Commerce started the day off with Community in the opening round of the championship bracket at the Quinlan tournament. The game started off quick for Commerce, taking a 10-2 lead and stretching that lead to 16-6 and then closing the game 25-7. Whitney Madewell served 8 straight points to help the Lady Tigers win the first game. The second game saw Commerce jump to a 12-5 lead, 17-8 lead and then finally a 25-14 victory. The girls were able to try some new things against Community and executed really well.

Next up for the Commerce Lady Tigers was a tough Princeton team. Princeton is a tough team that we will see later in the season and they will offer us some really good competion. They have a BIG middle and a strong libero that can hit and serve hard. After taking a 16-12 lead, Commerce saw that lead shrink very quickly and eventually a 25-16 loss.

"Princeton was able to take advantage of our mistakes by pounding free balls back at us and our defense really fell off the table," explained Commerce head coach Kelsey Hall.

Game two saw a totally different Commerce team grab an 18-7 lead, but once again Princeton fought back to trim the lead to 18-17.

"We had a lot of mental mistakes that let them come back," Coach Hall remarked. "Our passing was lazy and our hitters just stopped hitting."

After Commerce took a time out to settle down, both teams traded two points at a time until Commerce was able to finish game two off at 25-20.

In game three, both teams traded point for point until commerce was able to take a 11-9 lead and stretched that to an 18-14 advantage, only to see that dwindle to a 20-20 tie after Princeton's server handed out six straight points.

Again both teams fought really hard and played extremely well. Princeton tied the score up again at 22 apiece. Senior Shelby Bates served out the rest of the game and took the Lady Tigers into the Championship game.

The championship game pitted Commerce versus Farmersville.

"With many of our girls tired, I was really nervous about how we would play against them," Coach Hall commented, "but the girls pushed through and took a 7-2 lead and never lost that lead."

Game one went to Commerce 25-22.

"At the start of the second game, I acknowledged that the girls were tired and told them that this is where it really counts," Coach Hall recalled. "Anyone can play fresh, but only champions play tired."

Commerce responded by taking an 11-0 lead and then stretched that to an 18-6 lead. Farmersville fought tough and closed the score to 18-14, but Shelby Bates reponded by dishing out seven more points to end the game at 25-14.

"Shelby really took us out of the gates by serving the first 11 points and then finished up by serving the last seven," Coach Hall stated.  "In all in all she served 18 of our points. I was really happy about that. It takes a lot to serve the ball 16 times and never miss a serve."

Commerce took the championship and Danielle Essix and Tatiana Booth were named all tournament.

"If I were to pick a player of the game or day or even the tournament," Coach Hall said, "I would say that it went to the ENTIRE team! The girls played well for themselves, me and the community of Commerce."