Playing site – Orange County Convention Center

Hotel – Radisson Celebration resort

Tuesday schedule

• 8am-12pm, 3pm-6pm team check-in at ESPN Wide World of Sports – Josten Center (only one person needs to go)
• 7pm Opening Ceremony at ESPN Wide World of Sports – Baseball Stadium

Wednesday schedule TBA -pool play, AM or PM wave

Thursday schedule TBA – pool play, AM or PM wave

Friday schedule TBA – pool play, AM or PM way

Saturday schedule TBA – playoffs

Saturday’s schedule – court 5, Pools

• 3:00pm vs Club 900.2, won 25-11, 25-12
• 5:00pm vs TAV Advantage, won 25-22, 25-9
• 8pm vs Texas Assault Black, lost 18-25, 20-25

Sunday’s schedule – court 6

• 8:00am vs Club Legacy National Blue, won 25-22, 25-22
• 10:00am vs Victory Elite Black, lost 18-25, 20-25

Final Standings

Kabooms + Jack

Wow, what a great way to end the season!

This tournament was the last chance for the national teams in our region to earn a spot in the 2012 national championship.  With the tournament’s top 4 finishers getting to go to Columbus in July, everyone brought their best effort, the competition level was extra high and the gym noise was more deafening than usual.

We wanted to bring our A game to this tournament to earn our 14th rank in the region and the girls sure did finishing 9th.  But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for us. In Saturday’s pool play we had a chance to even our score with Texas Assault but lost badly again. Fortunately we still made the Gold playoffs and the girls bounced back to do awesome on Sunday. We scored a win over Club Legacy where both teams competed hard and played with few errors.  The Kabooms then stepped up some more to play some of their best ball against Victory Elite Black (#3 in the region). We should not be in their league but the Kabooms more than kept up, leading each set. We still lost but it felt like a win  since the girls competed with great spirit and executed as well as they could. Great job, girls!

Friday’s schedule – court 5 Hall F, Pools

• 3:30pm vs Tejas 13 Red, won 25-9, 25-6
• 5:30pm vs Texas Tornadoes 13 Teal, won 25-16, 25-22
• 7:30pm vs Austin Performance 13 Puma, won 25-23, 22-25, 15-10

Saturday’s schedule – court 5 Hall F

• 8:00am vs Bragging Rights 13, won  25-16, 26-24
• 10:00am vs Summit 13 White, won 25-12, 25-1
• 1:00pm vs Dallas Force American Terri, won 25-7-25-11
• 7:00pm vs TAV Molten, won 25-10, 25-11

Sunday’s schedule

• 8:00am vs TAV Blue, lost 25-20, 23-25, 8-15

Final standings

This was the largest qualifier in the country (1423 teams) and we didn’t have much confidence going in with the team peaking out 3 tournaments ago and has been struggling to get to the next level of play on offense.  Winning with defense like we’ve been doing won’t be enough with this tournament.

But once the tournament began thanks to having Becca back from knee injury and Kristen not slowed by her ankle sprain, also by paying more attention to the passing game, the offense came alive for the team to go from a 55th seed to 5th seed by beating Austin Performance Puma to claim their position. The girls played great all weekend to win 7 straight matches before losing to TAV Blue to finish 9th out of 120 teams. Great job, girls!

Saturday’s schedule – court 3, Pools (play, ref, play, ref, rest, play)

• 8:00am vs Texas Image Elite, won 25-18, 25-15
• 10:00am vs Metro Heat Red, won 25-2, 25-7
• 1:00pm vs Instinct Cougars Elite, won 25-18, 25-18

Sunday’s schedule

• 8:00am vs TAV North Black, won 25-20, 25-12
• 10:00am vs Lone Star Smack, won 25-19, 25-16
• 12:00pm vs Excel National, won 11-25, 25-22, 15-8
• 1:00pm vs Texas Assault Black, lost 12-25, 18-25

Final standings

Springfling 2nd place Gold, yay!

This tournament was more exciting than usual with our friendly rivals Absolute Red and Texas Assault Black being there and all of us made it to the gold playoffs.  We were on track to meet with Absolute Red in the second round of playoffs, hoping to even our loss to them earlier this year in order to get rid of the -1.5 points deduction that has been lowering our ranking in the region (currently 16th). But Absolute Red lost to Lone Star Smack in the first round and the Kabooms did the next best thing by having a strong game to beat Lone Star Smack.

