AGAIN.  Unfortunately, this delayed the team's departure from the playing site until after 9:00 p.m.  Our hotel, which until last night, seemed to be the perfect oasis from the Downtown Dallas concrete jungle is located in Addison, Texas.  Addison, Texas celebrates the holiday with their annual "Kaboom Fest" and lucky us, the hotel is inside the security perimeter for the fireworks display,   That is a good thing if you are safely ensconced in the hotel sitting by the pool with a beverage of choice.  It is not a good thing, when you are in a car outside of the perimeter and cannot get to the hotel and are grid locked by the thousands of cars trying to enter and exit Addison.  It took me an hour to get back-a trip that all week has taken no more than 20 minutes.  But, I was lucky, I left before the team officiated their match.  Several parents were stuck in traffic for over 2 hours.  They would get close enough to let the girls out to walk back to the hotel, but there was nothing to do but continue driving and look for a spot to turn. 

It was a disappointing end to a disappointing day for the 16-1 team.   It is hard to remain positive, when you are so close and just can't ink the deal.  The team has been to Nationals two other times, and neither of those times did they advance out of the first pool.  So, that is the silver lining.

The 14-1 team rebounded from their loss on Wednesday to Club West and finished out their pool with two decisive victories-including one over a team from Arizona who had just beat Club West the match before.  Three way tie at 4-1 for First Place.  With all 3 teams advancing, there is no playoff.  By virtue of a narrow point margin, 14-1 finished 2nd in the pool.  Today they will play in a 3 team pool.  They must finish first or second to challenge for the gold bracket.  By finishing 2nd yesterday, it put them in the #1 pool today with the #1 overall seed in the tournament.  Well, if you are going to win at Nationals, you have to beat the #1 team sometime-might as well be during pool play!

One final note about the Addison, Texas fireworks.  They claim they are a top ten show in the country.  Well, everything might be bigger in Texas, but the Texans need to get out a bit more.  Having had a bit of experience in producing fireworks shows in my former life as the director of CitiFest, I would put the show last night on equal footing with some of downtown Toledo's shows.  Now, with all due respect to Toledo and our fireworks, I would never claim any of them to be top 10.  Detroit's are far superior.  But judging by the crowds and traffic, I would rate that a top 10 nightmare.

I am looking forward to heading home tomorrow night.  Seems like I have been here forever and a day. 

Michelle

TVC 16-1 Advances to Upper Bracket.  14-1 starts tourney at 2-1!

The 16's are continuing the fine showing for TVC at Nationals, finishing up their first pool with a 3-2 record.  They are now in the upper bracket and play a 3 team pool tomorrow with a chance to play into the gold round. 

It was a long day in the gym today, with the 16's playing at 8, 10 and 12.  I took a break and headed over to the JFK Museum.  That was an awesome experience.  I know I will date myself, but I was 5 years old when President Kennedy was shot, and I clearly remember where I was when I heard the news.  I think the modern day event of that type of magnitude was 9/11.  I would definitely recommend the tour to anyone who visits Dallas.  The "Grassy Knoll" was always just a concept, but now I have a visual and it was a very moving experience.

Back to volleyball.  The 16's had a great win out of the box this morning against a team from Salt Lake City.  They then cemented their position with another win. Unfortunately, in their final match of the day they ran into an exceptionally skilled team with El Paso Wildfire and lost in two.  The team returned to the hotel and spent the day relaxing and regrouping and are ready to take on A5 and Saliente tomorrow.  They are excited, because in their last two trips to Nationals, they did not advance to the top bracket.

The 14's played at 4, 6 and 8 and started out the day on fire-winning in 2 including a 20 point run on Maddie Strall's serve in game 2 of the first match.  Match 2 was a back and forth match with Triangle from North Carolina, but we pulled away at the end for two very decisive victories.  At this point, I decided to head back to the hotel since I had been downtown for 12 hours.  I was sure the girls would come back and report they won their final match.  Well, Club West out of Southern California had other ideas and beat the 14's in their final match of the day.  They returned to the hotel - not quite with the same pep in their step that I had seen earlier.  I decided that someone needed to lighten the mood- so I recreated my infamous jump in the pool with my clothes on-that first made its debut in Atlanta two years ago.  At least this time, I had the good sense to take off my shoes, watch, earrings and remove my cell phone from my pocket.  Actually, I really did want to take a dip in the pool, but was too tired to go back and change into my swimsuit-but don't tell the girls that.  Ron Schatzle from 16-1 joined me in the jump, but his did not have quite the same effect, as he had gym shorts on that looked like a bathing suit!

