Virginia Elite Volleyball Club

Vengeance had an amazing weekend at the Rumble, going undefeated in pool play, again and again and again.  Yup 3 pools then playoffs, 14-0 in sets.  We had 2 Turtle Time winners Gabbie and Elyse for serving, and a double Slurpee winner/facial by Elyse too.  The girls had a very good weekend and played with No Fear once again and belief in their hearts that they could compete.  The past couple of weeks we struggled with believing we could do it.  We talked a lot about engaging their brains in positive self talk esp. when the chips were down. The only thing stopping us was our thoughts.  We worked on that aspect the last couple of weeks with some homework and practice.  As you can see it panned out.  Also since I was flying solo coaching the girls stepped up and took turns calling serves.  What a great lesson in observation and evaluation for them and they did an awesome job.

We cruised through day one with tough serving and attacking.  I think we scared a twelves team as they were ducking the hard hit balls.  Our girls were concerned about it, but I said if they are playing up and want to run with the big dogs, then take no prisoners...  Although we did show mercy to the cute 7/8 yr old and did serve/hit away from her.

Day two pool had our Blue team matched up with us and their was some friendly smack going on between the girls.  It was a good match as Blue played all out to beat their sister team.  Black was a bit stronger and more powerful and overcame their sisters.  Caroline came through with a couple of key crushes at the end.  Well fought Blue.  That concluded our pool play taking us to quarters to see HOV, no they did not get an extra player on the court for high occupancy.  :-)  First game was a crush, with the girls serving bullets and attacking the ball hard.  Passing was on and it was our match.  The second game was a lot closer as we relaxed a bit and we were down by 5 mid game.  The girls put on their positive game faces and took over zooming back and past HOV  with Elyse serving the final bullet to a girl who tried to set it, silly her, ended up catching it and saving her face.  Point, game , match Vengeance.

Next game was against Williamsburg the number 1 seed. It was an explosive match with both sides trading blows, making spectacular digs and tough serves.  It was truly the best match we have ever played.  We were exceptionally aggressive on the court and managed to block or get solid touches on number of hits.  Both Meghan and Emily had some stuffs on RS, and even Alison had a solo too.  The best part was we were able to keep them off balance and out of system as they are a team that will run the middle and slides a lot.  The few middle attacks they hit we were right their with some spectacular digs by Kristin,Ryley, and Maxine.  Eventually we broke their spirit and finished out the game with a five point lead after going point for point.  We beat them in two which was even more sweet and our whole bench contributed.  WE certainly caused a Rumble through Williamsburg with our Revolutionary upset.  :-)  (could not pass this one up) It was a very emotional match.

Our final match in gold was against Ice 1 for first place.  Our first game was a challenge in gearing up mentally to compete.  Before we knew what happened we were down 7-1.  The girls threw down the gauntlet about getting their heads in the game and rallied back.  We ended up losing 23-25 after a hard fought battle coming back from such a deficit.  Again it was truly exciting to watch two high caliber teams duking it out.  Our second game was not quite as strong, finding ourselves down again in the beginning and struggled to recover.  We were not able to recover and had moments of awesomeness, but our emotional tank was empty.  The coup in the girls minds was beating Williamsburg and they reiterated that in our huddle at the end.  It was really nice to see the girls from both elite and NVVA talking and hugging one another afterwards.  We finished the weekend 18-2, which is not too shabby.  The best part again about our Elite program our goals and philosophies is that ALL our girls played, and played all the way around during pool play, offering them many opportunities to learn and grow.  A few played multiple positions like Kristin and Maxine both setting and hitting, Alison and Ryley both got to take some swings as well.  Our girls pulled together and played as a team with all our line-up changes, more importantly they played as a family and that is what got us through the tough matches. Our girls will be better prepared down the road and be stronger in the long run and that is a beautiful thought for the coaches and parents.

Many thanks to the parents who support the girls and the coaches, eps on those long days.  We all appreciate your cheering and help shagging balls during warm-ups.  A special shout out to Beth this weekend stepping in to be an asst. coach helping me with warm-ups.  It was a great weekend and we did many awesome things.  GO Vengeance.!!!!!!!!!!