by Adam Burns
KANSAS CITY, MO — It’s not that things were looking entirely bleak for the Dallas Skyline 14s on the first day of the Triple Crown NIT on Saturday. But they did put themselves in a 0-2 hole — not exactly the way any team wants to start the highly competitive event inside the Kansas City Convention Center.
“I don’t think we played the best we could, but we did all right today,” said Ava Williams, a defensive specialist. “We can come back tomorrow, though. We’ll need to be locked in and focused and I think we’ll be OK.”
After starting 0-2 with losses to Academy Volleyball Cleveland (25-15, 25-27, 12-15) and Elevation (22-25, 15-25), Skyline was looking forward to the opportunity to right the ship against a talented Premier Nebraska squad, which entered the contest 1-1. Skyline controlled things with a straight-set victory (25-22, 25-15).
“They needed it,” Skyline coach Jon Rye said. “I just want to see them play well and usually the winning takes care of itself. I was very happy to see them play well to finish this first day.”
Skyline never felt outmatched on Saturday. In fact, the team from Texas was working through learning a new system.
“We’re trying to play a certain style,” coach Rye said. “We’ve all done a good working through it and the girls are responding.”
What’s the new style, you ask?
“We want to attack. We want to make our opponent make a good block,” Rye added. “We don’t want to send anything easy to the middle back or the libero – let’s make them block it over and over again. Aggressive and smart.”
Williams was certainly thrilled to end pool play action with a defiant victory.
“It feels great because we finally got a win,” she said.
Indeed. Who wouldn’t? And Rye was encouraged by his group, which is Skyline’s second 14-year-old team within their program.
“It’s our No. 2 team right here, but they’re all first-team players,” he said. “They compete at a high level. They’re 14-years-old and sometimes they show that they’re 14, but they work really hard.”
Skyline, of course, will have another chance to practice its system and compete on Sunday.
“We’re trying to be who we are without all of the pressure and we know that the tournament really starts tomorrow,” Rye said. “I’m excited and I trust them. I know there’s some very good teams that are not in the power pool, and I’m not sure if we’re going to see one of them early in the morning or not, but no matter what, it is going to be a good opponent because they’re here in this tournament.”
So is the NIT. You never know what you’re going to get.
“We love being here,” Rye said, “and we look forward each and every year.”