Then things fell apart a bit where we played poorly against Excel national and had to turn to our defensive game to grind out a win to make it to the finals to meet Texas Assault Black. We played another defensive game against Texas Assault hoping to pull out a win but was no match for their offense. We eventually unshackled our offense to be more competitive and had success here and there but didn’t have enough to turn the tide.

The loss was disappointing but placing 2nd out of 34 teams is plenty good. Not only that, the girls had to play the whole tournament with just 7 players (Becca out with hurt knee). We’ll take it any day. Great job, girls!

Saturday’s schedule – court 2, Pools (play, ref, play, ref, rest, play)

• 3:00pm vs Knights Royal, won 25-12, 25-13
• 5:00pm vs TAV 13 National, won 25-7, 25-12
• 8:00pm vs Club Legacy National White, won 25-10, 25-13

Sunday’s schedule – court 2

• 10:00am vs Dallas Summit Molten Blue, won 25-10, 25-13
• 11:00am vs Skyline Roshambo Royal, lost 25-14, 25-23

Final standings

We are a small team to begin with then had just 6 players for this tournament (Gillian on vacation, Becca hurt her knee) and nearly got disqualified Sunday morning having only 5 players when the ref wanted to start the game early.

But the girls did great. They rolled through pool play, having fun executing the quick sets and crosses they’ve been practicing. They earned a first round bye in the Gold playoffs, continued to play well and had a strong match against Skyline Roshambo Royal, especially in the second set where we had a 10 point lead and nearly won it.  Great job, girls!

• 9:00am vs Club Altitude 13 Blue, won 25-10, 25-6
• 10:00am vs ARVC131 Hanapa’a, won 25-15, 25-12
• 12:00pm vs Juggernaut 13 White, won 25-10, 25-8

Sunday’s schedule – court 56, Pools (play, ref, play, ref, rest, play)

• 8:00am vs Norco 13 White, won 25-13, 25-16
• 10:00am vs Believe 13 Jubilee, won 25-21, 25-10
• 1:00pm vs New Wave 13 Platinum, lost 25-10, 19-25, 9-15

Monday’s schedule – court 55

• 8:00am vs SA Magic 13-1, lost 20-25, 25-18, 14-16

Final standings

..

This was our very first out-of-town tournament and Colorado Crossroads was as good as advertised. The tournament was well run, the venue was great, downtown Denver was great, even the weather cooperated to give us 3 spring-like days.

The Kabooms started out as 45th seed out of 54 teams but showed some North Texas power to finish 9th. In the process, the Kabooms scored a win over the 5th seed, made the Gold playoffs, and came so close to beating the SA Magic team that won first place (qualifying for a spot in this year’s national championship). It was an exciting match where both teams put constant pressure on each other and neither could pull away. We had a slight upper hand in the third set but lost momentum in the final stretch to lose 14-16.  The close loss was tough to take but it was good to see the Kaboom girls hold their own against such a good team. Great job, girls!

Yet the best part of this tournament was how well the girls enjoyed being with each other on and off the court throughout the three days. This team already gets along yet they’ve bonded even more at this tournament. It was just great to see.

Saturday’s schedule – court 1, Pools (play, ref, play, ref, rest, play)

• 3:00pm vs Superior Sports Navy, tied 25-17, 15-25
• 5:00pm vs CTV Red, tied 25-12, 17-25
• 8:00pm vs JET Milbern, tied 23-25, 25-12

Sunday’s schedule – court 6

• 1:00pm vs Dallas Premier 13 Black, won 17-25, 25-23, 15-13
• 2:00pm vs Amarillo Juniors National Royal, lost 25-11, 25-27, 15-17

Tournament results

Talk about a wild ride. In Saturday’s pool play, the team was inconsistent all day, playing great for stretches then goes into the tank inexplicably. We were on our way to miss the Gold playoffs for the first time since the club was formed.  Luckily we were still in contention despite a 2-3 record going into the last set (25 point game) of the day. We needed to win the set to get to 3-3 record and also to win it by at least 9 points against a JET team that had just beaten us 23-25. The girls stepped up just in time to win 25-12 to continue our streak of Gold playoffs.

