14-Black CLC Champions!

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14-Black CLC Champions!

The EDGE 14-Black CLC Tournament Champions 02/04/12 Top Row L to R: Coach Shellie McConnell, Marybeth Barnes, Gabrielle Thomas, Emma Baubly,
Annie Brennan, Alyssa Forbes, Assistant Gordon McConnell
Bottom Row L to R: Taylor Schulte, Dallas Baker, Kelli Konsewicz, Maddy Eenigenburg, Paige Pannozzo

On Saturday, February 4th, 2012 The EDGE 14-Black captured the CLC Challenge Tournament held at the College of Lake County. The team, Coached by Shellie McConnell went undefeated during the tournament. Expectations were high as the 14-Black team was the top seed in the 12 team tournament. In pool play, the team started the day by defeating Stateline Panthers 14 in two games. After officiating the next match, the team moved past Sky High 14-Bykowski with strong aggressive serving. Again, the team would have to officiate the next match and sit for one before playing their final pool play match. After the layoff, the girls squared off versus TNT 14-1. Another quick start allowed The EDGE 14-Black to take the match in two games and helping them to a 6-0 games record in their pool.

The gold bracket at the CLC Challenge was reseeded based off of game record and then points. The EDGE 14-Black fell to the #3rd seed despite going undefeated in their pool. After officiating the first semi-final in which #1 seeded Next Level 14-Black defeated #4 Sky High 14-Harms, the team was paired with #3 seed Impact VB 14-Red. Unlike pool play, The EDGE 14-Black got off to a very slow start and found themselves trailing by about 8 points for the first half of game 1 vs. Impact VB 14-Red. Once the girls settled down and got comfortable with their passing and defense they were able to claw back to take the 1st game in a nail biter. The comeback momentum from game 1 did not continue into game 2 and the team found itself down by a decent margin for the entirety of game 2. After the loss in game 2 the girls knew they would have to jump out to a quick start to avoid losing in the semi-finals. In the 3rd set the team came out on fire with strong serving, solid defense, and aggressive attacking to take the game and match to send them to the finals.

In the CLC Challenge Finals #3 seeded EDGE 14-Black was up against #1 seeded Next Level 14-Black. This was a battle of the only undefeated teams left in the tournament. Like the 3rd set in the semi-final, The EDGE 14-Black came out fast and were able to build a solid 4-5 point lead for the majority of the 1st game. When the score got near 20 however, Next Level was able to build momentum and push the game to extra points. Both teams played very aggressive and The EDGE 14-Black was able to take the very close 1st set. In the second set The EDGE 14-Black again came out blazing and was able to maintain the early cushion through the games entirety to take the tournament championship for the 2nd time in the last two years. Great job team!

Match footage from the tournament: