Youth Team Championship Wrap Up

YOUTH TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH WRAP UP

The youth team came into the match really excited and mentally ready to play. The first set started by spotting them (USA White) 4 points. They responded well though and came back to tie it at 6. They continued to serve well, pass well and attack well and won the first set 25-18. The second set started the same way with giving them an early lead, but once again, the girls fought hard and didn’t let it rattle them. They gained a late lead at 22-21 and then battled hard before winning 25-23. The third set, they continued to fight hard but our passing and our defense struggled as their offense really kicked in a gear. This was our first “set” loss in the entire tournament so it was going to be interesting to see how the girls responded to it. Between the 3rd and 4th sets, Alaina reassured them that it’s just a set, that they had not won anything and we had not lost anything. We just needed to firm up our passing, play a little better defense and move on. And that is exactly what they did. They kept plugging along, fought hard and at 11-9 they really got some momentum and we burst to a 16-10 lead at the technical timeout. Coming out of the time out, USA made a run and closed the gap to 16-15. We regained our momentum though and outscored them 9-3 to win the set 25-18, and therefore the match 3-1 and therefore the entire tournament! GOLD MEDAL BABY!!!!

The girls were amazing the entire tournament. They took feedback from coaches Alaina, Josh and Scooter and didn’t question it, just did it. The chemistry between the girls was great both on and off the court and the coaching staff (Alaina, Josh and Scooter) really worked well together in motivating and assisting these wonderful young women achieve the excellence that the Intermountain Region has always shown and been so proud of.

High Performance is not just coming in, making a team and playing in a tournament, but representing our Region and themselves with the upmost respect which these girls have done. Beginning at training and continuing through the travel, competition in Florida and their behavior in public while representing us has been absolutely amazing. It is exactly what we expect from elite athletes that represent our region and is why we pride ourselves in being the leading region in High Performance. These girls that made up the Youth team exemplify exactly what we expect out of our HP Athletes…not the winning, but the manner in which they conduct themselves as well as their focused, hard work and determination and common goal to work as a team, and forget themselves along the way. The results is exactly what we just got!
The All Tournament team will be announced later this evening. We expect to get three on the team and we (coaches) know who they are, but for now, we will keep that a mystery!!!! Updates on that later this evening. How about that cliffhanger!

A few statistical highlights from the championship match:
Megan hit .324 with 13 Kills and passed a 2.3

Clotile had 11 kills, 5 blocks, 3 aces

Rae had 40 assists and 13 digs

Alydia had 9 kills and 8 digs and passed a 2.04

Taylor had 6 kills, 9 digs, 3 aces

Maline had 4 kills, 3 digs, 4 aces

Jenna passed a 2.0 and had 17 digs

Oh, and one more things….Ft. Lauderdale has some AWESOME BEACHES!!!!!

Thank you parents for giving us your daughters and making sacrifices for an amazing experience. We hope to have them continue in the program and take what they have learned here and represent their high schools and their clubs as well as they have represented our region.

Sincerely,

Alaina, Josh and Scooter