April 11 through April 15 was the girls (16-17s) Salt Lake City Showdown taking place at the Salt Lake Palace Convention Center. This event was a chance for volleyball clubs from all around the country to come and play for a chance to qualify. 

There were over 200 teams attending this large event, over 70 courts, and 5,000 people. 

My team had the chance to come and play at this tournament on the second weekend in the 16 American Division. On April 12,  we started playing around 4pm as we were in the afternoon wave. We had won our first two games – these games had gone very long as the points were going back and forth, unfortunately we had lost the 3rd game but it was a close game. Because we had won 2 games on the first day we were placed in the Gold Bracket For the second day – playing harder teams. 

The second day was definitely more challenging because we were playing harder teams but we fought the best we could, we did not do too well the second day, (as we lost the chance to get a bid), however we were still in a good spot for the 3rd and final day. 

Going into the final day our game started at 11am. We started off really well but then hit a rough patch which made us lose the lead. We did end up losing the game which was unfortunate but it was all a learning lesson.

The weekend flew by and there were many teams who got an opportunity to get a bid to Nationals. Congratulations!