March 29^th marked the first day of the three-day North East Qualifier (NEQ) Tournament in Baltimore, Maryland.  AVVC’s 15-1 Vipers competed in the USA Division and began the weekend ranked 14 out of 39 teams and 2^nd in our first pool. We began the day with a rough start, losing our first match against Club Integrity in three games (22-25, 28-26, 11-15).  Although we tried to shake off the loss and refocus, our second match didn’t end any better. IVC 15-Elite took the second match in two games (12-25, 20-25) leaving us with only one more opportunity to win. After some rest, apples slices, peanut butter and words of encouragement from our coaches we walked onto the court ready to fight for a win against the pool’s first place team, AVC Clev Rox 15.  Our opponents were coming off two wins and just as determined.  Unfortunately, the first game went south and things were looking really bad for the Vipers. Our Club Director, Mr. Rick Gajewski, had been watching from the sidelines and decided to come over and try to talk us out of the hole we’d dug. It must have worked as we took the second game 25-19 and finished the match off with a 15-10 win in the 3^rd game. It wasn’t our best day on the court, but we definitely finished it right.

Our second day had us playing in the PM wave. After a good night’s rest our Chaperons lead us on a walk to University Park where we enjoyed a surprise Easter Egg Hunt. Seventy-two eggs later, we had an egg toss, sharing laughs and took a couple of photos. Someone in our group realized that we had been sharing the park with a number of homeless people. As a team we decided to walk around the park and distributed our eggs to many appreciative and smiling faces… a perfect way to end the morning.  By the afternoon we were focused and ready. Our play was consistent and our communication was back. Bryn and Katelyn placed beautiful sets, Francesca and Grace killed the ball from the outside, Chino and Sasha blocked and scored from the middle while Abby and Marlena delivered their blocks and kills from the right side. Our back row was protected by Emily and Brianna, as they received serve after serve and dug ball after ball. We ended the day taking first place in our pool with two match wins in two games against RSV 15 Orange and Paradigm Ruckus and one win in three games against Tribe 15 Cardinal from Florida.

Our tournament ended on the third day after our finals game against Yorktowne Blue left us in 23^rd place for the 2013 NEQ.