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| 2013 Blue Devil Invitational Champions! |
Each year we get to host some great teams from around the area at our home tournament, the Blue Devil Invitational. Last year Westminster walked away with the championship and we didn't want to let it happen again.
We opened play with a match against a much improved Hilbert team. Our offensive precision was overpowering for them however and we took the match in three sets, 25-22, 25-12, 25-19. Hannah hit .467 in the match and P hit .385, while several others were well over .250. It was an excellent team performance and a great way to start the weekend.
Our second match of the evening was last year's tournament winner, Westminster. Coming into the match Westminster was 15-4 and had were returning several powerful hitters and a fantastic setter. Our net play would have to be superb if we'd win the match. Not only did our net play get the job done, we held Westminster's hitters to only a .066 hitting percentage... for a three set victory, 25-24, 25-20, 25-20! The stat line may not show it, but Jess and Hannah played some terrific volleyball in the middle, and were a big reason Westminster's hitting percentage was so low. Also, the teamwork of LO, Brit, and Hokaj did a great job covering the floor. This was a big win for us and it boosts our confidence moving forward.
On Saturday morning our opponent would be LaRoche, a team from Pittsburgh. After a four set match early in the morning, we came out victorious, 25-19, 25-14, 24-26, 25-17. Hannah finished with 12 kills, while both P and Sara each had 10. P also came up with 12 digs while Hokaj had 11.
Our final match of the tournament was against RIT. We defeated RIT by a large margin at the Nazareth tournament, but we knew we'd get a better effort this go-around. We were certainly right as the match went to five exciting sets. We took the final set in convincing fashion, 15-9. Other set scores were 25-13, 23-25, 25-19, 23-25.
We won the championship! It's a great place to be in moving forward to SUNYACs in Potsdam this weekend. We have several things to accomplish before then, including several intense practices, two team work-outs, and a special dinner at Paulina's house in Baldwinsville!
Wish us luck this weekend :)