H2 11U Cardinal Wins H2 STL UA Challenge #15

A cold, dreary Sunday didn’t slow down H2 11U Cardinal as they won the 11 team Under Armour Challenge at the St. Peter’s Rec Plex on February 9. The Cardinal went 5-0 in matches and 9-2 in sets. The quality of play in the gold bracket was very solid. There were many comments from parents and other fans on the level of play and the amount of action that was in system from all the teams. Numerous times there were exciting rallies of pass, set, hit from both sides that had the crowd on the edge of their seats.

The tournament started with Cardinal as a second seed in their pool, however they flipped the seeds as they went 5-1 to win their pool and get the first round bye in the six team gold bracket. First up in the semifinals was a match with a strong St. Charles Elite team. Elite came out fast and took set one handily. Between sets, Cardinal decided that they weren’t ready to go home quite yet and battled to a second set win and also took set three to advance to the finals. The finals were against a talented Harvester Hurricanes team but Cardinal kept their momentum from the semis and fought to a two set win and the gold medals.

After a victory celebration of Dippin’ Dots from the concession stand, the girls will get back into the gym to sharpen the skills as they continue play in the Premier League where they are currently 3-1.