This Week in Tandem Sports - Week 7

Dave Levy, Athletic Director
It was a great week for Tandem Athletics! Varsity Cross Country dominated the GPAC XC Meet at Quantico - boys were 1st and girls finished 2nd. Both teams had at least three runners in the top ten! Varsity Volleyball beat Foxcroft 3-0; they've now won 18 consecutive sets! Middle School Volleyball had an exciting game with Charlottesville Day School, winning a set and playing at a high level.

V Volleyball - Eighteen Sets in a Row - 10/2/24

Pushed to their limits, the Badgers trailed for much of the third set. Foxcroft had been getting hammered by vicious Tandem hitters early in the match, so they focused on blocking at the net. Foxcroft had some success with this strategy, leading 11-7, and Tandem called timeout.  From then on, the Badgers were in attack mode, focused on closing out today's game with a 3-0 sweep!  In need of some magic, down 21-20, Tessa delivered a massive cross court, and the ball was back in Sofia's hands.  With a tricky left handed spin, Sofia delivered a sequence of aces, each more difficult than last to return.  She was responsible for the last five points, including a massive slam from Mary in the middle of the net.  The Badgers clinched the final set, 25-21, their 18th in a row!
 
 
Tandem has now won eight consecutive matches, and they haven't even lost a set in nearly a month.  Over the course of a long season, it is easy for a strong team to:
a) lose focus 
b) play down to your opponent.  
 
Not this squad. The 2024 Girls Varsity Volleyball team has refused to lose.  They set lofty goals at the beginning of the season and are determined to achieve them - focusing on attention to detail and supporting one another. The journey has been an awful lot of fun as this squad has rounded into a sharp, consistent, elite team!
 
In the opening set, Foxcroft won the coin toss. That provided momentum for a mere second, as Tessa immediately returned their serve with a beautiful push shot to give Tandem the first point of the day.  Sofia delivered a few consecutive aces (what else is new?) before setting Chloe for a massive cross court hit that went through the Foxcroft blockers and landed right on the line.  They turned around and looked at each other - not believing what they had just seen. Moments later, Maggie delivered one of her seven blocks, with perfect technique as she towered over the competition.
 
Leading 7-2, Tessa launched a very intimidating jump serve, slicing just over the net and immediately finding a home on the floor.  Five points later, the opponents called a timeout to try to come up with some plan for what to do when Tessa is at the service line. There are not a lot of options. When Foxcroft did manage to return it, the Badgers worked together to get the ball to Chloe who responded with a beautiful three ball kill hit from out of bounds at a sharp angle in front of the Tandem bench! What a shot!
 
Tandem's passing in this game was exceptional. No matter where Sofia is located in the rotation, Golden always finds her with precision passes. She rewarded her by setting up Mary for a big middle hit to make it 22-13.  After a key dig from Beatrice, Mary later earned the final point of the set with a big block, giving Tandem the edge in the opening stanza 25-14.
 
Lola played a key role in the match at Foxcroft, and she had their number again today on her home court. Lola had five straight well placed serves, giving Tandem a 10-5 lead early in the second set. She was key in assisting Sofia, who set Chloe for another terrifying cross court slam.  Chloe hit the ball so hard that the bleachers shook, setting the tone for Zella's pass to Maggie for a middle spike that left three Foxcroft players scrambling to the floor. None got a finger on the ball - it went from Maggie's hand to the court in less than a second.
 
The Badgers led 15-10 when they delivered a series of big hits. No matter what defensive alignment the opponent tried, they were out of luck. Seriously, what can you do when Chloe, Tessa, Maggie and Mary are all hitting the ball with such excessive force? They tried hitting the ball to Maya... big mistake. Maya delivered a big hit of her own, pushing the score to 23-16. With Mary back at the service line, Tandem closed out the second set, 25-16.
 