The comment of the night came from Madison Haupricht of 14-1.  I asked her what I should put on the website tonight and her response was, "Just say you did a cannonball that got the whole state of Texas wet."  Sad . . . but true! 

Tomorrow is the Addison, Texas "Kaboom" Festival.  We have been told that our hotel is a prime viewing spot for the fireworks.  Both teams play in the early evening, so we are bit concerned about what the traffic will be like getting back to our hotel.  So far, the traffic has been very manageable.  Tomorrow might be another story.

Can't believe I have been here for almost a week.  Time flies when you are having fun!  I miss my family, but my TVC friends are keeping me busy and entertained.

Michelle

Dallas Day 5

Today was a moving in and moving out day in Texas.  We bid farewell to the last of the 13's and 18's and bid hello to the 16's and 14's.  The 16's had two matches today and finished 1-1.  They beat Niagra Frontier in 3 and lost to St. Louis CYC in 2.  Tomorrow is the big day.  Three matches for the 16's at 8 - 10 and 12 and then 3 matches for the 14's at 4-6-8.  It is definitely a tennis shoe day and not a cute sandals with capri's day!  You can tell I have been here too long when I have to do laundry and start thinking about the shoes I have to wear to survive the day.

I will be at the convention center tomorrow for close to 13 hours cheering on our teams.  The 16's will finish up their pool tomorrow, and need to win 2 of their 3 matches tomorrow to advance.  It is definitely doable if they play together.  16's is probably one of the toughest ages at Nationals.  The college coaches are everywhere and it is tough for most players to tune them out and just play their game.  If I could impart some wisdom to the girls I would tell them to totally ignore the college coaches.  Chances are they are not there to watch you!  It was amusing today to watch the parents of CYC.  First of all, I never switch sides-I think that is so silly.  I mean, what other sport do you switch sides to watch your team.  So, if I am watching a match with parents who switch sides, I inevitably end up being surrounded by parents from the other team.  The CYC parents were so focused on what college coaches were at our court.  When one would show up, they would run up and give them a little program of the girls on their team.  They did not recognize some of the coaches, and were asking out loud who they were, and I happened to know, so I told them.  You know I am so shy!  They told me I was covering up my college so they couldn't place me.  I just chuckled and said they did not need to worry about me.  I wonder if they know all of the information they are giving the coaches should have been entered by their club director or coach in the AES system and the college coaches have it at their fingertips on their palm pilots.  But I do understand that need to feel useful.

Driving home tonight, we encountered our first real Dallas traffic jam.  We were slowed to a crawl and man, we had places to go and people to see.  Actually, we were quite anxious to get back to the hotel for the free dinner that ends at 7:00 p.m. exactly.  I am happy to report, that we made it on time!  Whewwww!  We might have had to spring for some dinner!  I keep trying to get rid of all of the food that the 13's and 18's dumped off in my room.  I will tell you that goldfish crackers, chips and salsa and triscuits were quite popular with that group.  It has been enjoyable sitting around the pool in the evening chatting about the days events.

Before I close, I have one final thought about the 18's.  I am a "in the moment" sort of person, and I have really not paid the proper respect to three young women who played on the 18-1 team all year and without whose talent we would have not have gotten a trickle down bid.  I was very disappointed that they elected not to come to Dallas with their team, but the silver lining was their decision allowed three players the opportuntiy to play at Nationals-three who have not had that opportunity in the past.  The three that came embraced the opportunity and made the most of it.   I would like to take this moment to say thank you and best wishes to Jordan Goad, who will be playing for Cleveland State this fall; Megan Ozarzak who will be playing for Wheeling Jesuit and Amanda Fioritto who has decided to deep six her Active Ankles and attend the University of Dayton on an academic scholarship.   Good luck ladies, and thank you.

Well, tomorrow is a big day, so I am going to close.  Hope all is well in Toledo.

Michelle

Dallas Day 3 and Day 4. . . 18's Finish in Bronze.  13's Finish in Silver

I got home late last night and then headed back out early this morning-so this is the first chance I have had to give you an update.

