The TISA Titans boys and girls High School volleyball teams recently returned from their trip to Prague. This was our first time playing in a CEESA volleyball tournament at this level and both teams can be proud of the progress they made.
Tournament day 1
With the boys and girls teams playing three games each on the first day it was a busy start to the tournament. Our girls started strongly against an excellent Warsaw team and were unfortunate to lose the first set 25-9. They struggled to shake off that early setback and lost the game 2-0.
The boys started the tournament against the Moscow Penguins. Both sides began nervously but Moscow started to pull away. Although some excellent serving from the Titans closed the gap, Moscow won the first set 25-20. The boys played positively in the second set but found it tricky to slow down the Penguins’ momentum eventually losing 2-0.
Our Titan girls shook off their opening defeat and beat the Prague Junior Varsity team 2-0 in their second game. The consistency of their serving was too much for the energetic Prague team to handle.
Game two for the boys saw them square off against Prague. They had taken Coach B’s advice on board and worked harder on their transitions. The hard-hitting hosts proved too hot to handle winning 2-0.
The boys faced off against the Bucharest Vampires in their third and final game of the day. It was a real nail-biter with the boys losing the first set 25-19 and the second by 25-21. There is no doubt that the boys had improved over the course of the day and were looking forward to the next day’s play when they would face Budapest followed by Warsaw.
The girls began their final game of the day against Prague full of confidence. Although our Titans scrapped for every point, the hosts made life difficult for us winning 2-0 to wrap up the day. The girls can’t wait for tomorrow and face Moscow and Bucharest.
Tournament day 2
We awoke on the morning of the second day of the tournament to find snow had fallen over night. I think everyone was happy we had signed up for an indoor sport.
The girls started the day off against one of the tournament favourites, the Moscow Penguins. At one point the girls were eight points behind in the first set before bringing it back to 18-19. Moscow picked up a head of steam and clinched the set 25-18. Set two was an even closer affair with both teams trading points. The Titans fell just short losing 25-20.
The boys’ first game was against Budapest. The first set score line of 15-25 does not do justice to how hard the boys played. They went toe-to-toe with the Blazers in the second set but couldn’t quite push on to take the game to a tiebreaker. It was undoubtedly their strongest performance of the tournament so far.
With the next game against Bucharest quickly following on, there was little time for the girls to draw breath. They collected themselves and won the first set 25-12. The second set went to the Vampires, which meant a third set was needed to break the tie. A strong start saw the Titans build an impressive lead, but Bucharest dug deep with some excellent serving and eventually won 17-25.
The boys started their second game against Warsaw full of confidence after an excellent performance against Budapest. Warsaw entered this final group game unbeaten and the boys did spectacularly well to narrowly lose the first set 21-25. Warsaw’s power proved a little too hard to handle in the second set.
The girls played an epic three setter against Budapest. They won the first set 25-15 forcing the Blazer’s coach to bring on some heavy hitters. Budapest won the second set in some style, which put our Titans under pressure to respond in the decider. They played magnificently against a far more experienced side eventually losing 9-15.
Having begun the tournament against Moscow the boys found out they would be facing them in the 5v6 playoff. Moscow ran out as 2-0 winners but it was clear that it was our Titans who had made the most amount of progress over course of the tournament.
The girls faced off again against Bucharest in the 5v6 final. They controlled the first set winning 25-18. The second was a tighter affair, but they held out to secure an excellent 5th place in a tough tournament.
All of our athletes did the school proud on and off the court. Both teams were deserved recipients of the sportsmanship award. The host families in Prague had only positive news to share on the conduct of our students and we thank them for their hospitality. With two relatively young teams gaining so much valuable experience, the future of TISA volleyball looks rosy.
