Tournament Reports

The GMVC-17 Thunder travelled to Columbus, OH for the 2008 OVR Regional Championships. The Thunder finished pool play with a 1-2 record and a 3-way tie for 2nd place. The Thunder won the tie-breaker to move up into the Aluminum Bracket. They won their first match in Aluminum and then lost a close match in the semifinals to take home the Bronze Medal with a 3rd place finish in Division III. The Thunder finished 51st out of 110 teams at the event. Great Season Ladies!!!!

The GMVC-18 Lightning travelled to Columbus, OH for the 2008 OVR Regional Championships. The Lightning entered the tournament as one of the first teams in the history of the GMVC to be playing in Division I at the Regionals. The Lightning found themselves playing some of the best teams in the Region as they went 0-3 in pool play losing some close matches that were well played. This sent them to the Copper Bracket where they lost their first match in three sets. This gave them 29th place out of 65 teams. 29th is the third highest finish in GMVC history. Great Season Ladies!!!!

The GMVC-16 Storm travelled to Columbus, OH for the 2008 OVR Regional Championships. The Storm entered the tournament as one of the first teams in the history of the GMVC to be playing in Division I at the Regionals. The Storm had a very up and down day finishing 1-2 in pool play putting them into a three-way tie for second place. After the tie-breakers, the Storm found themselves third in the pool with a place in the Bronze Bracket. They then lost their first match in tournament play to finish in 21st place out of 157 teams. This is the 2nd highest finish in the history of the GMVC at the Regional Championships! Great Season Ladies!!!!

The GMVC-14-1 Tornados travelled to Columbus, OH for the 2008 OVR Regional Championships. The Tornados entered the tournament as the first team in the history of the GMVC to be playing in Division I at Regionals. The Tornados finished pool play with a 2-1 record and tied with Spirit VBC for 1st place. Since the Tornados defeated Spirit earlier they won the tie-breaker to make the GMVC's first ever trip to the Gold Bracket at Regionals. They lost their first match in the tournament to a very tough Aleta Aces team. This gave them a 5th place finish out of 187 teams. The finish gives them the highest finish ever by a GMVC team at the Regional Championships. Great Season Ladies!!!!

The GMVC-14-2 Typhoons travelled to Columbus, OH for the 2008 OVR Regional Championships. The Typhoons struggled some on the day going 0-3 in pool play to enter the Kryptonite Bracket. They also lost their first match in tournament play to finish in 93rd place out of 187 teams. The Typhoons showed a great deal of improvement throughout the course of the season. We are all very proud of your accomplishments. Great Job Ladies!!!!

The GMVC-17 Thunder travelled to Marion, OH for an 8-team tournament. The Thunder went 1-2 in pool play and ended up in a 3-way tie for 2nd place. The Thunder won the tiebreaker to get the 2nd place spot in the pool which moved them into the Gold Bracket. The Thunder then lost a close one in their first match of the tournament to finish in 3rd place overall. This tournament was also the final regular season tournament of the year for the GMVC. Regionals kick off next week!

The GMVC-14-1 Tornados and GMVC-14-2 Typhoons both travelled to Union City, OH for a 12 team tournament. The Typhoons finished pool play at 2-1 to finish in 2nd place in their pool and a spot in the Gold Bracket. The Tornados finished pool play at 3-0 to win their pool and also earn a spot in the Gold Bracket. The Typhoons lost a tough match in the first round of the tournament to finish in 5th place. The Tornados were able to win their first two matches in tournament play to enter the Gold Championship with a perfect 5-0 record. They then captured the first set of the championship, but failed to close out against an ME Lyons team that was playing pretty well on the day as the Tornados lost the last two sets. The loss gave the Tornados a 2nd place finish in the 12 team event.

The GMVC-18 Lightning travelled to Sidney, OH for an 8 team tournament that featured two teams ranked in the top 10 in the region. The Lightning started the day off pretty well winning thier first two matches of the day. They then gave the #5 team in the region (Grandlake-Outlaws) an excellent match in a close loss. They finished 2-1 in pool play to end up in 2nd place with a spot in the Gold Bracket. In their first tournament match, the Lightning played the #10 team in the Region (Grandlake-Piranhas). The Lightning struggled in the first set but played a good second set to give the Piranhas a good run. The Lightning though came up short to end the day in 3rd place in the 8 team event.

