The 14-2’s team took 1st place in the silver division in the final tournament of the year in Rochester, MN. What a great way to end a great season!
The girls traveled to Rochester with their families and stayed with many of the SAJO teams at a hotel getting a chance for fun and relaxation before the big tournament. Pizza, swimming and text-tag were part of the festivities.
The girls started off on a positive note getting to sleep in a little extra as they did not have to play or ref the first game of the day. After arriving at the Rochester volleyball center via bus the girls found a corner to “camp” out in and prepared for the first match. Having taken 2nd place in Blaine the prior week the girls were feeling very good about their chances.
The first match pitted the feisty SAJO team against a team from Goodhue. Game 1 started well as both teams were trying to get their serves in an keep the ball in play but as the game wore on it became evident that the much taller Goodhue team was going to be a problem. As the Goodhue team kept spiking away the girls from SAJO had little answers as blocking became an issue. They hung in there but lost game one. Game two was not much different than game one except the score was much farther apart. The SAJO team could not counter the exceptional setting and spiking by the Goodhue team. Slightly dejected they didn’t have to wait to see who they would play next as they were scheduled for back to back matches.
Match two saw the girls play against a team from Southern Minnesota Volleyball and watching them warm up the girls knew they were in for another challenge. The SMV team was similar in height as the Goodhue team and once again the inability to block would become the nemesis of the SAJO six-some. Although the girls played more soundly and kept plugging away at their SMV foes the task was too much and the 14-2’s fell 2 games to none.
After the second match was over the girls took a much needed break and refueled both physically and mentally. The coaches tried to reassure the team that they had just finished played two very good teams and not that they played great but that they were just over-matched.
After the hour break next up was a team from Byron. The sloppy play continued for the first half of game one before the SAJO team started finding it’s groove and started executing like they did the previous week in Blaine. After beating the team from Byron in a closer game then it should have been the girls kicked it in gear and dispatched the Byron team rather quickly in game two. Serving was once again the strong point for the SAJO girls with several of them serving in the 90% range with Ashley Green leading the way at 100%. Strong net play by Chandler Stormo and Kayla Novak led the rejuvenated girls to victory.
Having posted a 1-2 pool play record this put the girls in the Silver bracket for the playoffs. With confidence running high the team got a well deserved rest as they watched the SAJO 14-3’s play and eyed up their next opponent.
First up in playoff play was a team from kasson/mantorville Minnesota Volleyball. The girls came out flying and took a big lead led by serving once again. After settling in the KMVB team started their slow and methodical come back making the first game closer then it should have been. Game two started much like the first with the 14-2’s jumping out to a good lead. This time the girls held off the charging KMVB team and finished them off.
Up next was the SMV-2 team which made the girls a bit nervous as they had not faired so well against the SMV-1 team earlier in pool play. The 14-3 team played them fairly well and came down to the wire before the SMV team prevailed so this allowed a bit of confidence to creep forward for the 14-2’s. After a sluggish start and some much needed words of wisdom from the coaches (only 4 games left to medal, etc.) the girls settled in to their comfort zone led again by stellar serving and exceptional positioning. The girls found their groove and beat the SMV team 2 games to none.
To show off there swagger and extra energy the SAJO 14-2’s played a lively 5 on 5 match while waiting for their next opponent who was playing on the court next door. This couldn’t have been too good to see for the next opponent as they must have been thinking what in the world is going on? Shouldn’t they be resting?
With all the confidence in the world and even though the next opponent had some height advantages the girls plugged along with the mantra , “only 2 more games to medal”. After overcoming some early serving miscues the SAJO team squeaked out a game one victory and then took care of business in game two easily earning their second medal in two weeks.
