- 17H won their pool on day 1. Then backed that up with 2nd on day 2 to earn a challenge match and a chance at the Gold bracket. In the Challenge match they defeated Club Fusion 17s 26-24 and 25-23 to advance to Sundays single elimination Gold bracket play.  In their 1st Gold bracket match on Sunday they came up against the #1 seed and 5th place finisher. In a hard fought match the 17’s came up just short in game 1 with a 24-26 loss and a 12-25 loss in game two.  This is the highest place finish at a National Qualifier by an Impact team in our club’s 3 year history.

Impact 16 Highline – 43rd out of 149

- 16H after placing 2nd in their 1st pool on Friday they beat Ocean Breeze 16 Quicksilver to force a 3 way tie in their 2nd day pool where they had the best point differential of the 3 teams. In the play in match for the Challenger Match they faced Ocean Breeze again and lost a very tight match 20-25 ending their hopes of reaching the Gold bracket. Sunday started off with a win over Low Country 16, 26-24, 25-19 and in the second match of the day they lost to Magnum Red 16, 26-28 and 18-25. It was a great weekend for the 16’s as they fought hard in each match and represented Impact Volleyball Club very well with a fight till the end attitude.

Impact 15 Highline – 19th out of 133

- 15H finished the tournament with a 7 – 3 record. 15H won their pool on Friday and took 2nd behind a tall and athletic team IC Stars 15 (finished 9th overall) in the 2nd day pool to set up a challenge match to see who will advance to the Gold bracket. In a 3 game thriller with Fort Myers Fusion 15 National (finished 3rd overall) 15H came up a little short in there bid to make the Gold bracket falling 10-25, 26-24, 9-15. On Sunday they started with 2 wins before falling to Coastal 15 Blue to take 3rd in the Silver Bracket. 15H’s parents had a big part of the successful weekend with all their “dancing” on the sidelines. “Whatever it takes” was heard spoken several times throughout the weekend.

Impact 14 Highline – 19th out of 100

- 14H took 2nd in their 1st day pool with consistent all around play and their near upset bid to the #1 seeded team in the tournament A5 Mizuno Earl (finished 3rd overall) in 3 game set loss with the final score of game 3, 15 -12. The 2nd place finish set up a challenge bracket match that could have gone either way.  14H came up short of the Gold bracket with the loss to CJV 14 Solstice (2nd overall) in 2 games 21 – 25, and 22 – 25. In back to back games 14H took the #2 and #3 finishers in the tournament to the brink of upsets with consistent play in both the offensive  and the defensive parts of their game.

Impact 13 Highline – 19 out of 63

- 13H finished 2nd in their day one pool and fought hard in their pool play on Saturday finishing in 3rd. They lost a close match in the 3rd game to Ocala Power (finished 9th overall) 25 – 15, 22 – 25, 8-15. The loss prevented them from advancing to the Gold bracket but proved they can play with the top teams. They won their 1st match on Sunday beating A5 Mizuno Marge, 25 – 13, 26 – 24. This is a great start for the 13H team at a National Qualifier. With the confidence that they now have they can’t wait until the Lone Star Qualifier.

Team                                         Division                               Place

17 Highline                             Club                                       2nd of 40

16 Highline                             Club                                       9th of 56

15 Highline                             Club                                       13 of 72

14 Highline                             Club                                       3rd of 72

13 Highline                             Club                                       5th of 56

Team                      Division         Place

17 Highline          Open               3rd in Gold

16 Highline          Open               1st in Silver

15 Highline          Open               2nd in Gold

14 Highline          Open               3rd in Gold

13 Highline          Open               4th in Gold

Congratulations to the 12 Classic team on their 5th place finish and the !!!

Team                      Division         Place

16 Classic             Club                17th

15 Classic             Club                9th

14 Classic             Club               35th

12 Classic            Open               5th

11 Classic            Open               13th

Congratulations to the 15 Highline and 14 Highline teams on their 1st place finish!!!

Team                      Division         Place

17 Highline          Open               2nd in Gold

16 Highline          Open               4th in Gold

16 Classic             Open                2nd in Silver

15 Highline          Open               1st in Gold

15 Classic             Open                4th in Gold

14 Highline          Open               1st in Gold

14 Classic             Open               3rd in Silver

13 Highline          Open               3rd in Gold

12 Classic             Open               2nd in Gold

A BIG congratulations to the 12 Classic on their 5th place finish!!!

