Spikes U13 JumpStart® Amanda
| Tegan | Crespo | #20 | ||
| Ali | Hector | #16 | ||
| Riley | Kelly | #13 | ||
| Molly | Dodds | #9 | ||
| Pearl | Kharel | #1 | ||
| Lily | Lamb | #12 | ||
| Sury | Nyam | #3 | ||
| Caliah | Stack | #4 | ||
| Kaitlyn | Sahni | #11 | ||
| Raegan | Miller | #7 | ||
| Lola | Sadler | #6 | ||
| Mackenzie | Bamber | #8 | ||
| Head Coach: | Amanda | |||
| A.Coaches: | Pasky | Jamie |
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Colorado Tournament Series
Big Horn Bash - April 2024
Hi there my friend! If you were looking to post something about today regarding the 13's, well, that's easy. Thank you to all who have helped me. Tommorow is coming fast. What a pleasure to be there as a fill in. Clearly this team goes after it from the very start. They listen, and understand. The girls won all 3. They made the 3rd a little interesting. My belief is it could have had something to do with waiting for the last team and.....yes, a candy crash. They managed to pick it up again and finish the 1st day in the manner they should. Very nice job girls! Get rest, eat a good breakfast, and be ready. We work first then play. Thank you all. See you tomorrow.
2nd day/ The girls showed up, we did our part working first. I would like to compliment the girls on doing a very nice job with the table and line judging. It seemed to me a lot of other similar age group teams had trouble with this. We started our play against a well organized, well coached Wyo One team. We were full on asleep in the first set. Ouch. This did get into their heads some as they had good serving and organized play. Knowing what this team is capable of, we were the better team. They did fight back on the second set, unfortunately just not enough. They did get to see a challenge, and how hard it can be to come back on another good opponent. Now in the fight for 3rd or 4th. Matched up again, with of course Crossfire. 1st set, as before, won in a great manner. 2nd set, well, lets just say they did not want to make it easy. They took a very long time changing their rotation, we kept our patience. They "forgot" a rotation that put their male in the front row. I kindly asked the down judge as to why. That was fixed quickly. I found that a bit odd as they have bigger threats, just making sure we are all on the same page. Crossfire would then extend the timeout amount getting the ref a bit on edge now. The girls stayed ahead, kept their composure and patience as I could see this would pay off. On game point, they of course called a time out as they should. Ok, no more Mr. Nice guy coach, I had Caliah (please correct me if I am wrong on player) get the ball from the line judge immediately and go back and concentrate on her next serve during the time out. Next, perfect short serve ACE! The girls returned to their play level to take 3rd. Very nice job regaining composure. When leaving, I was told "Thank you for being a class act". The team playing well, regaining composure after adversity, knowing your job at the table and lines, and keeping good relationship with other teams, refs, and the organizers, helps tremendously when returning next time. A big thank you to all of the parents, especially when it could have been very easy to say or do something that would have hurt that.
Coach James
Here is a link for 13s photos at the Big Horn Bash tournament Thank you Anna (Lily's mom)
Colorado Crossroads March 9th/11th
Day 1 began with nerves and anxiety. The 13’s were unsure of themselves, ranked 20th out of 32 teams, teams they had never heard of or faced before, so the unknown was looming. Not only was this the biggest tournament they had faced, but one of our setters, Molly, was out sick. Stepping up to the plate was our right-side hitter Regan to be a backup setter. First set was against Xtreme 13 Black which started out rocky, with Xtreme black taking quite the lead. The girls realized it was time to check their nerves and focus. They were able to quickly close the gap in score and put up a fight but lost in the end 25-27. With the momentum driving we were able to win the 2nd set but unfortunately lost the 3rd set. Not losing in tournaments in the past the girls had to figure out how to shake a loss and continue forward. Match 2 and 3 we were ready to win. With multiple kills from Pearl, Lily, Tegan and Riley along with our back row defense we beat Lakas and Valley Heat moving to the 13th seed to start day 2. MVP goes to Raegan for coming into a tournament day 1 and playing a role she hasn’t played with this team. Not only did she do it willingly she killed it. In addition, Pearl had over 20 kills, she was on FIRE!
Day 2 we started the morning playing the 8th seed Bullitt. The girls were still on a high and this morning there were no nerves or at least it seemed that way!! The 13’s were ready to play, and they did just that beating Bullitt in 2 sets and moving on the play EVA 13 black #2 seed. Watching EVA previously, we knew they were a well put together team which got in the girl’s head. While we gave EVA a challenge, they played better than we did finding holes in our defense and scoring points. We then beat the Juggernauts in a quick 2 sets. MVP was Ali with multiple aces, kills, and multiple digs. Ali was searching the best place to serve the back and place the ball over the net throughout each game.