The GMVC-16 Storm travelled to Lebanon, OH for an 8 team tournament that featured some of the top 16s teams in the region. The Storm had a fantastic day going undefeated in pool play to finish 1st in their pool at 3-0. This placed them into the Gold Bracket. They were then able to win their first match in the tournament to advance to the Gold finals. The final match was against our good friends from Sports Express (the #10 ranked team in the region). The championship was an outstanding match for both teams as it got pushed to three sets. The Storm were able to come out of the third set with the victory and their second championship in a row. It is also a record-setting fourth Gold Championship for the GMVC. Great job ladies!!!! This is an excellent way to finish out the regular season going into the Regional Championships!!!!

The GMVC-13 Hurricanes travelled to Union City, OH for a 9-team tournament. The Hurricanes finished pool play with a 4-0 undefeated record in the unique double pool format of a 9 team event. This placed them in the Gold Bracket. In their first match in the tournament the Hurricanes came up just short losing in the first round to place 5th in the 9 team event.

The GMVC-16 Storm travelled to Fort Loramie, OH today for an 8-team tournament. The Storm finished pool play at 3-0 to capture first place in their pool and advance to the Gold Bracket. They then were able to win their first match in tournament play to advance into the Gold finals. After winning the first set the Storm found themselves trailing by a pretty big margin in the second. They then staged a brilliant come-from-behind victory in the second to win the match and capture their first Gold Championship of the season. The title is also the third Gold Championship for the GMVC this year which ties the mark set by last year's teams. Great job ladies!!!!

The GMVC-13 Hurricanes completed a great run in the two-day OVR Regional Challenge event at Hiram College today. The Hurricanes started on Saturday finishing 2-1 in pool play to finish 2nd in their pool and advance into the upper group for Round 2. On Sunday they ended up finishing 2-1 again in pool play to advance into the Gold Bracket. The Hurricanes then played a very tough match with the #1 team in the region pushing them to three games and just losing the third 15-13. This gave them a 5th place finish in the 24 team event. This is also a great finish given the fact that the Hurricanes were missing two players from the roster for the weekend. Great job ladies!!!!

The GMVC-18 Lightning travelled back to West Virginia as they played in an 8 team tournament in Parkersburg. The Lightning started the day out very well with many different offensive looks and combinations and some of their best offensive play of the year as they started 2-0 in pool play. They then started to struggle a little with serving and defense in their third match to go 2-1 and finish in 2nd place in their pool. They then went on to play a tough match in the first round of the Gold Bracket losing the first set on a couple of controversial calls 29-27. The Lightning struggled to gain any momentum and went on to lose the match and finish 3rd in the 8 team event.

The GMVC-17 Thunder travelled to Oxford for their fifth tournament of the season. The Thunder started with an outstanding day in pool play when they went undefeated at 3-0 (including a win agains the #1 seed for the tournament) to capture 1st place in their pool. This placed them into their first Gold Bracket appearance of the season. The Thunder then went on to win their first match of tournament play to advance to the semifinals where they lost their first match of the day. This gave them a 3rd place finish in the 12 team event.

The GMVC-14-1 Tornados travelled to Piqua for their fifth tournament of the season. The Tornados started the day very strong going undefeated in their pool to finish in first place and take another trip to the Gold Bracket. They won their first match in two sets in the tournament to put themselves in the Championship match. They lost a close one to Western Ohio in the championship to finish in the runner-up position. This gave them a 2nd place finish in the 7 team event.

The GMVC-14-2 Typhoons travelled to Xenia for an eight team tournament that featured some pretty high ranked teams. The Typhoons struggled in pool play to finish in 4th place sending them to the Silver Bracket. They won their first match in the Silver to play for the Silver Championship where they came a little short to finish in 2nd place in the Silver Bracket. This gave them a 6th place finish in the 8 team event.

