Hotel Lobby Sand Sculpture
My dad retired a long time ago after 42 years of being a high school principal, schoolteacher and coach. He was an extremely quiet man. My dad would never ever think of picking up the phone and calling someone just to “talk.” Phones were something used to convey messages. But late in his life I could expect a call from him on Sunday evenings if I had coached at a tournament that weekend. He always wanted to know how the team did that weekend. I still often think of one of his sayings — “If you aren’t losing you aren’t learning.” If he was still around to make that call tonight I would have told him we learned a lot this weekend. That is probably an oversimplification. We did our fair share of winning but we did suffer some tough losses too.
This tournament was a little unique in that it consisted of 8 teams, including teams from various age groups, 15s thru 17s. Many of the teams were from two very strong clubs and half of them played at the Open level at large tournaments this year. So we knew going in that we would be challenged. Saturday we played the morning wave in an initial pool of 4 teams. The first two matches were against outstanding Open Level teams. After an off and on first game we competed better in the second game, only to lose 24-26. The second match, against a tough Union 16-1 team, we were unable to mount much of a challenge and lost 10-25 and 13-25. The final match of the day, against Lexington United 16s, we played well and won in two straight. Having placed third in our pool we were paired against the other pool’s second place team, Unity VBC 16-1, in the Sunday morning playoffs. After losing the first game, we battled back the next two games to win and that put us into the semifinals against Union 16-1 again. We fared no better this time around, losing in two quick games.
Pre -Match Huddle
On the positive side the tournament provided excellent competition and we tied for 3rd out of 8 teams. Three of the teams that made the semis came out of our initial pool so we played some nice teams. On the negative side we would have like to put up better resistance against the top two teams from our initial pool, both of which made the finals. Those two teams gave us all three of our losses.
Playing the early wave of Saturday provided plenty of leisure time later in the day and we took advantage of it with a very nice team dinner at Aspen Creek Grill. Thanks to Brenda Remmetter for planning and herding. Thanks also to Vicki Ferguson who took the majority of photos you see below. The season end is rapidly approaching. Five practices left, with OVR Regionals being our final tournament on May 15th. After that we will celebrate our season together with a Blue Crew party on May 22nd.
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
Amanda with the bewildering bold bitterly blanketing block.
Sara displays her team handball skills.
Gwen feeds Grace in the middle.
Dani denies the dink.
Audrey adds the appropriate english with her mouth.
Taylor with the “Scorpion” attack.
Ashley pounds it by the double block.
Mel steps in and sets the errant pass.
Faith didn’t get enough for breakfast so she goes after another pancake here.
Interesting setting technique Gwen.
A pic of me taking a pic of Gwen, Dani, Faith, and Amanda on the 3rd floor balcony.
Amanda going sharp cross court inside the block.
A Grace-ful MH attack.
Sara with the pleasantly pleasingly perfect picturesque posture.
Late blocker’s eyes are looking up at Dani’s attack.
As the blockers turn to see where the super short dink went Audrey sweeps it up.
Taylor unloads from the left side.
Mel passes as Audrey provides the sound effects.
Ashley reaches high to hit high.
Faith and a prayer.
Gwen on the move with a diving save.
Ash (eyes open) and Amanda (eyes shut) with the formidable block.
Amanda, somewhere in the rafters, unleashes her attack.
Grace on the outside with the King Kong cross court kill.
I guess as long as one of the them gets it.
Audrey with the preferred two arm pass, Gwen with the emergency one arm version.
One blocker is not enough to stop Danielle.
Taylor demos the coaches’ mantra – “Don’t let the ball hit the floor.”
Ash avoids the big block.
Faith “Coach told me that setter dinks a lot!”
Gwen deals with the tight pass.
Four people can’t be wrong. It has to be up there somewhere.
Blue Crew Parents go out on the town.
Partial Pic of the team at dinner.
Rest of the Blue Crew plus their waiter!
Cleaned up and dressed up.
Coach Megan unsure if she really liked that play.
2016 Dayton Juniors 16 Blue Crew 