Hoosierland Volleyball Club - Spartans

Congratulations to 2012 Spartans:

Allison - Springs Valley
Scottie - Eastern Greene
Casie - Eastern Greene

For helping to lead the 2012 ICGSA Senior All-Star South 1A/2A Team in defeating the North Team 30-32, 25-20, 15-11.

Congratulations to the 2012 Spartans who made All-State:

Allison - 1st Team Class 1A - Springs Valley
Scottie - 1st Team Class 2A - Eastern Greene
Casie - 2nd Team Class 2A - Eastern Greene

Good luck at Semi-State to 2012 Spartans:

Scottie & Casie (Class 2A Eastern Greene)
Becca (Class 4A Columbus East)

Just over three years ago, after wrapping up a poor run at Nationals, I spoke with my Assistant Coaches about changing our team name. In year's past it's gone anywhere from Barracudas to Zebras and I wanted a name that encompassed the way I wanted the team to play. After a lot of discussion, we decided on the Spartans for a couple of reasons. One, they were considered historically as the fiercest army ever created and second, their greatest triumph came at a moment when all the odds were stacked against them.

It didn't really change the way we trained physically, but it changed the way we trained mentally.

As we approached Nationals this year, I was as confident as ever. We had some really good practices and I felt that with each tournament and practice we were really performing at our best. Little did I know that the team we walked in to Nationals with, was not the team we walked out with.

To give you a little bit of insight to how the tournament works, here is a little overview. All 140 teams are put into 3 or 4 Team pools.

Day 1 - Teams finishing 1, 2, or 3 in the pool Advance to Day 2.
Day 2 - Teams finishing 1 or 2 in the pool Advance to Day 3.
Day 3 - Teams finishing 1 or 2 in the pool play a Challenge Match that evening to determine who moves on to Day 4.
Day 4 - The Top 16 Teams have been placed based on the previous 3 Day results and only those 16 teams have a chance to win the Club Championship.

Day 1

As we walked into Day 1, the challenge to the girls was to go out and get the 17th seed. We were seeded 117 out of 140 teams and was given the 4th seed in our 4 team pool. A 3-0, 1st place finish in our pool would have given us the 17th overall seed in the tournament. However we were given our first test of the tournament before play began. One of our captains was given news the night before that her great grandfather had passed away.

Knowing this event would weigh heavily on her mind, she gave us everything she had and I was really proud of the way she played throughout the day.

We began with Kairos who we defeated 2-1. To me, it was a nice confidence building start. It wasn't a great win by any means, but it was a win. I had hopes that beating Kairos would give us a little momentum against a Louisiana team that had high hopes. It wasn't meant to be as we dropped 2 straight sets against LAVB. With one match to go against what looked like the least talented team in our pool, I felt that we had a locked up a 2-1 record which was good enough for 2nd in our pool, grabbing the 53rd seed in the tournament. We took care of business against Belusa, but I was very disappointed in how we played the match. So much that I knew if we didn't change the way we approached the rest of the tournament, the Spartans would be making a very early exit out of the tournament.

Then things got screwy, the #2 seeded Kairos defeated the #1 seeded LAVB and put the Top Three teams in the pool in a 3 way tie. Because our match with Kairos went three games, we ended up taking the 3rd seed in our pool allowing us to advance but making our climb to the top feel near impossible the way we were playing.

Day 2

After looking through our pool for Day 2, I knew that it was going to take a near perfect effort to finish 1st or 2nd. We started off playing a very tall and athletic team, Volley FX out of New York. Game #1 didn't start out very pretty as we took a loss 18-25. As Game #2 started, it seemed as though we were starting to click and making some progress when it happened... the other Co-Captain, while making a play at the net went down with a severe ankle injury. There was obviously no plan for this and all the team could do was to rally each other and play their hardest for a teammate who has dreams of playing in the future. And boy did they ever. Winning Game #2 in improbable fashion 28-26, the Spartans had 15 points to pull out another win to give them a chance to advance again. The team poured their hearts out for 15 points and won the match and shocked everyone with a 15-12 Game 3 win.

