1st in Silver Division (17out of 66 Teams), Washington DC, 2/16-18/2008

Lightning Finishes First in Silver at Capitol Hill Classic

             Lightning showed strength, poise, and speed as it battled some of the strongest teams in the region at the Capitol Hill Classic Feb. 18-20.  The team finished first in the silver division, racking up a number of accomplishments along the way.

             Lightning’s division championship win came against the number one seed in the tournament, Yorktowne 161 Cougars from Pennsylvania.  In the first game, Lightning started slowly, but a devious tip by Julie Poston over the Cougars’ block, a resounding kill by Sam Brostrom, and a deep ace by Ashley Fan brought them back.  Casey Schmidt led the offense with a variety of weapons, setting Poston, Brostrom, Fan, Erin Rice, Lindsey Kostkowski, and Kate Calvert.  The lead went back and forth until the Lightning started to pull away after a 16-16 tie.  Inspired back row play by Jamie Frank and Brostrom, strong blocking by Kostkowski, and Hannah Cianci’s athletic defensive hustle and a back row kill propelled the Lightning.  Calvert finished out the game with six serves in a row, helped by a block and a kill by Poston, for the 25-17 win.

             Lindsey Sneller started game two with three strong serves for the Lightning.  She set Fan, Poston, and Brostrom for power kills, and a gorgeous dig by Cianci led to Sneller’s perfectly-timed short set to Kostkowski for a middle kill.  But the Cougars kept battling back, and even with athletic moves by the Lightning, like Frank flying forward to dig up a short serve, Calvert saving a play with a tip over the net, and Rice getting a kill on a pass-over, the Cougars led 20-15.  Poston stepped up with a kill and an ace, and Brostrom, an unstoppable offensive/defensive machine, closed the gap with her own kill and ace.  Schmidt saved several wayward balls, and kills by Kostkowski and Brostrom tied the game at 24-24.  Strategic short kills by Rice and Schmidt made the score 26-25, but a missed Lightning serve tied the score again. A Brostrom kill followed. Calvert played the ball strongly at the net, leading to a desperation hit by the Cougars that went out of bounds.  The final score was Lightning 28-26.

             The Lightning had several notable accomplishments during the tournament.  On day one, the team went 2-1, losing only to a surprisingly strong Virginia Beach team that ended up fifth overall in the tournament.  The highlight of the day was a satisfying win over frequent rival MVSA Blizzard, 25-14,21-25,15-12.  In the third game of the match, Lightning was down 8-2 and then 12-8.  Strong serving by Brostrom led the team to the win.

             The first team the Lightning faced on day two was Virginia Elite, seeded second in the tournament and widely regarded as the number one team in the region.  In the first game, every Lightning serve was good (Brostrom, 3 aces; Schmidt, 2 aces), and the team hit powerfully, but Virginia Elite won 26-24.  The second game featured big blocks by Poston, Kostkowski, Calvert and Fan as well as consistent serving (aces by Cianci, Brostrom), and ended with a 25-23 win for the Lightning.  In the tiebreaker game that included several long rallies, Frank dug up several seemingly impossible balls and Fan had key kills, but the Lightning fell short, 15-13.  Lightning was the only team to win a game against Virginia Elite, the eventual tournament champion. 

             This was the first tournament at which all of the Lightning players were available to play.  Coach Marc Moore said he saw tremendous growth in the team, and he was happy with the way they adjusted to the faster tempo of the high level teams.  “We’re in good shape going in to Denver,” he said, referring to the team’s upcoming trip to the Colorado Crossroads tournament March 8-10.  He added, “I expect to keep seeing great things from these ladies.”