|
ILLINOIS BLUE
began the tournament ranked as the #2 overall seed. The Blue squad
had an easy time handling Indiana B (even though it was early) and
then beat the Alumni B in 3 games after letting the second game slip
away from them. Lastly in pool play the Blue took on Wisconsin and
put them away to advance to the Gold Bracket. After a long break,
the Blue squad was revived and put away Iowa State A and Ohio State
to advance to the Championship Match. The Illinois Blue Squad was
matched up once again against the Alumni B team - but for the title
this time. The Blue squad came out fired up and won the first game,
however faltered in the second game. The third game was close and
brought a lot of intensity with some great plays from both teams.
In the end, the Illinois Blue Squad won the match and the title of
2009 Champions of the Illini 16 Invite. The Blue squad was led by
outsides senior Emmett Culligan and junior Karl Miller. Junior
middle Mike Walsh really stepped up during the playoffs, playing
"out of his mind" by getting some huge blocks and putting just about
every ball he touched to the ground. Junior setter Mike Ashida also
played great all day. With the absence of setter Doug Burchett,
Ashida had to play the whole day without rest, and he really
connected well with the hitters. The Blue will be going to
Wisconsin the weekend of November 21st during Thanksgiving Break.
ILLINOIS ORANGE began the day in
Pool 1. The Orange team had a great start to the tournament by
beating the #1 overall seed in Indiana. Led by Keith Podalak’s
stellar defense and a well-balanced offense, the Orange came out of
their pool in first place. However after a long break, the Orange
stumbled against Ohio State in their opening round playoff match in
the Gold Bracket.
ILLINOIS WHITE started out the day by playing COD, where they
had a rough time; however, they came back the next match to beat the
high seeded Illinois State A squad. After losing a long, tough
match to Purdue in 3, the White entered the Silver Bracket as the
top seed. Defeating UIC and Indiana B, the White tied with Indiana
A for the Silver Championship because all the gym time was run out
and they could not play the match. Oscar Grajeda led the team in
digs and was a dominant force in serve receive. Dan Fey led the
team in kills while Karl Nerger displayed an immense amount of
intensity that sparked the White squad.
THANK YOU ...
-
To all the Teams
that came out
-
To all our Alumni
who participated in the tournament
-
To all our Fans
that came out
-
To all our Parents
for the delicious food spread
We hope you
enjoyed yourselves as much as we did!
|