Team                      Division         Place

17 Highline          Open               9th

16 Highline          Open               23th

16 Classic             Club                17th

15 Highline          Open               20th

15 Classic             Club                 9th

14 Highline          Open               15th

14 Classic             Club                33rd

13 Highline          Open              23rd

12 Classic             Open              5th

11 Classic            12’s Open       39th

Team                      Division         Place

17 Highline          Open               7th

16 Highline          Open               15th

16 Classic             Club                13th

15 Highline          Open               12th

15 Classic             Club                 3rd

14 Highline          Open               25th

14 Classic             Club                27th

13 Highline          Open              17th

12 Classic             Open              13th

11 Classic            12’s Open       27th

Team                      Division         Place

17 Highline          Open               9th

16 Highline          Open               23th

16 Classic             Club                12th

15 Highline          Open               20th

15 Classic             Club                 9th

14 Highline          Open               31st

14 Classic             Club                23rd

13 Highline          Open              19th

12 Classic             Open              11th

11 Classic            12’s Club       10th

“We are extremely pleased with the turn out and the talent of the players who showed up tonight, and we are anxious to get the season started” stated Impact Director Travis Ferguson.

Impact Volleyball will field 10 teams this fall, competing in the North Texas Region of USA volleyball, including HighLine teams that will travel and compete in tournaments in Atlanta and Houston. Impact skills clinics continue every Sunday night, 6 pm to 8 pm at the RISE in Rockwall. Price to attend is $20.00.

USA Volleyball encouraged all participating teams to “pink out” the Atlanta Convention Center on Saturday.  Impact teams came in sporting pink socks, hair ribbons, shoe laces (thanks to the efforts of Rachel Hilton), and warm-up shirts.  The event allowed our girls to get their heads outside of the relatively small scope of the qualifier and become active agents of change in the lives of millions of women fighting this dreaded disease.  Jillian Webb, 16 HighLine libero, took a special interest in the cause, taking it on a school service project, as well.

Despite the last minute decision to engage in the “pink out” and fundraising, Coach Toler was able to organize our girls and have a positive impact.  We look forward to this year’s Dig Pink events and anticipate an even greater showing by our teams.

If you would like more information about the USA Volleyball Dig Pink campaign or would like to know how you can get involved and support this noble cause please visit the Dig Pink link at www.impactvb.com.

Meanwhile, AVA Performance has been brutalizing a lot of older teams on the Tour and in local touraments. The only problem is that Texas Tornados Mizuno clocked them in the MEQ third place match a couple of weekends ago and it is the Tornados, and not AVA, that already has the Open bid. And that came after AVA swept a deep and talented Mad Frog team that had a strong second place showing in Omaha.

SSVBC won the second stop on the Tour despite losing in pool play to the Tornados, so they move into the #5 position.
The rise of the Tornados and SSVBC send Austin down a couple of positions. The AJs are hard to figure out. They went 0-4 at second stop on Tour but have traded wins with TTM.

Advanced VB Amarillo maintains its #7 position while TAV Molten, coming off a strong showing last weekend in which they pushed TAV Asics to the limit, moves into #8. That drops Skyline and Braggin Rights, coming off a first place finish at Houston Crosscourt, down a place.

Falling out of the ranking to make room for SSVBC and TAV Molten are Alamo Kaepa, PVP Plastic and El Paso Sunspots. But expect more turmoil among this age group over the next couple of months.

State tournament MVP Natalie Puckett (10), 6-1 Stephanie Holland (11) and 6-3 Whitney Little (8) have a lot to cheer about as TAV 16 Asics continues to roll on.

Best of Texas 16s
Rank Team Preview
1. Texas Advantage Asics 1
2. Texas Tornados Mizuno 6
3. AVA Performance 2
4. Mad Frog National 3
5. SSVBC National NR
6. Austin Juniors Mizuno 4
7. Advanced Volleyball Amarillo 7
8. Texas Advantage Molten NR
9. Skyline Roshambo 8
10. Braggin Rights 9

Teams To Watch
(Alphabetical order)
900 161
Alamo Kaepa
AJVC Asics
AP Black Mamba
Brazos Valley Mizuno
Dallas Premier Mizuno
El Paso Sunspots
Houston Juniors National
Impact Highline
Midland VBC
SA Heat
Southwest Asics
Tejas Kaepa
Texas Team Gold
Texas Tornados Black
TRV Elite
Victory Elite
Woodlands Wave Black

March 17, 2009

After having scooped up the grass championship last year, the Impact coaches set their sites on the indoor event this summer.  The team, comprised of Maggie Younger, Aimee Hamsher, Deedee Toler, Makiesha Maupin, Randy Lewallyn, Trent Tharp, Nicholas Gay, and Travis Ferguson, sailed through the preliminary rounds, notching the second best scoring total in the tournament.

The Finals pitted the considerably more “well-seasoned” Impact team against Team Chaos, the top point scoring team in pool play.  Team Chaos, led by 3 former high school girls’ players and a couple of young men’s players from Texas A&M’s men’s volleyball team, looked to make quick work of battle-sore Impact.

Unfortunately for the younger and fresher Team Chaos, experience and ball-control proved to be the keys to the Final’s game as Team Impact made relatively quick work of their opponents, finishing the contest with a 25-18 victory.

While the coaches of Impact were honored to take part in this fantastic local event, and are setting their sites on a double title in 2010, with both grass and court superiority, they are anxious to get back to what they do best, coaching.

Go Impact!