Update Day #3

Hi everyone. Here is the update on how we did today and what the scenarios are looking forward.

Match #1 vs. Chile
The girls came out playing very well. Passing was good, attacking was good, blocking was good, defense was good and serving was good. We won the first 2 sets and then fell apart a little in the 3rd and 4th and lost. In the 5th set we took control again. McKenzie blocked their best player (#14) 3 times, Ciara Stastny served 10 balls in a row that were really tough, keeping them on their heels and Sariah had some great defensive efforts. We beat them in the 5th 15-3!

Match #2 vs. Aloha
Teams from the island are always known for great defense and passing and for being very scrappy and they were no exception. We came out a little sluggish from our very quick hour and 45 minute break and lunch and Aloha was very fresh as this was their first match of the day. Aloha came out very solid, passing well, attacking well and serving well and really put it to us in the first set. We were able to gather our composure and battle back to win set 2 fairly easily. Sets 3 and 4 would remain very close throughout.....no team ever had a lead bigger than 3. Through great attacking by McKenzie and Ciara on the outside, Hannah on the right and Chloe/Rachel in the middle and by great setting from Stacey and defense/serving from Sariah, Jessika and Ciara S we were able to battle a very tough team and come out on top, winning the match in 4 sets.

So...what does that mean now in the overall picture?

We are currently 2-1 in our pool of 5 teams, with one match remaining against Ohio Valley tomorrow morning. There are 2 pools of 5 in the Gold Division. The winner of each pool will play for the Gold Medal. The 2 second place teams will play for Bronze. The 2 thirds for 5th place and so on. Right now we sit 2nd in our pool behind Badger who beat us yesterday. Badger would need to lose and we would need to beat Ohio for us to have a chance to play for the Gold Medal. we can't look at that though as Ohio is a very good team and we need to focus our attention on winning that match at 8am tomorrow morning.

Tonight, the team is going into the town of Wisconsin Dells to eat and shop and look around before coming back and getting to bed early in preparation for our early morning match.