On the weekend of 5 March, 161s Illini West team placed 1st place at the Spikefest 16s tournament at Maryland Heights.  The team went 5-1 match record during the pool games, placing us first.  Our team was ready to take the gold and ready to play.

Between our good serves, block and spikes we finished the first playoff game again PAO 19-13, 19-7.   Winning this game put us at the final match against Club Gemini. The game was a good game. Serves, block, spikes, slides, you name it. Mariah Valhkamp, libero, had an awesome pancake. Sam and Sydney’s (setters) sets help our hitter spike the ball at all times without missing a beat. Alexa Hoelscher, Emily Stahl, Shanon Riley, Abbi Kempfer, Brie Gagen and Sydney Irizarry made sure that no ball was allowed to come into our court.

Illini West 16 gave Gemini a run for their money after every spike, tips and slides.  At the end, the final point was earned by our final block from Brie and Alexa not blocking the middle hitter forcing the other team with a few erratic passes and losing control on the ball. The girls were beyond excited.

They demonstrated that working as a TEAM we can do anything. Two of our players, Lili Dircks and Allie Litzenburg, did the best job serving to our opponent teams, which at time they score aces while serving.  Final score, 25-17 25-13.

Congrats 161 Illini West!!! Nice way to earn your 1st place in Gold Medal!

Mariah's Pancake.

One of the great plays from this weekend. Mariah Vahlkamp's pancake and Bri’s help save at the set. Awesome! H2 Sports Volleyball Network, Geoff Davis The video of the weekend for us.

Posted by Andre Irizarry on Monday, March 7, 2016

Last night Sydney setting Alexa in the championship game.

Posted by Andre Irizarry on Sunday, March 6, 2016