Riptide 16 Blue
2011 Badger Region Championships Recap:
Riptide 16 Blue completed their season at the Badger Region Championships on March 19 and 20 at the Wisconsin Expo Center. Riptide 16 Blue competed in the 16 Open Division, piting themselves against the top competition in the state.
Day 1 started out with heartbreak. Riptide lost a closely fought match against Adversity Wisconsin 16 Black. In a match that really could have gone to either opponent, Riptide lost in two sets 24-26, 22-25. The girls had to return to the court right away for the second match of the day. While this match presented a different opponent, it ended with the same feeling. Riptide dropped another intense, nail-biting match to G-Force 16 Select in three sets 22-25, 25-23, 13-15. Next, Riptide ran into a confident Muskego Stars 16 Blue team, and found themselves on the losing end of a two set match (15-25, 11-25). In their final match of day 1, Riptide was matched against the top seeded team in the state, Wisconsin Juniors 16-1. While Riptide played one of their better matches of the day, Wisconsin Juniors proved to be too much (18-25, 15-25).
Riptide 16 Blue returned to the court on day 2 on a mission to prove they belonged with the state's elite teams. In their first match of the afternoon, they quickly disposed of Midwest Penguins 16-2 in two sets, 25-17, 25-17. Riding some of the confidence after securing their first win of the weekend, Riptide matched up against the Muskego Stars team that easily defeated them on day 1. Riptide pushed Muskego to the limit in the first set, but eventually dropped a close on, 26-28. Riptide returned to the court for the second set, and took an early lead. They wouldn't look back, winning the second set 25-21 and forcing a deciding third set. As teams exchanged leads throughout the entire third set, they found themselves knotted at 13-13. Riptide couldn't hold off a late Muskego run, and eventually dropped the set, and match, 14-16. Coach Pat and the girls returned to the court for their third match in a row, and this time emerged victorious in a closely constested three set match against Midwest Penguins 16-1 (11-25, 25-23, 15-6). In their final match of the season, Riptide 16 Blue played another nail-biting three set match. This time, however, they were unable to hold off Next Level VBC 16-1: 25-14, 18-25, 13-15.
A successful season came to a close for Riptide 16 Blue in Milwaukee. While their 2-6 match record was actually better than three teams who finished ahead of them in the standings, 16 Blue fell victim to their day 1 struggles. They finished in 16th place out of 17 teams competing in the 16 Open Division. Yet, they succeed in proving that they deserve to be considered among the Badger Region's best teams.