The GMVC had a pretty good weekend at the West Virginia Spikefest! All 6 teams moved into the upper group after the first round of pool play guaranteeing themselves a spot in either the Gold or Silver Brackets. The 18s team just missed the Gold Bracket on Saturday night by 3 points in a tiebreaker and finished 11th out of 24. They also suffered an injury when setter Brittany Weinheimer went down with an ankle injury on Friday night. The team stepped up though to play in a very evenly matched pool on Saturday night that involved every match going to 3 sets that were all very exciting. The 17s also had a pretty good weekend finishing in 11th out of 24 teams. They finished 2nd in their pool on Friday and 3rd on Saturday. The 16s started the weekend undefeated on Friday, but then struggled on Saturday and Sunday. They ended up 13th out of 24 teams. The 15s had a good weekend when they also went undefeated during their first round of pool play. They also just missed going to the Gold Bracket when they lost a thriller in their last match in the second round of pool play. They finished 11th out of 24 teams. The 14-2 team had a great weekend putting themselves in the upper group after the first round of pool play. They have shown remarkable improvement over the course of the season and did quite well in their first multi-day event of the year. They finished in 13th out of 24 teams. The 14-1 team had the tournament of the weekend at the Spikefest. They finished 2nd in their pool in both the first and second rounds. This placed them in the Gold Bracket. They then defeated a tough team from Sports Express in their first round to move to the Gold semifinals to play the number 2 team in the Region. They played a very close match just falling short and finished in 3rd out of 24 teams.

The GMVC-17 Thunder played in the Dig or Die and took the knowledge that they learned at the MEQ and put it to good use. They just missed qualifying for the Gold Bracket when they just barely lost to the Nati Crew the #1 ranked team in the region. They ended pool play at 1-2 with a trip to the Silver Bracket. They then won their first match in the Silver tournament and then went on to win the Silver Championship in their final match. The Thunder have shown some huge signs of improvement after having to recover from some line-up changes with injuries and unfortunate events. They are now starting to gel as a team and are looking forward to more great events in the near future.

The GMVC-15 Cyclones wrapped up their weekend at the MEQ. The Cyclones also had many close matches in this 15 National tournament and had several valuable learning experiences. The Cyclones have shown vast improvement since the start of the season and are looking forward to taking what they learned about their defense into their remaining Regional schedule to continue to find themselves competing for Gold Championships in the tournaments to come. The Cyclones finished the weekend with a 2-5 match record and a 5-10 set record. They also had a pretty nice score percentage of 82% on the weekend which shows how close some of their matches were. The team is looking forward to coming together as a group and taking these experiences into the remainder of the Regional schedule to achieve some great successes as they head towards the Regional Championships in May.

The GMVC-14-1 Tornados wrapped up their weekend at the MEQ. The Tornados also had many close matches in this 14 National tournament. A few points here and a few points there were the difference in their finish and what could of been and even higher finish as they had a few extremely close matches on the weekend. The Tornados concluded the weekend with a 1-6 match record and a 4-12 set record with a 77% score percentage. They concluded the tournament when they lost a close match in the Flight 3 bracket on Sunday. The Tornados also look forward to using the experiences gained from this National level event to compete for more tournament championships in the remainder of their Regional schedule.

The GMVC-13 Hurricanes wrapped up their weekend at the MEQ. The 13s performed quite well over the weekend for being a 13s team playing in a 14 National level event. While they did not win a match the entire weekend, it was a great learning experience for the team playing in a National event in an age group higher than they normally due due to the different age rules for National tournaments. The Hurricanes had many close matches over the course of the weekend and just struggled to close them out including their first match in the tournament on Sunday where they just barely lost in three sets and actually outscored their opponent in the match. The Hurricanes finished the weekend 0-7 in match record and 1-14 in set record with a 77% score percentage. The Hurricanes look forward to taking the experiences gained at the MEQ and making the most of them as they enter back into their Regional schedule.

The GMVC-16 Storm participated in the Dig or Die tournament at the Nutter Center in Dayton. The Storm started the day in a 3-team pool and had to play the best 3 out of 5 in pool play. They won both of their matches in three straight sets to capture their pool with a 2-0 record. The Storm then won their first two tournament matches in the Gold Bracket to find themselves playing for the Gold Championship. Their opponent in the Championship match was a Dayton Juniors team that is currently ranked #1 in the region. The Storm took the first set 25-16 from Dayton Juniors. They then just barely lost the 2nd set to go to a 3rd. The Storm then struggled to get the momentum back in the 3rd set and lost to finish the tournament in 2nd place out of 15 teams.

