Our 13s team played in the the 14s Mandatory 2 Tournament this last Sunday at Artesia High School.

The day started out as it usually does for the Starlings: meeting at 4:30 am in the old Von’s Parking lot. 2 Families forgot the ‘Spring ahead’ time change. Thanks to the fact that we were the second seed in the bracket, which meant we had to referee the first game, we were all able to get to the venue in time to play. The venue itself was not the greatest, both for viewing and for moving on an off the court.

The first complication to the day was the ‘no show’ by the fourth seed. The remaining coaches agreed to a ‘3 games to 25’ format, which meant the first two teams had to come back onto the court and play another game, and that the Starlings had to play 6 games in row without a break.

The long ride and the lack of warm up time and space reared its head in the first game. The team lost the game 23-25 due mostly to the 7 service errors.

The second game started out fairly even, then Jazmine Stenger-Smith strung together a solid run of 8 serves with 6 aces to have the Starlings pull ahead by a comfortable margin. A key kill by Hitter Michaela Metcalf halted a comeback attempt by the other team and the Starlings went on to win 25-14.

The third game featured great service runs by Brooke Nelepovitz and Allie Sliva with 8 serves and 5 aces and 6 serves and 4 aces respectively. Solid Serving by Becca Stoffel and solid defense by libero Grace Tesdale rounded out this match’s victory.

The fourth game featured generally solid play by the starlings. Jazmine lead the offensive charge with 9 serves 3 aces and 2 kills. Grace and Becca made solid defensive plays throughout. Hannah Farmer made a key pass to keep a long rally going and gave the Starlings a critical point. The Starlings won by 25 to 23 with the 5 missed serves making the game a bit too close for Coach Stokes’ comfort

The fifth game was fairly even until the end. Lead by Brooke’s 5 kills, the Starlings held on until the end, but ended up losing 20 to 25.

The sixth game was the most exciting of them all. If the Starlings won this game, it meant a move up to a higher bracket. There was solid play all around with great defensive plays and only one service error. Key kills by Allie, Michaela and Becca kept the game within Starling’s favor. With injured player Sara Cordes providing moral support, the Starlings battled neck and neck with the other team. With the score tied at 23, Maddy Perez was serving for the first time in a tournament. Maddy showed no effect of the pressure, and got both of her serves over the net and the other team was unable to return either. The Starlings won 25 to 23.

On Sunday we took our 13s and our 14s teams to the High Desert Starlings U14s Tournament in Apple Valley.

Our 13s team was probably the youngest team in the tournament. Six of the nine players on that team are young enough to play on a U12 team and the other three are just barely too old to play 12s. There were four teams in the 14s tournament - our two teams a team from Tehachapi and the host High Desert team.

Our 13s started out the day against the Tehachapi Team. They won the first game close but then lost the next two. Their second game was against our 14s team. This was the game that our 13s had been looking forward to all week. Our 14s were not taking this match very seriously and the 13s were pumped up and ready to pull off an upset. Which they almost did, but their upset hopes faded in the face of two close losses - 23-25 and 22-25. Regardless of the scores, both teams enjoyed playing against each other.

Our 13s third match was against the host team from High Desert and the won the first game 25-22 and then cruised to a 25-13 victory in the second. This win was enough to earn them a 3rd place finish. But more importantly it showed them that they could play and compete with 14 year old teams. It also showed ever one at the tournament that they were a great team to watch as they really enjoyed themselves on the court.

Our 14s team started the day with a close 2 game match win over the host High Desert Starlings team 25-23, 25-22. In this match our 14s team struggled with their rotations and getting their offense on track. This confusion continued into our second match with our sister 13s. Our 14s managed to win this match by the scores.

The 14s last match of pool play was against the 2-0 Tehachapi team. Our team managed to get their rotations straightened out and they played a lot better in the first game winning 25-22. But they stuggled through the second game to a 19-25 loss. This loss was the first of this young teams playing career and they didn’t like it. This drove them to a third and final game victory 15-9.

This gave our 14s a 3-0 lead and first place in the tournament. However the tournament officials had decided before hand to have the first two teams in the pool play each other again in a championship match. So we took to the court again for a best of three playoff match.

Our team struggled again through the first game losing it 18-25. They were down in the second game when Ashley stepped up to the serving line and started pounding service aces at our opponents. After turning our four point deficet into a five point lead Ashley decided to throw in a few jump serves. After three more aces she suddenly grabbed her side and doubled over in pain. Since the team was on a roll and feeling good I didn’t want to call a time out. So I subbed her out for our libero, and yelled to the players to swtich our offense to a 4-2 since Ashley had been the active setter in our lineup. The team handled the change well and after a few minutes on the bench Ashley was feeling much better and able to return to the game. which we won.

In the third and last game of the tournament our team let Tehachapi run up an early lead then they slowly started taking back points. Fueled by Alyssa’s mini serving streak and Ashley’s hitting and some great digs by our libero Allie our 14s closed to game to 13-14 when our opponents bumped up and overpass and our outside hitter trying to put the ball away got a little over powerful and caught the net with her wrist ending the game and match in Tehachapi’s favor.

