Team News!

The following age group start times were recently received from the NEQ Tournament Desk

NEQ #1
Morning Wave (8am start) = 14 Open, 14 American, 14 National, 15 Open, 15 American, and 15 National
Afternoon Wave (not before 2pm) = 12 Club, 13 Club, 16 American, 16 National

NEQ #2
Morning Wave (8am start) = 16 Open, 17 Open, 18 Open
Afternoon Wave (not before 2pm) = 17 Club, 18 Club

Despite the somewhat chili interior and snowy weather in Rochester, 16 Black, 17 Black, and 18 Black had a great time at the first stop in the North East Tournament Series (NETS). NETS is a power league comprised of 7 clubs from 3 different USAV regions in the north east. The Island Volleyball Academy, Atlantic Valley,  CT Juniors, Downstate, Lakeside, Niagara Frontier, and VolleyFX all sent 3 of thier best teams to compete in a 24 team event that included 3 local teams invited by the host club VolleyFX. The competition was fierce as these clubs sent at least 7 teams in these age groups to the Junior Olympic National Championships, last season.

While all thre Downstate teams enjoyed some great competition, congratulations go out to 17 Black for finishing 3rd overall.  Through two full pools of play, 17 Black hadn't dropped a set until meeting up with VolleyFX 18 Magic in the semi-finals. While it was a hard found and intensely competitive match, VolleyFX pulled out ahead - this time - we look to get even at the next stop, in Albany, the weekend of April 17th!

13 Blue continuted their undefeated streak at they won the 13s division of the GEVA Open #1 event! The 13s will now try their hand against the 14s as they'll move up to the stronger competition for the next few GEVA tournaments.

 

 

 

15 Blue played really well for our first tournament this past weekend. After starting 4-2 with only two close losses to the eventual runner up in the finals, 15 Blue was set to play AVVC-1 who was also 4-2. The two games were very competitive as our team began to gel on the court and played with some real confidence. The result was a split, but unfortunately AVVC-1 had beaten us by one more point and 15 Blue held out of the playoffs. Our succes was an all out team effort with some outstanding defense throughout the day. Two individual performances worth noting were A.J. Curto's team leading 12 aces and Jackie Kanuk's 16 kills. The team and I were very proud of our strong play throughout the day and look forward to building on our success in our next tournament.

This past weekend the 14-Blue team played their first tournament together as a team. The girls were worried they did not have serve-receive down but were excited to play. What they discovered during their first match was they were not completely comfortable with serve receive, but that if they just played volleyball, they could actually do well; we won that match.

Throughout the day, I saw the girls implement all the rules I had laid out for them as a team off of the court. They stayed together, paid attention to our court and were up and ready to start warm-ups when the previous game was over. During play, what I saw was a group of girls that had decided they would continuously work as a team. They supported each other during the winning and losing points of each game. They cheered during matches and talked to each other during time-outs. At the end of the day, I asked for their homework; individual and team goals for the tournament. When I read them later that night, every single player had placed "talking as a team" as one of their team goals.

I was very proud to see each of them not only strive for this Saturday, but achieve it. I look forward to the upcoming months and pushing the girls further than they have ever been pushed. I am very confident we will have a successful season.

Congratulations to Downstate 13 Black, Downstate 15 Black, and Downstate 17 Black (playing 18s) for winning their divisions in the 2010 New Year's Classic!