The GMVC-18 Lightning participated in the Dig or Die tournament at Sports Express. The Lightning started the day out very strong with two very impressive victories. They then needed to win only one set in their third match to guarantee a 1st place finish in their pool. They came just short of doing that though in a tough match against a strong blocking Northstar team. The Lightning finished pool play 2-1 and in a 3 way tie for first. After the tiebreaker, the Lightning found themselves in 2nd place with a trip to the Gold Bracket. In the Gold Bracket, the Lightning started strong taking the first set 25-22 over SOVC. They then had some stuggles from the service line and lost two 5 point leads in the second set with 7 missed serves to lose it 22-25. They then fell in the 3rd set to cap off a rather productive day which showed some huge improvements over the start of the season. They ended the day 5th in the 16 team tournament.

The GMVC-14-2 Typhoons traveled to Huber Heights for their third tournament of the season. When they arrived they found that they only had 3 teams in their pool and had to play the best 3 out of 5 in their pool play matches. They finished pool play 1-1 which put them in 2nd place and placed them in the Gold Bracket for the 3rd time this season. They lost their first tournament match to finish the day in 3rd place out of 7 teams.

The GMVC-16 Storm conclued their run in the three day MEQ on Sunday. The Storm had an amazing run in the MEQ for the GMVC. An unfortunate injury to Taylor McConney on Friday meant the Storm had to make some adjustments and the team stepped up to the challenge. The Storm had a fantastic Saturday going 3-0 on the day and putting themselves into the highest bracket available to them after Friday. They won their first match in the bracket, but then lost a hard fought match to fellow Cincinnatians (Cincy Classics) in the semi-finals. The Storm concluded the event with a 5-3 match record and a 10-8 set record. Their point % (total points scored divided by opponent's points) was 108%. The Storm concluded the event 77th out of 145 teams.

The GMVC-18 Lightning concluded their run in the three day MEQ on Sunday. The Lightning played in some absolutely thrilling matches during the weekend and represented the GMVC very well. Unfortunately, a couple of points here and a couple of points there made a big difference on the weekend and they came up just short several times of pulling out some big wins that could have placed them in one of the top brackets of the event and had them looking at a 50th place finish or higher. The Lightning concluded the event with a 2-5 match record and a 6-11 set record. Their point % (total points scored divided by opponent's points) was an amazing 92% which shows how close many of their matches were as the entire 18 Club division was full of some very competitive and evenly matched teams across the board. The Lightning concluded the event in 93rd out of 110 teams.

The GMVC-17 Thunder concluded the three day MEQ on Sunday. The Thunder played the MEQ as an 18s team due to national tournament rules about age groups being slightly different than the OVR regional rules. The Thunder concluded the event with a 1-6 match record and a 2-12 set record. Their point % (total points scored divided by opponent's points) was 66%. The Thunder concluded the MEQ in 93rd out of 110 teams.

The GMVC-15 Cyclones traveled to Middletown, OH for their second tournament of the 2008 season. The Cyclones went 1-2 in pool play and found themselves in a three way tie for second place in the pool. The Cyclones won the tie-breaker to advance to their first Gold Bracket appearance of the season. They won their first tournament match and lost a tough match to SOVC in the championship to finish in 2nd place in the 8 team event.

The GMVC-14-1 Tornados traveled to Hilliard, OH for their first tournament of the 2008 season. The Tornados went 2-1 in pool play but still finished in 1st in their pool due to a tie-breaker to move them into the Gold bracket. They won their first match in tournament play and faced a team they had defeated earlier in the day for the Gold Championship. The Tornados unfortunately came up short to end the day in 2nd place in the 8 team event.

The GMVC-17 Thunder traveled to Sidney, OH for their first tournament of the 2008 season. The Thunder barely missed getting into the Gold Bracket and finished 1-2 in pool play to finish in 3rd in their pool placing them in the Silver bracket. They won their first match of tournament play to move into the Silver Championship where they lost to finish in 6th place at the 8 team event.

The GMVC-16 Storm traveled to Reynoldsburg, OH for their first tournament of the 2008 season. The Storm finished 2-1 in pool play to finish in 2nd place in their pool. They had a real close match against Southwest VBC but just came up short to finish in 2nd in their pool. This qualified them for the Gold Bracket. In tournament play the Storm won their first match relatively easily and then won their second match in a 3 set thriller that propelled them into the Gold Championship match. In the championship match, a worn out Storm team lost another heartbreaker to Southwest VBC (the number 2 ranked team in the region) to finish in 2nd place in the 12 team tournament.