February 21, 2006

Unity Shows Through, Near the Horseshoe

Columbus, Ohio, the annual location for East Coast Volleyball's Early Bird Extravaganza, and the home for 3-days to VolleyFX and 10 of its 14 teams.

With 10 teams represented in 5 age divisions, VolleyFX was in full force at the EBE. With a sea of blue and black throughout the weekend being seen at the convention center and the hotel (and even at most of the local eateries... who DIDN'T eat at Max and Erma's), we were hard to miss.

The club came with many a focus - some to win, some to learn, some to gain experience - yet, with only one purpose to show support and build the club family.

John Hill, the club president, commented that "we do this tourney every year. For some this will be a tough weekend, for some it will be good competition. Regardless of the outcomes, we do it to grow together as a club. Giving parents, players and coaches a chance to get to know each other and support each other."

All teams participating should be pleased with the weekend, with minimal practices under their belt and a Monroe County season just ending, this weekend only marks the start of our journey as a club... not the final destination.

Below are the results

Team Division # of Teams Finish
Magic 181 18s 48 1st Place, Gold Division
Rapture 171 17s 40 3rd Place, Gold Division
Illusion 172 17s 40 3rd Place, Flight #4
Mantra 161 16s 48 5th Place, Flight #1
Charm 162 16s 48 4th Place, Flight #3
Trance 163 16s 48 5th Place, Flight #5
Chant 151 15s 24 5th Place, Gold Division
Summon 152 15s 24 4th Place, Bronze Division
Conjure 141 14s 16 4th Place, Silver Division
Spell 142 14s 16 4th Place, Flight #1

Nice work all!
Check back for reports from teams throughout the week.

CHANT Update:

The Columbus Convention Center was invaded over the President’s Day weekend by VolleyFX Chant team and 23 other teams from across the Northeast for the 2006 Early Bird Extravaganza. The Chanters started out slow but gained steam over the three day tournament to make the Gold Medal round and finish 5th overall.

Pool play started early Saturday morning with a win against BAVA 15-2 in a tie-breaking three game match: 25-9, 22-25 and 15-11 before falling to Premier 15-1 in two games: 16-25 and 20-25. The second place finish in Pool Play would be replicated in the Reseeded Pools in the afternoon when Chant defeated Allegro 14-National: 25-14, 25-13 and stumbled to Roanoke 15-National: 21-25 and 17-25.

Group 2 Pools on Sunday would finally see Chant play up to their potential with a 3-0 match record winning all 6 games played. Victories over VolleyFX Summon: 25-9 and 25-10, Southern Tier Ravens: 25-14 and 25-13 (including 12 aces), and NOVA Phoenix: 25-18, 25-18 (tallying 17 kills) and advancing to the Challenge Matches. The rhythm of the Chant got louder when the team gave Coach D’Errico her first cross-over victory in the Early Bird and a trip to the Gold Medal Bracket. Excel SP 15-Blue pushed the girls to the edge in a nail-biting 3 game match: 25-23, 24-26, 15-12 (helped by 30 kills, 10 blocks and 7 digs).

Monday morning started out like Sunday had finished, and a revenge match with the Roanoke 15-Nationals started with a 25-10 victory, but this would be the last bright-spot for Chant. With losses of 16-25 and 7-15 the journey had ended, but there were too many positives to take away from the tournament to be disappointed and even more to look forward to at the next competition.

Congratulations on the 5th Place finish and keep working hard!

SUMMON Update:

The Early Bird Extravaganza was an opportunity for Summon to experience a high level of volleyball. High-level volleyball greeted us bright and early at 8 am on Saturday morning and led to a long day.

Frustrated after playing against tough competition on Saturday, Summon received support from all of VFX on Sunday and responded. At one point, Kelly remarked, "How can we go wrong when we have seven coaches on the bench?" The support led to momentum. We progressed from a rocky start to a closely contested three-game match, to a solid effort, a victory, and a third place pool finish.

At times, the competition shook the team a little. Led by Amy, the team at one point decided to literally shake back. In each pool, the team responded the same way finishing with their best effort in the last match. Too bad there were not a few more matches in the single elimination playoffs on Monday. Summon finished in 4th place in the Bronze bracket. Now we know where we started. Let's work hard and see where we finish...

Amy Simpson (8) roofs an opponent while Zarina Quandt (12) and Katie Plukas (7) look on.

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