Yes it has to be really even though last season we won the Nationals and WGM and got third in the TMVL Shield but this only got equal first in the non-conference, second our conference and third in the TMVL Cup.

Why good? Well technically we top the overall standings thanks to our poor WGM and Nationals runs. We only lost 10 games and so pip Pekin (yay!) .697 to .694. Last season we pretty much threw away the conference in favour of glory in the cups. This season we went for everything and without some bad luck it could have been a great season.

WGM: We weree knocked out the Round of 32 despite a 5 point skill advantage where WE SCORED MORE POINTS.

Non-Con: we could have won this outright but chose to throw one of the last two games in favour of trying to win the Big 8 championship.

Big 8 Championship: we were 6 point underdogs against Pekin despite playing T7. It wasn't even close.

Nationals: Despite a 4 point skill advantage we were knocked out at the first round - it would have been tough as our victors then had to beat Cincinnati (and were 3 point underdogs) before losing to Pekin.

TMVL Cup: Didn't play T7 (XP needed addressing and we were down to two games) and lost a 5 setter with a 1 point advantage

Big 8 conference: we started well but losing to Ames and Arlington, both with near identical skill sets cost us. By the time we faced Pekin in the rematch (we won with close skills earlier) it looked unlikely we could win (away and they were much stronger) so I threw the game to concentrate on the TMVL and that Nationals loss. We had to hope that Pekin slipped up as they concentrated on their trophies - and they did throw one to Dallas - but their XP was sorted too early.

Recruiting went well - if we roll decently. However lack of sets and games meant some missing spots in CP and XP: two players will be short on SRV and one on DEF and my Libero only gets XP. That and McCracken,  Brehme and Dohm retiring means next season is likely to be a lean one.