News: Early Bird gets the Bling!
February 21, 2006
Magic Holds its Seed and Sweeps the Field in Columbus.
VolleyFX Magic 181 continued to roll on in '06, with another tournament
sweep and victory at the Early Bird Extravaganza in Columbus, OH. Going
9-0 on the weekend in match play, 18-1 in game play, Magic tallies in
at 23-0 in matches in '06 (46-2 in games).
The tournament went as planned to start - Magic, the #1 seed, swept its first two pools moving into the playoffs on Monday. After an uneventful quarterfinal match, the team took on a focused Matchpoint team (OVR) who was looking to revenge a day two blowout. Matchpoint came out strong and had Magic 12-18 at one point in the first game. Fighting through, Magic never flinched, winning the game 25-22. Magic ended it fast, taking the second game 25-20.
"It was a tough match," stated Junior defensive standout Beth Kokanovich, "they really wanted revenge from the other day. But, we knew we had goals to meet, and we were not going to let them stand in the way of those goals."
Nicely put Beth.
In the finals, Magic faced a strong, and also undefeated Bullets team (REGION) that came out blazing. With great ball control and minimal errors, the Bullets team defeated Magic 23-25 in the first game. Down, but not out, Magic made a statement in game 2 with a convincing 25-15 win. And moved on to take the match 15-12 in the third game.
"Even after the loss, we didn't feel down," stated Senior Uber-Libero-Wiz-Kid Allie Matters. "We just kept our composure and cool. I ain't sayin' we weren't excited... we wanted the victory and wanted the bling!"
The excitement was high.
The victory was sweet.
The bling was awarded.
And it was heavy.
Nice job Magic.