All in all is was a great day. Our 13s discovered that they could play with the older 14s. Our 14s found a few things they have to work on. But they had some wonderful discoveries also. The best of which is a few defensive players. Samantha made some great plays on defense. But the best of the day was Allie who was playing libero for the first time. She covered the court well on offense and defense. She was strong, fast and made several great passes. However her substantial accomplishments were overshadowed by Ashley’s hitting and serving and she was awarded the tournament MVP honors for the tournament.

Final schedule will be posted online before Christmas

Sundays – Castle X – 16s: noon-3PM,    13s: 3PM-5PM,    14s: 5PM-8PM
Mondays – Kerr McGee Center – 13s:  8PM – 9:30 PM
Tuesdays – Castle-X – 14s: 6PM – 8PM
Wednesdays – Kerr McGee Center – 13s: 8PM – 9:30PM     16s: 8PM – 9:30PM
Thursdays – Castle-X – 16s: 6PM – 8PM    14s:  7:30PM – 9:30PM

Our schedule for the holiday season is:

Sunday Dec. 21 – Practice at Castle-X. 16s: noon-3PM, 13s: 3-5PM, 14s: 5-8PM

Tuesday Dec 23 – Open Volleyball at Castle-X 6PM-8PM – All Teams

Thursday Dec 25 – Have a very Merry Christmas

Sunday Dec 28 – Christmas Party at Castle-X noon-6PM plan on learning how to keep score in volleyball, referee, play some games, have some fun. Details will follow later from your team Moms.

Tuesday Dec 30 – Open Volleyball at Castle-X 6PM-8PM – All Teams

Thursday Jan 1 - Have a safe and joyous New Year

Saturday Jan 3 – 16s Tournament – Victorville

Sunday Jan 4 – 14s Tournament – Victorville

We are taking all three teams to a Starlings tournament in Victorville on Jan 3 and 4.

January 3rd:  Division 16’s  8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

January 4th:  Division 14’s  12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The 16s will have to leave town around 6 AM and if they stop for lunch before heading home, should be home around 4 PM.

The 14s will leave town around 10 AM and should return around 8 PM.

All team members and parents should meet in the Vons Parking lot, 10 minutes before their departure time. Hopefully we can to minimize the number of cars we have to take to the tournament.

There is a possibility that the schedule for this tournament may change.  The organizers may move the 16s to Sunday morning if they do not get more 12s or 18s teams signed up.  Stay tuned for more details.

We will hold a brief parent meeting before all team practices on Thurs. December 11.

U13s

The 13s team parents will meet at 6:00 PM at Castle-X. We will meet while the basketball team finishes up their practice. Meeting will end by 6:30. The 13s team will still practice from 6:00 to 8:00 that evening.

U14s and U16s

The 14s and 16s team parents will meet at 6:40 at the Kerr McGee Center. The 14s and 16s teams will still practice from 7:00 to 9:00 PM that evening.

Topics for the meetings:

1. Schedule and format of SCVA tournaments

· Tournament rules

· Tournament format

· What to expect at tournaments

· How we plan to travel to tournaments

· Optional Tournaments?

2. Parent volunteers:

· Team Mom (or Dad)

· Travel coordinator

· Photographer/Videographer

3. Fund Raising

4. Starlings Holiday Season Plans

The December Practice Schedule for the Ridgecrest Starlings 13s team is:

Tuesday November 25 - 6 PM - 8 Pm - Castle-X  (Optional Open Volleyball for all Starlings Players.  Just come play some volleyball.)

Wednesday December 3 - 7 PM - 9 PM - Kerr McGee Center

Thursday December 4 - 6 PM - 8 PM - Castle-X

Saturday or Sunday December 6/7 - TBD - Castle-X

Wednesday December 10 - 7 PM - 9 PM - Kerr McGee Center

Thursday December 11 - 6 PM - 8 PM - Castle-X

Saturday or Sunday December 13/14 - TBD - Castle-X

Tuesday December 16 - 6 PM - 8 PM - Castle-X

Thursday December 18 - 6 PM - 8 PM - Castle-X

Saturday or Sunday December 20/21 - TBD - Castle-X  (if you are leaving town for the holidays this weekend you are excused from this practice.)

Starlings Christmas Party - TBD

The Ridgecrest Starlings U13s team has been set.  All the players were sent home with paperwork last night.

The registration papers and first payment is due at their next practice, which will occur after Thanksgiving.  We will call all the players and let them know when their first practice will be.

We are delaying their start to the season for couple weeks because their coach is on vacation with her husband who has two weeks off from his deployment in Iraq.  I believe that these young athletes should start their season with their coach.

The paperwork that was sent home and will be required is:

• Starlings Waiver
• USA Volleyball Waiver (two sides)
• Medical History
• Player Information Sheet