17U Black 13th in Vegas

This past week 17U Black completed our major road trip of the season and finished 13th at the Las Vegas Invitational 17U Open, which is a showcase for the best 17U and 18U volleyball on the continent. With 500+ teams and 600+ scouts attending this tournament, we often had 30 or more scouts watching our matches.

SCVA Las Vegas Invitational 17U Open final standings...

The 13th place finish does not reflect how well the girls played. Or perhaps it does, but you need to translate what 13th in Vegas means in local terms. Every single match was as tough as the finals at Nationals West or Ontario Provincials. Our girls commented that they have never had so much fun playing volleyball as they did against the Vegas competition. There is a whole different level of volleyball being played down there, and as some of the parents who went to Dayton this same weekend told me, "you have to see it to believe it... it is pretty humbling."

Still, it was a bittersweet finish, with players and parents wanting and deserving to play in the final 8. And but for a handful of points at the end of a long day of battling the best the U.S. has to offer, the girls would have been there. It was a great experience that showed both what the girls are capable of doing and allowed them to set their sights on the next level of volleyball they want to elevate their play to.

To the credit of our players, to Anne, and to our Club, we can play at that level. Our skills line up differently than theirs, but as a cohesive team we can compete with their best. Our challenge in Canada is to improve our programs to develop our players to be strong enough and fast enough to enable our teams to win.

Pre-Tournament

Las Vegas is a great environ with lots to do pre-tournament. Grand Canyon and Hollywood are day trips, and Hoover Dam is minutes away. T-shirt weather all week. Fantastic shows in town. Of course the casinos. And there is that "U.S. shopping" that somehow excites the female hormone.

This (or Crossroads) should be a "must" destination for Attack teams as they come of age. It is only with competition of this calibre that we are going to continue to improve. Many, many people wanted to know when we were coming back to play.

Day One

Welcome to Vegas! The girls were seeded in tough company, but they quickly earned a lot of respect. Opening first thing Saturday a.m. against the team ranked #2 in the nation for 2008, Dallas Skyline. Our girls took the first set and traded two-point games before succumbing in the tie-breaker. Dallas parents that we spoke to became our instant fans, expecting and hoping to see us again in the final 8. And we liked them too. They had some truly spectacular hitters and like many of the teams we saw had a lot of intensity and a lot of class.

We also had a tough match with Washington's KJ17 Baden trading 18-point games then eking out a two-point tie-breaker. And a slightly easier match against California's Spectrum 17s.

As the Prep Volleyball newsletter said the next morning "KJ Baden... landed in the pool with the unknown Canadian team, Durham Attack. They lost to the tall Canucks which also eliminated Epic 17-1 on Sunday..."

We ended Day One feeling that we had played well and we were set for the competition early the next day. Parents behaved, no late night in the casino, we were early to bed.

Day Two

And we were up bright and early on Sunday and knew how to navigate ourselves to Sierra Vista HS where our power pool would play. Except that sometime late on Saturday they reworked the pools and we arrived at Sierra Vista to find, to my horror, that we were not listed in the teams playing there. After some quick work on the internet, and thanks to having a couple GPS's on the team, we were able to relocate to Spring Valley HS, about ten miles away, in time to warm up.

Which was maybe to our benefit. I'm not sure if our new pool was easier; after playing the teams I'm not sure it was. But when we arrived our girls were all business and had little time to get distracted. We took the court against three very tough teams and proceeded to establish a reputation as "that team from Durham". In fact one of the coaches invited us to come back to play against teams in the San Diego area as, like ourselves, it is difficult to find teams that truly challenge you. The U.S. teams benefit hugely from continually having superior competition, and after a toughly fought power pool our U.S. friends decided we should come back down and play the area teams.

First was 9th seed San Diego Epic who is ranked top 20 in the new 2008 national rankings. It was a tough match but we beat them in 2, and this started a buzz in the gym. Next we took on 2nd seed Encitas Wave who are ranked #4 in the U.S. this year and who finished 5th at the JO's last summer. They feature a number of all-state players. But by this point we were in the zone and playing some of our best volleyball, though it took a tie-breaker to beat them. Finally we defeated Coast 2-1 to finish 3-0 in our pool and cement our position in the top 16 of 89.



We retired to Mama Jo's for a fantastic pasta meal, then went back to the main venue the Cashman Centre for our first 'breakout' (cross-over) game. Our 4th match of the day was against VIA 17 Danny from Louisiana, and though we did not play that well it was under control and took us to the final cross-over into the top 8. Fifth match of the day, 7th including our refereeing assignments. Our match against 7th seed Gold Cal Juniors was a heart-breaker. They are ranked #10 in the U.S. for 2008 and are another big team with strong hitters; they eventually finished 2nd overall. This was our fourth tie-breaker of the day and somehow Cal Gold was given a bye and was fresh for this one. It was neck and neck the entire match but we ran out of gas and lost 15-12 in a tie breaker. Though no-one expressed it, I think everyone was hugely disappointed as our girls belong top 8 as most of our previous opponents would attest. Nonetheless to their credit they held their heads high.
Day Three After losing the last cross-over we were in a pool playing for positions 9 thru 13. We came out flat and lost to what is purported to be a 'sleeper' team from Portland that we would have man-handled the previous day. Whether or not it really mattered to the girls I don't know, but the lesson here is it takes a huge amount of stamina and focus to make it all the way through the gauntlet of teams to the podium. If we were playing in the top 8 I know we would have played well, but to make it through to the finals would have taken a herculean effort and stronger organization to support the girls. So finishing 13th of 89 teams in the 17U Open division (with 110 other 17U teams in the weaker 17U club division) is a great accomplishment, especially since half our matches were against top 20 ranked U.S. teams for 2008. In local terms its like winning Nationals West over again. But in our heart of hearts, and likely in the eyes of many of our opponents, we know our girls belong top 8, and when we next encounter this level of competition that is where they will strive to be.
Observations Like our sister 18U team that went to Dayton, the level of competition is a bit of an eye opener, but a necessary one to allow us to set new goals. The game is twice as fast as we are accustomed to playing, "pool play here will feel like slow motion". But playing at that level is the most fun the girls have ever had playing. The physicality of the players and the hitting was huge, an eye opener. Even the smaller players jump through the roof. The average player hits the ball far harder than us, and on the good teams every single player hits the ball as well as our best. Yet as a team we are able to run a more sophisticated offense and score enough points to be very competitive. One-on-one we can't always compete in the power game, but as an overall team we can. The challenge is to improve our strength, speed and individual skills to be more competitive one-on-one. Players start much younger, on organized teams at age 10, with high nets. Indoor teams play as a team year round, training up to 4 times per week, at dedicated facilities. Teams have a huge amount of energy on the court, are continually moving, much more movement on the court than we have been taught. The energy of some teams was truly impressive. The Jammers from Hawaii (ranked #10 nationally) come to mind, they were infectious, like a Quebec team that digs everything but with huge hitters and a tropical vibe. To play at that intensity through to the finals takes a team that is more organized than we were, where everything is in place to support the team. Local teams with motor homes and furniture and other things to set up team picnic areas had an advantage. Finally, I cannot recall seeing a single team with "attitude". Teams were very competitive, but always in a nice way. There isn't a lot of room for cockiness or bravado, either you can deliver on the court or you can't.

all photos...