I am so proud of this team! It is truly special to be a witness to this extraordinarily unprecedented run:
  • Eight consecutive victories!
  • Eighteen consecutive sets won!
Congratulations to Coach Kiwii, Maleigha and these incredible Badgers!  Lili and Elizabeth held down the fort for Pink day today - can't wait to see what we do next for our home match vs Highland on Tuesday, 10/8 at 4:15. Let's pack the Den. :)
 
Thanks to Sophia, Emory and Annie for running the scoreboard. :)

Tandem Cross Country Dominates GPAC Race at Quantico! - 10/2/24

It's not often that a runner sets four personal records (PR) in a week.  That said, at the end of the last four practices, Eloise glanced at her watch and provided me with the following update: "I ran a new PR today."  That was before her official Cross Country 5K debut and before she took on the incredibly challenging sequence of hills at Quantico for our second GPAC meet this afternoon. For Eloise, it was simply another day for improvement - and as she flew off the starting line and into a competitive position - it was of no surprise that she established yet another PR today (an official one) of 25:53, finishing 15th overall and was the fifth Badger to cross the line. At FUMA Eloise ran the TWO mile at 8:37 pace. Only an 8th Grader, today ran nearly the same pace for an ENTIRE ADDITIONAL MILE!!! The future is going to be covered with more PRs for Eloise!
 
With their lowest score of the season (lower scores are better in cross country), the Tandem Girls placed three athletes in the top ten!  Lucy competed hard - running alongside high level talent, she matched their every move. With about 1200 meters to go, Lucy made a move of her own, breaking into third place and leaving her competition in the dust. Lucy dropped an ENTIRE MINUTE off of her previous PR, breaking 23 for the first time - 22:57.  Miraculously, Claire did the same thing! The queen of the hills, Claire flew up an enormously steep hill on the way out and extended her stride on the way back - ALSO DROPPING AN ENTIRE MINUTE off her PR and breaking 25:00 for the first time and doing it in style. Her time of 24:07 earned her 6th place overall!  Hazel has been committed to her negative splitting strategy all season (running the second half of the race faster than the first) and today she really put it all together! Hazel passed an unprecedented 16 runners from the time she hit the mile mark until her finish. She was flying - looking strong and confident - as she zoomed down the hill toward the finish.  Hazel's time of 24:29 is THREE MINUTES faster than she ran at Darden Towe, and a new PR by nearly a minute.  She finished 8th overall, one of the key reasons that the Tandem girls placed second (they were third a few weeks back.)
 
Fletcher ran a very Hazel-like race, settling into a manageable pace early in the race and kicking into gear in the homestretch. Fletcher's time of 25:42 is FIVE MINUTES faster than at Darden Towe, and Fletcher was the leader of a key pack that also featured the aforementioned Eloise and Julia.  Making her 5K debut, Julia pushed herself to a new PR of 25:53, nearly matching the pace she ran for two miles early in the season. Julia's talent is evident - and she is making a challenging adjustment from the speed work she did in track to the endurance she is gaining in Cross Country. Malena led the next pack, running her debut 5k in an impressive time of 30:09. Laurel was hot on her tail in 30:25 (almost TWO MINUTES) faster than she ran at Darden Towe, while Dhruvi (30:32) dropped FORTY SECONDS and Nina (30:37) dropped NINETY SECONDS from their last meet. Avery, one of our veteran leaders, finished in 31:40 - EIGHTY SECONDS faster than at Darden Towe, and she paced Annie to an impressive debut 5k time of 31:46!
 
The Tandem Boys dominated our second GPAC meet today at Quantico.  Hayes blazed through the finish in a new PR time of 16:25 - nine seconds faster than his time at FUMA. In addition to the fact that he earned a new PR today, and the seconds are much harder to knock off when you're running this fast, Hayes did it all by himself. There was nobody to challenge him or for him to pace off of. Nonetheless, Hayes won the race with ease, inspiring his teammates to push themselves to their limits as well.  Jack Blemker had similar success, dropping two seconds off of his time from FUMA.  He ran 17:07 - also running alone - and earning second place overall. Miles took third, running a massive PR of 17:26 - nearly a FULL MINUTE off of his time from FUMA.  Breaking 17:30 is an incredibly big time accomplishment. For each of these athletes to run such competitive times - their best times - on a challenging, wet, hilly course - while running alone - well, the sky's the limit!
 