18's ended their run at JO's, finishing 3rd in Bronze.  They had a great tournament run-they were in every match and won 6 and lost 3.  They finished 19th out of 48 teams in the American Division.  They certainly validated their  reallocation bid; proving something many of us know- the OVR is very deep with talent.  All of their losses were in 3 games.  In fact, of their 9 matches, all but 2 were 3 gamers.  I felt like I got my money's worth watching them play.  Special wishes to the seniors on the team who are now leaving for college to start the next phase of their volleyball careers and life.  Ashley Frazier leaves on Friday for Alabama.  Amanda Arnnold leaves next week for Southern Illinois.  Amanda Gray leaves for Youngstown State for camp next week.  Taylor Reed is off to Southern Indiana in August.  Jill Spino is off to Thiel College in Pennsylvania and Sarah Cowen committed last week to West Virginia State a Division 2 school in Salem, West Virginia.  The seniors were joined on this trip by three underclassmen who did a fantastic job for the team.  Thank you to Veronica Zimmerman, Maggie Burnham, and Jesse Miedema for stepping on to the team and doing a fabulous job.  I know there was some fear by the 18 year olds about adding "youngsters" to the team, but it was clear that all the girls meshed well together and played like they had been playing together all season.  Last thing I saw yesterday with the 18's was a group hug with Amanda Arnold, Ashley Frazier and Maggie Burnham.  Jury is out as to whether Ashley shared her "side po" secrets with Maggie!  Thank you to Sonny Lewis and Brad Turski for coaching the girls this year.

13's had an exciting day yesterday.  They finished 1-1 in their first pool-giving them the chance to play into the gold round.  Unfortunately, we had to come all the way to Texas to play our region rival-NKYVC Tsunami.  Tsunami is a very nice team and they have gotten the better of us most of the season.  The court was delayed by over an hour last night, and that allowed the girls a chance to watch the finals of the 18 Open division.  Imi Ike from Hawaii was taking on TCA (Team Complete Athlete) of Southern California for the title.  The stands were electric with amazing dig after amazing dig.  Both teams put on a defense clinic, the likes of which I have never seen before.  TCA won 15-12 in Game 5.  The 13's were totally jazzed up after watching the match and played an unbelieveably great match against NKYVC.  NKYVC has very few weak spots, and last night, they had none!  Our girls played great, but fell just a tad short-losing in two.  25-23; 25-19.  Afterwards they took a group picture with their new BFF's from Tsunami.  (Hopefully, I will be getting pics on line in the next week or so).  The club camraderie continued this morning as the NKYVC girls cheered on our girls in their first round of silver and we did the same for them.  Unfortunately, both teams lost heartbreakers in the second round.  NKYVC finished tied for 3rd in gold and we finished tied for 3rd in silver-11th overall out of 48 teams.  Congrats to the players on 13-1 who have improved so much this season under Coach Scott Mattera and Chrissy Gothke.  Led by their captain, Morgan Fioritto-who does it all- serves, sets, hits, passes, and blocks.  Bella Morse who has killer serve (must be the tennis training) and is the emotional leader of the team.  Payton Bowyer who really came of age this season with her fantastic play as an OH.  Our middles were the most improved players (IMHO)  Mallory Walter and Maddie Burnham were both forces at the net.  Kaitlyn Ward was a defensive dandy as the libero-last night she was diving for balls, and in one series, hit her head  and then collided with Payton as they were both aggressively going after a ball.  Lexi Kaminski and Morgan Batanian were also defensive anchors on the team and could be counted on the pass serve and chase down balls whereever they were.  Hannah Gilmore, with sweet hands shared setting duties with Morgan Fioritto and Katie McKernan.  Katie is the team cheerleader who can always be counted on to lead the parents and players in the "G-O T-O Let's go Toledo" cheer.  She also has a wicked left handed serve and loves nothing more than to block on the right side.  I will look forward to continue to watch these players as the years go on.

The college coaches are arriving in droves with the 15's and 16's starting to play today and tomorrow.  It is good to connect with some old friends and make some new ones.  I had lunch today with Sean Huiett who coaches at Texas State.  Sean was an assistant at BG and coached for Premier when he was in Toledo.  He is always good for some chuckles.  I also got to catch up with former TVC coach, Brian  Yale, who is also coaching in Texas at Stephen F. Austin.  Brian got married this past year and shared the good news that he and his wife are expecting a baby in December! 

The 16's start playing tomorrow afternoon.  I did not get a chance to get over to the JFK Memorial today, so that is on the agenda for tomorow morning.  My trip here is half over.  It has been fun! 

