For Columbia 16-Black's players, it was mostly a new experience playing at a "national level" tournament like the Las Vegas Classic. It's only been a couple of years now that this major recruiting tournament has had a U-16 division, and the high level of play across the 120 team field is exactly why Columbia sent this team. Learning to play against elite level competition (with the added pressure of college coaches looking on), prepares our players to compete and be recruited as they continue to develop their individual and team skills. The ladies of 16-Black proved equal to the pressure, placing 53rd in the elite 120 team field, and reaching the Flight 1B Quarterfinal match. (They were still in contention for the Gold Division during play on the 2nd day.) We're looking forward to having Columbia 16-Red join these ladies when the club heads back to Las Vegas in April for the SOCAL National Qualifier!
So how do we judge their performance? It would be easy to say that Columbia 16-Black had the highest finish of any team from the Evergreen Region (they did), but Columbia is also the only club in our Region that dares to send a team this age. So let's compare to the rest of the Northwest. Two teams from the Columbia Empire Region (Oregon/SW Washington) finished higher, and three from the Puget Sound Region finished higher (although not by much), meaning Columbia 16-Black was the sixth highest finishing team from the entire Pacific Northwest. Good job!
Congratulations to all our players, keep pushing your game higher!
Columbia 16-Black scores: click here
