Select: Air Squids Select came into Temecula with the mindset to improve and grow together as a team. The team came into the tournament with the seventh seed due to breaking seed at President Day’s Qualifier. This was likely going to be the last tourney of the quarter, so players were inspired to leave it all on the field. 

The team’s first game was against USC Blockdown. Although the game ended in a 15-3 loss, Select started to wake up during the second half and hoped to carry this momentum into the first half of the next game in order to get a strong start. However, similar problems plagued the Select team in their next game against ASU’s B team; a flat first half and an improved second half wasn’t enough to overcome the built up lead, and the Squids were defeated 11-2. Select was unable to adjust to UCLA Smoke’s unique defensive schemes in their 3rd match and got bagelled 15-0. In the last game against the first seed Occidental Detox, Select was simply outmatched fundamentally and went scoreless again.

Due to the Select team’s performance on the first day of the tournament, the team was placed in the consolation bracket. In the team’s first match against the UC Davis B team, Select was able to put together a few clean points but couldn’t consistently put everything together, and Select went down 15-3. Select’s final game was a rematch against USC Blockdown. Select kept it close initially with incredible performances on both offense and defense, but the team ran out of gas and went down 13-5.

Despite the poor record, Air Squids Select can be proud of its improvement. Both handlers and cutters improved greatly, gained more trust in their abilities, and most importantly grew together into a team. After this tournament, Select has a good foundation to grow rapidly and become a much more competitive team in subsequent tournaments.