Hope all is well in Toledo. 

Michelle

Dallas Day 3

5 Matches . .. 5 Game 3's!

Did I not say yesterday anything can happen in Game 3?  Well, I sure got my fill of game 3's with the 13's and the 18's.

The 18's played 3 matches today and each match went to 3.  Unfortunately, they were on the losing side of their first two matches and were eliminated from gold contention.  It was very disappointing after winning the first game of both matches.  Fortunately, they rebounded for their crossover match and are playing for bronze tomorrow. They were down 10-4 in game 3 and roared back to win the match 15-12.  A bronze finish for this team is a great accomplishment.  When you consider that this group of 9 girls has been together for just over six weeks and has 2 15 year olds and a 16 year old.  I am very proud of the way they have played this week.  At this moment, they are 6-2.  They have the same record as Team Atlantis-who beat CVC tonight to get to gold (Until that point, CVC had lost only one game)  It is the old adage, it is not losing a match at Nationals, it is when you lose.  They play at 9 am tomorrow, and if they win, they will play at 1:00 p.m.  This is always a bit of a bittersweet time for me to watch our 18's play their last matches as TVC players.  I am hoping they finish their careers with a win tomorrow.

The 13's had an exciting day.  First on the agenda was a match with Nebraska Elite.  Nebraska always has tough teams.  This was a big match.  TVC came out of the gate firing on all cylinders.  They won game 1 easily.  Nebraska came back with a vengeance in Game 2.  Turning the tide on Game 3 losses, they roared out to a 10-2 lead in game 3 and held on after a furious comeback bid by Nebraska.  Next up was a team from Tacoma, Washington- UPVBC.  A win in this match assured them of advancing to the top half.  A loss, and they could be in a 3 way tie for 2nd, or an outright 4th place finish-depending on what happened with the other teams in the bracket.  Wanting to control their own destiny, the team played hard-but UPVBC played great defense and put every ball back in play. We lost game 1- 26-24.  Game 2 was back and forth and tight all the way, we managed to eke out a victory.  On to the 5th game 3 of the day.  Back and forth -both teams would celebrate a great play only to see the ball coming back over the net.  We managed to pull away at the end with some critical serves and great hits.  13's finished 2nd in their pool with this win and will play a 3 team pool tomorrow.  First or second tomorrow, gives them the chance to play for gold.

John and I celebrated our 24th anniversary today with lunch at the Galleria.  Our actual anniversary is on Monday-but John has to leave tomorrow to get back to work on Monday. Nationals have been held over our anniversary for as long as I can remember. The is the first time we celebrated it without our children!   John loves volleyball almost as much as I do, and he wanted to be here to support the 18-1 team-our daughter, Maggie played with Amanda Gray and Ashley Frazier last year.  Actually, she played with Ashley for three years and we have developed such great friendships with  many of the parents.  John also wanted to be here to check out the future of TVC and watch our 13's!     I wish he was going to be here all week-but Jack and Maggie are missing him, I am sure!

After the teams play tomorrow, I plan to head over to the site of the JFK assassination.  Coach Brad Turski -who teaches History at Springfield went today, and said it was incredible.

I am looking forward to the arrival on Monday of the 16's and Tuesday the 14's arrive.  As promised, I have scouted out the parking spots and quickest travel route from the hotel to the convention center.

Tomorrow is another day!  Go TVC!!!

Michelle

Dallas Day 2

18's Perfect . . . 13's Nearly!

Day 2 in Dallas was a full day of volleyball.  We arrived at the convention center at 7:50 a.m. just in time for the 18's to play their first match.  It was an exciting back and forth match with Stellar Volleyball-the #2 seed in the pool.  A win in this match and we would be assured of finishing first in our pool.  Game 1 was back and forth.  Actually, every game today for the 18's was a back and forth adventure. We ended up losing Game 1 29-31.  Game 2 was another close game and we pulled out a 25-22 victory.  On to game 3-you know the game where anything can and usually does happen.  We were up early and then down 11-8 when we came roaring back and won 15-13.  It was exciting and secured us taking over the overall #7 seed in the tournament-a big improvement from the initial #22 seed.  Tomorrow (Saturday) the 18's will play a 3 team pool.  If they finish first, they will play a crossover match with a #2 seed from another pool.  Winner advances to the gold round.  It is always fun to have a chance to play for gold.  The girls are finishing games and showing everyone around that they deserved the trickle down bid. 