Sunday was a different story, the girls played their best ball to date with no let up whatsoever. They scored a come from behind win over Dallas Premier Black. Then battled a talented Amarillo Juniors National Royal team to the wire where a lucky bounce or two would’ve won us the match. It was great fun to see the girls coming back to play so well after a rough Saturday to finish 3rd in this tournament. Great job, girls!

Saturday’s schedule – court 2, Pools (ref, play, rest, play, ref, play)

• 4:00pm vs Nitro Elite Black, won 25-21, 25-7
• 6:00pm vs 900.2, won 25-14, 25-18
• 8:00pm vs TAV Black, lost 14-25, 18-25

Sunday’s schedule

• 8:00am vs Texas Image National, won 23-25, 25-12, 15-3
• 9:00am vs Skyline Roshambo Royal, lost 13-25, 11-25
• 12:00pm vs Tejas Rox, lost 23-25, 16-25

Tournament results

This was the second of North Texas Region’s three ranking tournaments where the best teams come to play. With us finishing 21st at the first ranking tournament and seeing how other teams have improved, we were a little nervous.

For Saturday, our goals were to beat Nitro Black whom we had a tied game with a week ago, and to make Gold playoffs. The girls did both.

On Sunday, we got a little greedy and wanted to finish 9th but stumbled a bit not able to get past Tejas Rox to finish 16th.

The highlight of this tournament was getting to play against Skyline and TAV’s top teams. We’re no match for them but it was good to see the Kaboom girls play unfazed and well against them.

Texas Fest next weekend would be our 5th tournament in 6 weeks. That’s a lot of competition but the girls are handling it very well, learning to bounce back from tough losses and are getting better each week  as we prepare for Colorado Crossroads later this month. Go Kabooms!

Saturday’s schedule – (Hall F) court 14, Pools (play, ref, play, ref, play, rest, play)

• 8:00am vs TNT Hughes, won 25-19, 25-9
• 10:00am vs Instinct Cougars Elite, won 25-12, 25-14
• 12:00pm vs Nitro Elite Black, tied 25-20, 25-27

Sunday’s schedule – court 12

• 8:00am vs Club Legacy National Blue, won 25-18, 25-16
• 10:00am vs Texas Image Mizuno Kristen, lost 25-18, 17-25, 11-15

Tournament results

This tournament nearly went down the tube when team captain and 5:1 setter Kristen sprained her ankle in the very first match. Gillian and Madeline filled in as setters and the rest of the team stepped up and turned to their defensive game to grind out points to win their pool on Saturday.

In the Gold playoffs on Sunday, the girls stepped up some more in reducing unforced errors to win against higher ranked Club Legacy. The Kabooms kept up their good play against Texas Image Mizuno to win the first set but didn’t have their usual level of offense without Kristen to close out the deal.  We finished tied for 5th place which is as good as we could hope for.  Great job, girls!

Saturday’s schedule  –  court 9, Pools (ref, play, rest, play, ref, play)

• 4:00pm vs Instinct Cougars National, won 25-14, 25-18
• 6:00pm vs Club 900 13.3, won 25-22, 25-18
• 8:00pm vs Club Vertical Black, won 25-18, 25-21

Sunday’s schedule – court 9

• 9:00am vs Tejas National, lost 25-14, 8-25, 15-8
• 11:00am vs Ellis County Nationals, lost 20-25, 19-25

Tournament results

This was one of the the three “ranking” tournaments of the season where the best teams in the region came to sort out the region’s pecking orders.

The catchphrase “two steps forward, one step back” sums up our weekend. The girls did good improving their offense to win their pool on Saturday, in the process beating Vertical Black whom they lost to last weekend. Then on Sunday, despite all their efforts, the team didn’t play their best and lost twice in the Gold playoffs, even the consolation match, for the first time.  As the result we finished 21st out of 48 teams, well below our expectations.

The team was well situated in the playoffs for a deep run thanks to good pool results but just couldn’t hang on to the opportunity. Still, what we love about these girls is that with two tough tournaments in consecutive weekends, they were given the choice of not having practice on Tuesday and they said no, wanting to get back to work. That’s the spririt!