A Win

The Rocky Select 14 Select team I coach managed to turn things around at the Colorado Crossroads qualifier. After a rough first day (0-3), they came back as fighters. This despite the fact that our first day meant we were in the bottom half of the bracket.

They worked hard day 2, with 4 matches in a row and only a 30 minute break. They eked out a 3-1 record, but tied with two other teams and lost the tiebreakers on points. They’re still young, and it’s hard to stress to them that giving up points can come back to haunt you. We ended up going 2-0 on the third day, against not very good competition, and ended the weekend at 97th. We still had a few smiles.

This past weekend was our next regional tournament. We’d dropped to Division 4 after a rough last outing and we were worried. They’d forgotten about Crossroads two weeks ago and practices haven’t been very focused.

They worked hard, beating the first team easily, but then struggling a bit against a boy’s 13 yr old team. We were better, but somehow let them get ahead of us. We managed to easily win the third set, and then worked hard to beat another team in 3. Again, we should have won easier, and did win going away in the third, but it was a struggle. More than it should have been.

I was worried about the crossover match. The two #1 teams play and 1 of them moves up to Division3. Sometimes 2, but we don’t count on that. I worried we’d had an up and down day, and might not finish strong, with our next outing in Philly in two weeks.

The girls played well, and the other team wasn’t very good. Not sure how they were #1, but we won easily, 25-14. Closer than it should have been, but not really close.

We won again, and the girls were happy. Many of them from last year’s team, where they’d only won once. This is our second tournament win and hopefully we can get one more in Division. 3.

Now for more training before another national qualifier in Philadelphia.