We headed back to the hotel to get a little sun in before returning for the evening pool with the 13's.  I can handle just about one hour in the blazing hot Dallas sun before I am toast.  So, I was glad that some more volleyball was beckoning me.  Our hotel is 20 minutes from the playing site in Addison, Texas.  We have a great set-up and it is an easy commute to the convention center.  The 13's first two matches were easy wins-notice I did not say pretty wins-but there are no pictures on the scorecard.  They did what they needed to do to get their wins and did it in 2 games in both matches.  Their third match of the day was against the #1 seed in their pool.  St. Louis CYC-which is always a formidable competitor.  St. Louis came out fired up and served us off the court in game 1.  I think the score was 25-14.  Game 2 was by far the best game of the day for the 13's.  They played the way their coaches, parents and interested spectator's know they can and won 25-22.  Again, off to a game 3.  We got out of the gate quickly and were up 8-3 at the switch.  Speaking of switches, somebody turned on the switch on the CYC side of the net and they out scored us 12-3 to win the game 15-12.  It was heart breaker and  I know the girls won't think this, but it was not so much our own errors as it was incredible serving by CYC that took the girls out of their offense.  They are sitting 2-1 now and tomorrow evening will play the #2 and #4 seeds in the pool.  A win in either match should assure them a spot in the upper half.  I left the girls a few minutes ago as they were taking a quick dip in the pool and hot tub before heading off to bed.

The format this year is really nice, Teams never play back to back-you are either playing, reffing or sitting.  This gave me a chance to go and watch some of the other OVR teams playing.  ACE 18's had an incredible match against Colorado Performance to retain their #1 seed.  Down a game, and down 22-24 in game 2, they took advantage of a serving error by Colorado and won the game 26-24.  Another game 3.  Another big lead.  Another comeback.  ACE was able to hold onto their late lead and won 16-14.   One of the things I really like about Nationals is the camaraderie between the teams within our region.  It always seems like there are other teams around wishing you good luck.  The 13's have developed a great friendship with both Mintonette and NKYVC.  Max Miller from Mintonette 13's came to cheer on our team during the match with CYC.  He was getting more fired up about the missed net calls than Scott or Chrissy were.

Another highlight of Nationals is to check out the t-shirts that  many teams wear for warm-ups.  My favorite so far is a shirt that has a big pair of cowboy boots on the front with the saying, "These Boots are Made for Walking . . . "  On the back, it said- "All Over You!" 

Well, it is late, and I am heading back to the gym in the morning for the 18's first match at 8 am.  

Hope you are all well in Toledo.  I will be back tomorrow with good news, I hope!

Michelle Hills

Dallas Day 1

After a smooth flight from Detroit to Dallas, John and I arrived at the Hyatt Summerfield Suites in Addison, Texas.  A couple of quick thoughts.  It is hot here, and the hotel is awesome.  We arrived in time to partake in the evening hospitality and dinner.  We were greeted by a very happy group of 18's  and their parents.  The 18-1 team played today and went 3-0; including a 2 game win over the #1 seed in their 6 team pool.  You cannot underestimate the importance of doing well on Day 1 at Nationals.  You can't win the tournament on Day 1 but you sure can lose it.  The report is the girls are playing well.  Tomorrow morning they play the #2 and #4 seed.  They are seeded 3 in their pool.  The top 3 teams advance to the top half of the bracket. 

The 13-1 team will begin play tomorrow afternoon.  I think Coach Scott and Coach Chrissy will have their hands full keeping the girls out of the sun and out of the pool tomorrow before they play.  Fortunately, the hotel has a shuttle to the Galleria.  But walking around the shopping mall is not a good pre-game plan either.  There are advantages to being in the morning pool!  Sleeping in is not one of them.  If last year is any indication, Coach Scott will have an extensive pre-match motivational speech prepared and that should take care of a few hours in the afternoon. (LOL) Scott is tops on the motivational speaking and if he ever decides to give up his day job, I think he could make a living at it.

Everyone is excited to be here in Dallas! 

The hotel has a sign at check-in welcoming "The Toledo Volleyball to the Nationals."  We had another guest ask why Toledo is hosting the National tournament in Dallas!  That was pretty funny.  

I am looking forward to watching 13's and 18's tomorrow.  I think it is a good omen that my hotel room is 1111.  We will have 4 teams competing here.

I will report more tomorrow after play.

Michelle