The 15U Girls, Apex Smash, participated in the Super Volley tournament over the past weekend. On the first day of play, the girls started with an early morning draw against the VVA (Eric) team from Victoria. With a loud vocalist on the team, Katie Ketchum was able to keep team spirits high and the girls easily beat the Victoria team 25-8, 25-9. Apex Smash was now set to face Focus Slam. The Focus team gave some difficulty to Smash but with all around good passing and setting, the girls were able to slam Focus winning 25-14, 25-20. With a strong start to the morning and winning all their sets, it was inevitable that Apex Smash would finish either first or second at the end of the round robin. In the final game of the round robin, Apex Smash played Altruista Black. Led by Katie Pham, the Altruista team was no match for Apex, losing both sets 14-25, 8-25. Overall, at the end of the round robin, Smash placed second. Now playing cross-overs and the final game of the day, the girls were set to play Focus Storm who seeded first in their pool. Although it was becoming a long day, Apex Smash came out loud and vocal on the court, determined to win this game. With nearly perfect passing from Maddy Weicke and killer serving from Anahita Feraidoonian, the girls took the first set in a close one 25-23. To hold their lead, Smash continued to play hard but fell short in the second set 12-25. Going into the third set, Apex was able to keep the momentum up and played very well under pressure. Focus and Apex were trading points throughout the entire set. With the final effort, and the score 15-14 for Focus, the girls were not able to close out the game. The loss to Focus (14-16) was not only a hard fought one but it definitely showed the potential of this team and how well they can play.

In the second day of play, Apex had only two games left in the tournament. They started by playing a high ranking Kodiaks team. The girls started off slow but were able to gain valuable experience by playing a high caliber team. Apex Smash lost in straight sets to the Kodiaks. In their final game of the tournament, Smash looked to play against Air Attack Black. In the first set, the girls showed fatigue and angst to the long weekend. Falling short in the first set, Apex was able to regain some energy and played hard in the second set with some big blocks and hits in the middle by Sirada Pittayakornpisuth. Winning the second set, Apex Smash pushed in the third set to finish the day on a high note. With a huge run on serving, Anahita Feraidoonian was able to keep Apex up 13-8. Unable to finish the game, the girls lost the final set 14-16.

The weekend was full of volleyball and lots of learning. Overall, Smash placed in the top half of the Super Volley tournament. This is a great accomplishment but the girls are striving towards improvement for their next tournament.

Audrey Wong