H2 15 Cardinal had their first out of town tournament this weekend. The team traveled to the 2016 Central Zone Invitational in Indianapolis, IN.  400+ teams participated in this 2 day event. In the 15 Club division H2 15 Cardinal came in the tournament seeded #25 out of 31 teams.

The girls started their day playing the #5 seed Kiva Black from Louisville, KY. They dropped their first match to Kiva as they couldn’t get their opponent out of system and failed to find an answer to their offense. Putting the loss behind them, the team rallied back to continue the rest of the day with nothing but WINS! They ended day 1 of the tournament with a record of 3/1 which included a nail biting 3 set win against St. Louis’s own HP Orange! The excitement from the team and the parents could hardly be contained after that match.

They brought the intensity very early in day 2 of the tournament with 3 match wins in a row against teams from around the Midwest. These wins secured the team’s spot in the Gold bracket. H2 15 Cardinal entered the Gold bracket now as the #4 seed scheduled to play in the semi-finals. The first opponent they had to face was none other than Kiva Black, the only team that they had lost to thus far. Now #1 seed Kiva Black came out strong. H2 found themselves in a hole spotting Kiva 5 + points at the beginning of each set. They rallied back in each set serving aggressively and finding the answers to defend and attack against this team. The girls unfortunately ended their Central Zone Invitational appearance with a match loss, losing to Kiva Black 25/19, 25/20. Team record for the weekend was 6/2 only losing to the bracket champions. Kiva Black went on to win 1st place in the Gold bracket.

These girls fought the entire weekend to work together as a team, overcome deficits, capitalize on their point leads, finding rhythm in their offense and defense and learning to play their game regardless of the scoreboard. Coming into the event ranked #25 of 31 teams and leaving #3 of 31 teams playing for Gold is an amazing accomplishment. Great weekend of competitive volleyball filled with successes, learning opportunities and bonding as a team. Way to go H2 15 Cardinal. We are back at it this weekend playing in the second round of the Premier League at the TESL Center.