Best ROOOOOOF: Carolyn!  It went straight down!

Best get from chaos: Alyssa H.  From back left corner Alyssa passed the ball with top spin, over the net and landed cross court, by the 10′ line and 2′ from the sideline.  The other team was stunned.

Best tackle of a coach: me (can I really give myself a coachie?) The call from the line person was clearly wrong.  Immediately Coach Marko turned red and he allowed me to “tackle” him and sit him down on the bench.  Thanks Coach for not throwing me into the next time zone.  The R1 over turned the call and we got the point.

Most consistent string of hits: Marlena, there was a stretch of 10?  15? sets from Nikki where you didn’t miss any of them.  They were well placed and if they didn’t immediately result in points, they gave us a chance to win.

Best serving run: Aya.  the top-side spin serve “fell off of the table” and the back right passers didn’t have much of a chance as those serves dove and kept on running away from them.

Hardest serves: Crystal.  after being smart and getting warmed up, the cross court power-serves totally scared the other teams.

TURKEY AWARD: Aya!!!  First EVER.  And in the finals too.  Wow!

Shortest ace: Alyssa H.  I don’t think I’ve seen a shorter serve to spot 2 this season.  No net or anything.

Best embodiment of team: Alyssa P and Crystal.  Alyssa P for being our spiritual guide for being here and a part of our team even though one of your wings is hurt.  Crystal, for honoring your prior commitments and coming back to be a part of our Finals run.

Best Atlas Impersonation: Jenna.  There was a stretch across 2 matches where Jenna carried our team.  Whether it was strong cross court hits, or smart ones down the line, or calling Nikki off, or hitting back row, or tipping middle or serving strong.  This was not against Core, rather against BnB and one set against Fury.  From where we were standing, we had an excellent view of the hits going between blockers and finding spots.  We saw the transitions to proper defensive positioning.  Great job, keep it up!

Best middle put backs: Isabel, there was a point where they tried to take advantage and go middle, but you put up both hands and said NO.  Sure enough, they didn’t get the balls past.

Best middle set and hit: Nikki and Aya, when it’s working, it’s very very effective.  And Aya hitting to the spaces around the middle back, instead of right at her.  It is so fast that they simply weren’t ready for it.

Best pass to set up the best middle set and hit: Alyssa H.  It all starts with a pass.  None of this can run without it.

Best thump: Juliana, in rhythm, ball in front, good rotation and… THUMP!  The ball just flew off of your hand with top spin and got us the point.

Best Back Set dump: Nikki, you were running full tilt in one direction and drew in the defenders and dumped to position 4… short…  They didn’t have a chance.  They were lucky not to have sprained ankles from that shot.