Youth Team Match #7 vs. Iowa Recap

Intermountain Youth defeated by Iowa 2-3 (25-22, 20-25, 25-19, 19-25, 13-15)

Statistical Leaders
Digs - Jenna (16)
Blocks - Tasi (9)
Aces - Kaitlyn (3)
Passing - Jenna (2.09)
Kill % - Tasi (.285)
Kills - Kaitlyn/Maline (7 each)

Thoughts from Scooter:
Tonight was a tough one. We came out strong which is something that we have not done this whole tournament and won the first game. Then it became a see saw battle. Game 2 went to Iowa, Game 3 to us, Game 4 to Iowa and then Game 5.......we did not start all that well and never could quite regain our composure. We finally made a run at the end and then I made a bonehead coaching move and made an illegal substitution. I was in the heat of the moment, went to put in Cortney for her incredible serving and had forgotten about the "international rule" that says only 1 player can sub for the other. I had already subbed Bailey in for Maline which meant I could not sub Cortney then for Bailey (it would have to be Maline)...this is not the rule in club volleyball but that is no excuse. I blew it and so rather than the score being 10-12 for Iowa, we were down 10-13. The girld fought hard and scored three straight to tie it up but we were over powered in the next two points and lost the match. I will always wonder, had I not made that mistake, would we be playing in the finals tomorrow? We'll never know and I'm sure that I will not sleep much tonight as I try and keep from throwing up over my mistake. These girls have earned the right to play for a championship and I am sick and feel so sad for them knowing that we won't be playing for it. We do, however, get a chance to gain a little revenge on the Oklahoma team that we lost to last night as we will be playing them for the third place title.

I have been so proud of all these girls and I really enjoyed our team party tonight. All of the family members came. We ordered these great sandwiches from a local eatery here and they sure were tasty. The parents brough drinks and desserts. After we ate us coaches made a little presentation. We had each of the girls come up one by one and tell us about their favorite moments, things they have learned and anything else they wanted to share. As they came up we gave them each a journal that they could write down their experiences, write notes to each other in, collect addresses and anything else they wanted to put in them. They seemed to really like that. We then gave out individual statistical awards. In International volleyball, they give out 7 individual awards as they relate to statistics. Our winners were:

Best Spiker (Tasi)
Best Blocker (Tasi)
Best Server (Dannen)
Best Digger (Jenna)
Best Setter (Rae)
Best Receiver (Jenna)
Best Scorer/MVP (Maline)

I shared my thoughts with the family members and expressed my desire and hope that all the girls have learned something that they can not only take with them to their next team but something that they can apply to their everyday life.

We hope to end tomorrow with a win before we come back to Salt Lake tomorrow night. Hopefully we will be able to blog before we get on the plane but not sure if we will have internet access. If not, then i will give a full recap once we return to Salt Lake.

Thoughts from Jenna and Kaitlyn (nobody else seems to want to write):
This morning we got to sleep in a little later again! AHHHH....wasn't that great! Then we went miniature golfing...and who was it that said they were gonna demolish us?...scooter...but did he back that up...NO!! Rae totally beat him out!! For the rest of us...we should just stick to volleyball....let's leave it at that. :) Now about volleyball....today we played against Iowa. They were a good team but we had them the first game and the third. And we took them to a fifth game, where we only lost by two points. It was a close game we just needed to give a little more to finish it off. Now the best we can do is place third. We will play the team that we played yesterday and lost to, so we're gonna come out even stronger and push even harder! That's all we have to say for today. Keep it real!!! PEACE! :)