A star was born today as Béla ran his first 5k of the season.  He ran an impressive 13:35 two mile at FUMA, a pace of around 6:47. Today, his pace was nearly identical - except that he sustained it for three miles! Béla never slowed down and never looked tired - his time of 21:53 is a pretty epic debut. Working closely with Zeke (21:52), the two runners had quite a day! Zeke dropped nearly NINETY seconds off of his time from DT. The Badgers also enjoyed some impressive pack running from Peter (18:52) and Jack Johnson (18:54) - and both runners finished in the top ten! Breaking 19:00 is no small feat, each dropping OVER A MINUTE off of their times from DT! Hot on their tails, Jack Nachbar broke 20:00 for the first time this season - his time of 19:30 is NINETY seconds faster than his race a few weeks ago. And speaking of big PR's, Tyler's 34:52 is over THREE MINUTES faster than his race from DT - he just continues to improve!
 
Gabriel has trained hard to work on his endurance, and it showed as he flew up the hill in the first mile! Running well over a minute faster than he did at Darden Towe, Gabriel's time of 20:45 helped pace a key pack for the Badgers to the finish. He worked closely with John who cranked out a solid time of 21:05 (a five second PR!) Kai also dropped FORTY seconds off of his time, coming through in 22:55, while Brendan (23:22), Alexander (23:34), Jude (23:38), Orro (23:53) each enjoyed improvements off of their times at DT!  Ian looked strong coming down the hill for the final mile, and earned a THREE MINUTE PR of 26:15!  Duncan's 24:14 was an incredible debut - as our 8th graders continue to shine! Duncan's pace was consistent, working closely with Oscar who dropped over FIVE MINUTES off his time from DT, running a new PR of 24:41! Nico (28:33) and Lennon (30:56) also impressed in the first 5K of the season. 
 
This team has been training hard - in the rain - and it has paid off! Whoop whoop - what a day for the Badgers!!! The Tandem Boys won the race easily scoring 14 pts, while FA was second with 32!The Badgers had ALL of the top 3 finishers, five of the top ten and five runners under 19:00! The Tandem Girls were second, with three in the top ten, and their lowest score of the season! What a performance! Congratulations to all Badgers on an incredible day! The team will now turn their attention to the VCTA Invitational coming up at Panorama Farms. Hope to see you there!

MS Volleyball Challenges Charlottesville Day School - 9/30/24

The energy was low in the Den as the Badgers trailed 1-0 and were down 22-14 in the second set.  With the rain howling outside, Tandem desperately needed somebody to weather the storm.  Libby took a deep breath and walked to the service line.  She tossed the ball high in the air, jumped and swung her left arm, generating equally as much spin and power.  The ball just barely crept over the net, and CDS couldn't return it! The crowd hollered a "woo," as Libby ran off a sequence of aces, serving as exactly the hero we needed! This was the first of many heroics - Libby ran off point after point! Throughout her nine point service run, Chloe and Adela worked together to return some tough CDS hits. With poise and focus, Libby guided the Badgers back to a 23-22 lead! Sydney did the rest, launching a serve down the right line as Tandem won the second set and forced a third , 25-23! Congratulations to the Badgers on a gritty comeback - it was loud and very exciting in the Badger Den today!
 
The Tandem Middle School Volleyball team has been busy - four games in the last two weeks - and they have improved every time. Today's match opened with some big Sydney serves, three aces, and some exceptional ball control by Emory.  Emory set Bryn for an enormous cross court hit, and also provided some key serves. As usual Sam's hitting was powerful while Alex and Zoe were terrific in the middle, calling the ball loudly and digging it to the setter. When serves were returned, Aggie got under the ball! Tandem took an 8-1 lead in the opening set today. Our hitters were on point - Madeline slammed the ball to the ground and Sophia delivered with some major power as well!
 
The team was also in action a week ago on the 24th, when Aggie set both Aurelia and Zuri for some massive hits against CDS!  Additionally, Margot and Kanice both showed off strong technique as consistent servers, and Lucy played the back line with precision. Clara had a key bump in the third set, Zaina had her debut behind the service line, while Abby and Freya played well throughout their rotation. 
 
It's been a wet whirlwind - and the team has a bit of a break - next game on Monday vs Waldorf at home at 4:15. Stay dry and see you soon!
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Tandem Friends School is a co-ed Quaker day school for grades 5-12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
 
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