Since Abby started club volleyball, her team began fundraising for a national tournament. By the end of the club season, they decided to go to a national volleyball festival tournament in Phoenix and had everything paid for before we went. The girls were so excited. They had about six weeks to practice with a new team since only four members of the original club team decided to continue playing for this tournament. The new Stars Nova team loved practicing and playing together and we had a great time in Phoenix.
We caravaned to Phoenix on a Wednesday and got to our hotel in time to get ready for the kick-off party. All the teams dressed up according to the theme which was Under the Sea. Our girls had headbands and grass skirts so we could find them. Some of the teams went all out with costumes and accessories. Here's Abby with Allie and then the whole team once they were all dressed up and ready for the party.
The siblings had fun partying too, especially with all the accessories and glow sticks they got to wear. They made a ton of necklaces and loved following the team around on the dance floor. Taryn used Tyler's shoulders to get a better view of the stage where they were letting people dance and doing announcements.
They threw balls, t-shirts and glow sticks into the audience; and one of the parents caught this foam glow stick that he gave to the girls. They were so excited.
The festival staff announced all the states and countries that had teams participating in the tournament. There were teams from over half of the states and from three countries besides the US - Mexico, Canada, and Italy. It was pretty cool to see all the teams from around the world dancing and having fun together before getting down to business the next day.
On Thursday, our team wore their blue jerseys and won most of their games. The first two they played were pretty easy wins, but then they played a team that was ranked a little higher than them, and they lost. They made a comeback in the second set, but they weren't able to pull it out. That team was from California and they had some amazing hitters. It was a good game even though they lost. Overall for the day, they played well and had fun.
Here are some of my best pictures of Abby that first day. I like them all because they each show a different skill. The first is Abby spiking, the second is her serving,
and this is one that Jenn took of Abby setting. I love the good quality and the fact that she's in the air setting the ball. This first day they played teams from Arizona, New Mexico, and California.
After the games of day one, the team took this picture which we all loved. Here is team Nova starting with Coach and going clockwise - Coach Dawson, Diane, McKenzie, Emily, Allie, Suzette, Abby, Andrea, Annette, and Kayla.
The siblings played well together and kept themselves entertained considering they were spectators for four days straight. There was a mall near by that we visited frequently so adding a few new plush toys helped with their playtime. Aubrey loved the fancy dress store in the mall and just kept walking around it saying, "when I grow up, I want this to be my house." She's definitely still my fancy girly-girl.
Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons drove down to Phoenix to see Abby play. They hadn't seen her play volleyball since she played on a YMCA team. One time when Abby invited them to Phoenix, Grandma said they had already seen her play, but Abby told them, "That was YMCA volleyball grandma. This is the real thing!" We loved that they came down to support her and watch her play. And they were very impressed with how much she had improved and with how advanced their entire team was. We love watching them play!
On Friday, they played in a new, harder pool against teams from California and Arizona. This was their best day because they won every game, but they were hard games. The competition was definitely getting tougher. The fun part of the day was that they played a team from southern California which we learned had the twin girls of Steve Nash on it. My dad took this picture of Abby serving with Steve Nash sitting right behind her. They played so well this day. It was nerve-wracking to watch because the competition was so fierce, but they stayed with it and came out on top.
Their ranking out of 74 teams in their age division was 14 and during these first two days of tournament play, when they were ranked above a team, they won and when they were ranked below a team, they lost; but they were such good games all around. Here's Abby serving and then the team as they prepared to play.
At the end of their final game on Friday, we had a picture taken with the team they played. It was a LiveWire team from Arizona that was really good, but we were able to take the win. It was such a good game that we wanted a picture with both teams together. We left that night on a high after all of our wins. We got to swim in the hotel pool that night and the girls had fun celebrating their awesome day. The parents just kept saying, "however this weekend ends up, at least we can say we beat Steve Nash's daughters' team."
Because we played so well the first two days, we were in the championship bracket for the final two days. Only the top 16 teams made it to that bracket. We were super excited that our girls made it into this top bracket. They went into the bracket play ranked 14 out of the 16 teams. But with being in the bracket with the top teams, the competition was the toughest yet. We played hard and had close games, but didn't win any games.
These were some pictures I took on Saturday when they played in their white jerseys. They played teams from California and Hawaii on this day and the teams they played were good. They were at our girls' level, but they just played better enough to beat us in every game.
I took a picture of Abby with both sets of her grandparents who were there to watch and support her. We love Abby and we love our family! Every game that Abby's team had to ref, Abby was the R2 ref which is the one at the net across from the official ref. Abby took her responsibility very seriously and was a very good ref. I had just as much fun watching her ref as I did watching her play. She's just such an amazing young lady!
After the games on Saturday, we took another trip to the mall. Since Abby was done with playing actual games until school started, she decided she wanted to get her ears pierced. We allow the girls to get them pierced when they turn 12, but Abby didn't really push for it right after she had turned 12. By the time she was ready to get them pierced, she was playing volleyball regularly and wasn't able to get them pierced since she couldn't have earrings in while playing volleyball and she couldn't take earrings out for 3-4 weeks after first getting them pierced. So she decided after the tournament, she'd have enough time to wear the new earrings before she started school and the next volleyball season. She was very nervous, but the girl who did the piercing was very nice and helped her feel comfortable. When we told her we were in Phoenix for volleyball, she was even more excited because she said she was a volleyball player too and liked Abby even more. So here's Abby with her newly pierced ears and the other girls were excited that they also got to pick out some jewelry at Claire's while we were there. We took this cute picture of Taryn as a unicorn at the front of their store.
On Sunday, the final games of the bracket were played. Our team was basically playing for 13-16 place in the entire tournament. Because it was Sunday, Abby did not play, but we did go to support the team. She wore her jersey but wore regular pants. We actually got a lot of comments from the other parents how proud they were of us and of Abby especially for her religious beliefs and for sticking with her decision to not play on Sunday. It was making me tear up to hear the nice things they said. I know it was a hard decision for Abby to make, but to see all the support and love she received by being that example was very humbling and faith-building. We love Abby and we love this team! The team ended up 14th overall out of 74 teams and we were so proud of them and how they played. It was an awesome volleyball weekend.
After we left the team, we found a church on the way out of Phoenix to go to a sacrament meeting, and then we headed on our way north to Utah for the rest of our vacation which will be my next post. It was a fun start to our 2018 summer vacation.
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