Because of the results of Day 1, we were again seeded 4th in our 4 team pool and most 4th placed teams are expected to go 0-3. The way the matches are scheduled, the 4th seeded team starts of their schedule playing the 2nd then 1st place teams in the pool. It's definitely not the best place to be and after playing two 2nd second seeded teams, the Spartans were 2-0 and at this point, 2-0 in 3 Game matches.

Our emotions hit a wall the second match of Day 2 as we competed against Rolling Thunder who would eventually make it to the Elite 8 of the tournament. Again an ultra athletic team was too big and fast for us.

At this point, we were flying by the seat of our pants, changing and tweaking the lineup to get the most our of all our kids. Another win would give us a 2nd place finish which again was improbable at the beginning of the Day and which seemed impossible when our Co-Captain went down for the tournament.

It was during this match the kids really started to believe in themselves as we took on a very good and seasoned team out of Minnesota. However they didn't make it easy and the Spartans won Game #2 30-28.

It was a very emotional two days, and nobody imagined that the tournament would start to unfold this way, but this is what made me proud. Both Days 1 and 2 started out with major mental challenges and when it effects one person it ends up effecting the team. The individuals responded, and the team started to respond. Needless to say, we all rested well that evening.

Day 3

When we looked at the Pools Tuesday morning, the prospects looked good. This time we started off as the 3rd seeded team in our 4 team pool which matched us up with another great team, Chicago Ultimate, who made it to the Gold Medal Round on Day 4. With an early loss, our backs were against the wall and we had to have two wins to have any chance at a Challenge match that evening.

It began with a match against Dunes out of Northern Indiana. Another exciting and intense 3 game match where the Game 3 score ended at 20-18, the Spartans gave it everything they had. A win against KIVA would give them 2nd in the pool allowing them to play in the Challenge match that evening. Furthermore, it would guarantee a higher finish than the year before. The Spartans took care of business and finished in two straight games, 25-21, 25-19 giving them a one match shot to finish in the Top 16.

CHALLENGE MATCH: The Challenge Match matched us up against Rolling Thunder who we played previously and after a good start, the Spartans couldn't hold on. Rolling Thunder defeated us in two straight games and we were headed to the Premier Bracket.

Day 4

Day 4 was simply about revenge. Two teams we saw on Day 1 LAVB and Kairos stood in our way to the Premier Championship. LAVB was one loss that I knew we should have gotten back and so the girls did it again in a three game fashion defeating LAVB in Game 3 15-11. Kairos was the reason we took 3rd in our pool Day 1 so the girls were ready to go after them and they did making it an uneventful 2 game win.

The run fell short as we took a loss to A2, eventual Premier Bracket Champions.

Couple things to take away from this tournament:

1) I'll be shocked if there was a team that made a bigger jump from original seeding to where we ended up. Easily more than 100 places from start to finish.

2) We never held a seed higher than 3rd in our pool. Day 1 - 4, Day 2 - 4, Day 3 - 3. Probably didn't happen to very many teams.

3) We went 4-0 in 3 Game Matches. That took a lot of guts.

4) Because we carry a roster of 10 kids, we're not very deep. We used everyone on our bench and got a lot of mileage out of each kid.

5) Finally... winning these tournaments are very difficult to do. So the goal next to winning them is to make sure you get as much out of yourselves as possible. This includes athletes and coaching staff. The thing I'm most proud of is that. We got everything out of each other... every ounce of energy we could muster up in difficult situations and we were able to pull it off.

Even after sitting through the weekend, I smiled as I thought about what the team had accomplished. I couldn't be more proud of team bearing the name, "Spartans". For four days, these kids lived it!!!

As our great photographer/videographer/facebook updater always says, "WITH IT OR ON IT"!

Even though the season just ended 21-25....

Really proud of the way The Spartans fought and battled the last 4 days.

They will return to Bloomington "With It!"

Minor setback 20-25....just have to win the next 2!

Go Spartans!!!

Another one down, Spartans are still marching.....25-18!

1st set.....25-23!

Still battling......15-11.....

Still playing......25-22!

Go Spartans!