Day 3 GOLD BRACKET seeded 8th against 1st seeded ARVC. ARVC had tall girls, the tallest we had played throughout the tournament but the 13’s entered the court ready to play. The game started and we found ourselves quickly down more than 7 points, a time-out was called to regain composure. I could see the girls were scared, worried, playing the #1 team. We talked strategy and discussed playing a smart game. The girls went back onto the court and a new team. While playing the most intense game they have ever played they dug deep, played as a team, and came out with a win 25-19. Knowing ARVC was here to play I expressed to the girls to not let up they pressure. Play smart, watch for holes, and do not hit into the block. They did just that winning the 2nd set 25-13. MVP Mackenzie with quick acting defensive skills using her feet not once but twice to save the ball from hitting the ground! With her quick reaction, we were able to keep the ball off the ground and score points. While I thought this win would have had to girls ready to play the next game against Hot Shotz – black, we came into this game worried, scared and a different team. Not the team I just watched play the best games they have ever played. Our back row had a challenging time and got killed by Hot Shotz powerful serves and the hardest/fastest kills they have ever had to dig. The 13’s were quickly defeated which led to a quick loss.
We learned a lot these past 3 days and saw what it takes to dig deep and play hard together as a team. Now back to the gym to practice in area that were challenging throughout this tournament with a bit harder discipline to push these girls to the next level.
Coach Amanda
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Riley totally unphased by this player on the other side of the net
Summit Conference
Repeat UNPHASED!
When 13s start jumping to block, Pasky smiles, big time!
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Colorado Challenge Tournament - Jan 13th/15th
Spikes 13s JumpStart team seeded 4 of 7 teams
Day 1: The girls came into day 1 a little cold losing their first set. Once warm we figured out how to play. Playing some close matches but pulled it off with wins! MVP today goes to Lily with top notch serving. Coach Amanda
Day 2: this second day of the tournament was a little stressful to say the least. The girls came into today thinking they had easy wins. They learned quickly that wasn't the case and their opponents came to fight. While the girls had a difficult time passing and serving today. We pulled off wins and are ready for the championship games!
Coach Amanda
Day 3: of the Colorado Challenge was our best day of the three day event. The Spike 13’s arrived ready to play and excited to be in the championship gold bracket. Our first match, semifinals was against Momentum. The first set, multiple mistakes were made and we gave away a lot of points. The game was neck and neck but we were able to pull it off with a win 25-23. Our second set was a pure blowout with Lilly serving 15 points, most of which were ace serves! Leading us to a win 25-7.
We then played in the championship game against Crossfire. This was our fourth time playing Crossfire so we knew what to expect. Crossfire was ready for redemption as we won the first championship game against them. The first set again was a neck and neck game as the girls were not making smart choices, they quickly learned how to dig deep and play smart. We won 25-23. The second set started with Molly serving 8 points again most being ace serves. We then played a point for point game until we took a time out to talk about strategies on how to execute and play smart. Play the game we know how to play together. The girls began to call the ball and execute plays. With Ali’s serves and multiple kills from Pearl we pulled off a win 25-15 winning 1st place.
I am so proud of the girls and how hard they played. We learned some valuable lessons through the tears and anger but the girls dug deep and executed plays to win the GOLD!
We are excited to get back to practice and work to be ready to attend Crossroads.
Coach Amanda
A WIN is a WIN is a WIN
CHAMPIONS!
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Colorado Tournament Series
Avalanche Havoc - December 2023
Wow!
Where do I begin? I am so incredibly proud of these girls! They came to the tournament ready to play at a level I had yet to see them play at. They had great serves, passing, and hitting! I saw them dig deep when tested and they figured out quickly that playing as a team was what it took to dominate! I watched them truly gel and support each other as a team and that was amazing to watch. We had multiple ace serves, several kills and setter dumps. The girls experienced some challenges from the referees and were called for lifts, carries and foot faults. We also learned that the chaos and pace of a tournament can be extremely distracting…. As we even missed some rotation and subbing opportunities. All learning lessons for all of us!
Our first match was an amazing start! The girl’s serves were untouchable which led to few volleys and a quick win. While it was an easy one, I told the girls not to think this is how the entire tournament would go and to keep their heads in the game and be ready to play because it will get harder. Boy, did they do just that! They won each game in 2 sets and overall, they were the only 13’s team that went undefeated! At the end of the day, the girls had their mindsets right, came to play, gelled as a team, bonded as a team, and rallied like I knew they could. I know that this experience will ready them for future tournaments as they know what to expect going forward.
Overall, this was a great first tournament experience for the Spike 13’s and we look forward to getting back to the court to do work!
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