The 2010 Volleyball Festival was a terrific experience for all our amazing players, parents, coaches and supporters. A full summary will be posted on the website, but here are some great highlights for each team!
The highlights of this tournament truly express what it is like to be apart of a club that is one big family. It all began with Opening Ceremonies and the festive attitude and costumes of our teams. The Opening Ceremonies this year were truly something to set the mood and inspire our girls to greatness.
The first two days of the tournament, everyone was working their way into the competition and building momentum. And then... it started! The Viper "swarm" hit on Day 2 when the 12s took on Puerto Rico for the first time.
Everyone was texting to get to the 12s court and suddenly a herd of supporters rallied to create a Championship Court environment. Within minutes there were over 200 Viper players and families cheering on our team to an incredible 3 game victory. Puerto Rico ended up working their way back to win the tournament, but our 12s were the only team to beat this team! The
12-1s ended up finishing 4th overall and showed simply incredible progress from the beginning of this season. Congratulations!
One of our most competitive teams at the tournament was the
15-1s. They had an absolutely crazed and competitive week that was filled with nearly all 3 game battles. After winning and then losing and then battling back and staying in contention this team battled and improved tremendously throughout the week. The highlights for this team were taking the Canadian Junior National team to three games and barely losing 28-30, 25-19, 15-17. The court was surrounded by Viper fans and it was a true demonstration of the talent of these players. This team finished on a high note, taking 7th overall!
13-1s had an incredible week and run. This team has improved tremendously this year and worked their way up to 5th place, beating a tough Hawaii team. They dropped out of contention when they lost to yet another tough Puerto Rican team.
14-2s battled throughout the entire week. At one point they won 4 matches in a row! They
won their division on the final day and brought home a trophy!
14-3s played their best volleyball of the season and moved up more than 30 places!
15-3s played at their highest level throughout the tournament even though they had a number of different coaches! Coming in at a
very low seed they played some big and talented teams and held their
own. Each day was a new challenge to rise to and to conquer! The team
finished out the final two days with 4 wins and one loss to win their Divisional trophy! Great Job Team!
15-2s worked each day to take on tough teams. On Wednesday, they upset the #1 seed in their pool and ended up taking over the 39th seed. On Friday, the girls showed tremendous fight, but lost two tough 3 game matches. The girls had fun and ended up 47th
overall.
16-2s had a difficult first day with some changes to their line-up, but fought back the rest of the week and found a new stride. The team played with a ton of heart and showed tremendous individual and team improvement from the beginning of the season to the end.
16-3s had some huge wins at Festival. One was a big
comeback against Kern River, down 2-10 in game 3 amidst a very
hostile fan environment, they won the match16-14. Their unity and mentality culminated in a 3 set
match win over a Canada West team to win the Campaign Division. They were the last match at the Volleyball Festival!
16-4s battled throughout the week against the competition. The
highlight of their tournament was Thursday when the team really
committed to giving it all, played their volleyball and took home a
victory.
17-1s had a breakthrough week despite major injuries and illness. The team had some tough/heartbreaking 3 set losses but
there were some absolute highlight reel moments while at Festival. What is came down to is that this team fought both as individuals and as a team and it was incredible to see these girls leave everything on the floor for each other.
18-2s played their best volleyball of the season. At one point they won 4 matches in a row and moved up to 36th place. This team of mostly seniors showed tremendous heart and improvement throughout the week. Good luck to the seniors who are off to college!
Junior National's in RenoThe 2010 Junior Nationals were a great experience for our 14-1, 16-1 and 18-1 teams and players. The level of play was extremely high in all three divisions of play (Open, National and American).
The
14-Elite tournament was highlighted by some incredible 3 game battles. On "moving" day, 14 Elite won their 3 team pool against two very tough teams - Jammers 10-25, 25-16, 15-12 and VolleyFX 20-25, 26-24, 15-11. They put out tremendous effort and spirit to pull these wins off. Later that day, they lost their cross over match to move into the top 8 in a close three game match against Amarillo Aces 17-25, 25-21, 11-15. The girls kept fighting on the last day and finished 11th overall.
Junior Nationals was a great experience for our
18-Elite players. Though many of them missed their younger sisters competiting at Festival, many of them enjoyed attending JN's for the first time. The team played some really great volleyball but on "moving" day, the
girls had a really tough pool and lost both matches in three. Showing tremendous heart, they came
back to win their cross over later in the day even though they were
down 2-8 in the 3rd. One of the highlights for this team was that they got to stay in the Penthouse at the Silvery Legacy. After being put in smoking rooms and some hotel fiasco, the team and head team mom, Mary, were moved into three Penthouse suites! Pretty exciting stuff! The girls finished 19th overall.
The
16-Elite tournament was highlighted by some terrific volleyball. This team improved tremendously throughout the season and each match was a battle to stay in the hunt. On "moving" day, the team lost their first pool play game against the eventual champion, Main Beach, in a tough 3 game battle 17-25, 25-20, 13-15. They fought back in their next match to beat Spiral in three 25-15, 23-25, 15-9. The 16s run ended in their cross over match to move into the top 8 against a very tall Toleda team (all six starters were over 6'). This was a great first time Junior National experience for these players! The girls finished 13th overall.
As many of us at Viper know, Merilee Snyder is a truly inspirational coach. We would like to honor her this month for her incredible passion for coaching, and for helping our young players develop into strong and caring individuals. 