Presidents Day Challenge Recap: FaR Out 16 Red wins 16 Open/Premier
The finals of the 16 Open/Premier Gold Bracket in the Presidents Day Challenge was all about momentum swings. Thankfully for FaR Out 16 Red, the last and biggest momentum swing went to them. Scoring 14 of the final 15 points…
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Continue ReadingThe finals of the 16 Open/Premier Gold Bracket in the Presidents Day Challenge was all about momentum swings.
Thankfully for FaR Out 16 Red, the last and biggest momentum swing went to them.
Scoring 14 of the final 15 points in the third and deciding set of the championship match with Toledo Dynamic Volleyball 16 Elite, FaR Out won the contest 25-23, 23-25, 15-4.
“We all worked really hard this week and we all came out with a lot of confidence and belief that we could win this,” FaR Out captain and libero Lauren Peal said. “We just had to not overthink things and swing hard. We knew we could put the ball away if we put our best swings out there.”
Being able to cruise in the third set was staged by a second-set rally that came up just short for FaR Out. Trailing TDV 19-10, FaR Out fought back and got the score down to 24-23 before an attack error gave the set to Toledo and forced a third.
“It wasn’t as much about the last set as it was the second set when we were down 19-12,” FaR Out coach Alan Kaufman said. “We decided that we were going to play and battle as much as we could and we got it to within 25-23. That momentum took us into the third set and really allowed us to control the rest of the match.”
Adysen PorterTDV would take a 3-1 lead to start the third thanks to a pair of kills from captain Kamryn Wolf. However, FaR Out took over from there. Kills from Alison Deweerd and Adysen Porter put the score at 4-4 and FaR out would score the final 11 points of the match off the serve of Emma Whitley. She finished the match by record two aces over the final three points.
Errors cost TDV during the rally, as the 11-point surge started with a service error by Toledo and the team made four attack errors during the run.
“We didn’t achieve our goal, but it is what it is,” TDV coach Kevin Young said. “We made some silly mistakes in the third set. We weren’t fundamentally sound at times, but the girls did give a good effort all weekend.”
The first set was similar to the second, but in reverse. FaR Out jumped out to a 20-13 lead, only to see TDV cut the score to 24-23 before Deweerd finished the set with an offspeed kill the landed in the back row.
FaR Out reached the final by picking up a three-set win over Munciana 16 Wolfpack, 25-18, 22-25, 15-13. TDV defeated Inside Out 16 Mizuno Black in its semifinal by scores of 25-15, 25-20.
FaR Out had plenty of hitting throughout the weekend, as Morgan Fugate led the way from her outside hitter position. Fugate was doing a little bit of everything on the court and providing a lot of powerful attacks to guide the team to the championship.