Tournament Recap – Capitol Classic 2014

Our club continued its successful season last weekend at the Capitol Classic in Washington, DC!  Facing much stiffer competition, our teams responded with 3 bracket wins and showed significant improvement on both offense and defense.  Here is a recap of all of our teams:

18 BLACK
18 Black finished 21st overall in their division out of 64 teams.  Buoyed by a strong 2-win performance on Day 1, they renewed their focus on offense by adding the GAP set for the middle hitters.  Several of the players will be working on new serves to prepare for NEQ in April.  Two players also announced their college plans: Alyssa Plum (Montclair State) and Jenna Haxton (ECU).  Congratulations!

17 BLACK
17 Black (still no team name) finished 21st overall out of 79 teams and a Flight 1A bracket win!  They started the tournament with a tough loss against Paradigm (1st at MLK).  But even in the loss, the team showed steady improvement and pushed the match to a 3rd set in DC after losing 2-0 at MLK.  The team rebounded with two wins to finish 2nd in the pool and finished the tournament with a 6-3 record overall.  The coaches will work on diversifying the offense with middle attacks going forward.

17 NITRO
Coach Karen implemented a 6-2 offense and the team responded with a strong showing in DC.  Nitro came out hot on Day1, sweeping their pool with a 3-0 record!  They tacked on another victory on Day 2, ultimately finishing 29th out of 79 teams.  Strong serving kept the team in every match and they will work on adding even more offense by perfecting their transition footwork.

16 VIPERS
The CHVBC 16U Vipers had another strong showing, finishing 35th out of 119 teams and making it to the semifinal match of the Bronze bracket!  After MLK, they emphasized out-of-system hitting, which resulted in more consistent pressure on the opponent’s defense.  The team will focus on serve-receive so they can continue to side-out against tougher serves.

16 RAMPAGE
Rebounding from a slow start on Day 1, Rampage finished Day 2 with a 3-set victory over Kinetic.  They used their momentum to propel the team to 3 straight wins and a Flight 4B bracket victory on Monday!  The team was pushed to the limit, but responded with a 3-set win in the final over DVA.  In all, five of the team’s matches went to a tiebreaker 3rd set.  They will work on adding the GAP set after implementing the A set in DC.

15 AVALANCHE
After posting one match win on Day 1, Avalanche came back with two more on Day 2 for 3 total wins in pool play!  The team’s serving showed steady improvement from MLK and the outside hitters began to bring more offense from the pins.  The middles will work on connecting with the setters by perfecting their transition footwork off of serve receive and the outside block.

15 TEMPEST
Facing stiff competition in DC, Tempest rallied on the final day for 3 straight wins and a Flight 4B victory in the elimination round!  Several members of the team showcased new jump-float serves at the tournament.  They will continue to work on their consistency from the service line to put more pressure on their opponents and the setters will work to get the middle hitters more involved in the offense.

NEQ starts in mid-April.  Lots to work on before we get to our toughest tournament of the year!!!