H2 was seated first in the tournament. Our first match was against ACES 15EL and girls were determined to win since a few of them had previously played for ACES. First game was 19-15 and then a solid win, 19-9, due to several ace serves by Setter Emma Fischer.
Next up was team Adrenline. The girls had some great volleys and won both games 19-13 and 19-15.
We anticipated PAO 15 Green to be our toughest pool play match with both teams coming in to the match undefeated. PAO has several excellent hitters, but we came prepared to block. MB Riley Hercules owned the net with 5 blocks and 3 kills in the match. 15 Black won in two 19-12 & 19-10. H2 15 Black did not drop a set in Pool Play.
First match in Playoffs was against Wentzville Heat. H2 came out really strong with RH Abby Seibman and OH Holly Withington each with 3 kills, H2 winning 19-13. Wentzville Heat dug deep and took the next game, 14-19 to push a third game. Our girls were determined to make it to the championship match. OH Caley McCline, put away 2 kills which allowed us to reach 8 first. MB Riley Hercules once again protected the net with two huge blocks. Defense, led by Libero Julianna Bell and DS Desirae Yost, ensured no balls hit the floor. H2 won the third game, 15-10 to move on the finals.
We faced a very strong STL Crossfire Elite team for the Championship game. While H2 15 Black didn’t win the tournament we gained a lot of confidence. The girls were finally able to see all of the hard work they’ve put in at practice pay off. They now believe in themselves and can compete! That was more fulfilling to me than making it to the championship game. The first step, in anything you do in life, is to believe in yourself! Once you believe, anything is possible! I’m really excited to see what our final two tournaments bring!
