Going completely against my previous post, and speaking as someone who experienced both ends of the “winning” spectrum this weekend, I can say that my air scales are tipped toward the winning side.
The Midwest Juniors 14s White team was in Arora, IL Sunday for the Asics Mikasa Invite at the Straight Down Sports Center. Right out of the gate, Alliie served 16 straight points in game one. I don’t care who you are, it’s tough to come back from 16 points down. We held on to take game one handily. Game two featured our first come-back victory of the season as we eeked out a 25-23 win. Match one won! Match two was forgettable as we fell quickly to the eventual 14s champion.
On the surface, the third match of the day looked winnable, too. Could this turn out to be our first multiple match winning day? After watching our third match opponent split games with the first team we beat, we knew the opportunity was there for a win. I can hear you – Cut to the chase already! We won the that match and earned a birth in the playoffs. Playoffs?!? (Cue the Jim Mora clip here…) Unfortunately, that meant more waiting for us fans while all teams finished pool play.
As the fifth team in the six-team playoff, we played in round one. A hard-fought battle between us and them left us on the short side of a 25-23 game. Game 2 fared worse as we didn’t have it in us to climb out of an even deeper hole.
Our best showing of the year was well worth the 2+ hour ride. Congratulations girls! Build on this and finish the year strong.