D'Evelyn vs Littleton V2/JV - 4/4/2024

D'Evelyn traveled to Littleton to take on the Littleton JV team.  There were 8 pairings with Nisha/Viola playing as the D4 pair.  

The format was an 8 game pro set playing out deuces.  Essentially a single set with the first to 8 and you have to win by two or do a tie break if it becomes 8-8.

The Littleton pairing was struggling with service and committed (14) double faults on (19) points served.  They did break Viola's serve one time for a final score of 8-1.  It was a beautiful day for tennis, but tough when the players are unevenly matched.

Stats were not that interesting.

Service

10 first serve

0 second serve

1 ace

0 double faults

6 forehand winners

1 forehand error

0 backhand winners

2 backhand errors

2 forehand volley winners

D'Evelyn Multicultural Night

I was expecting the cafeteria to have about 10 countries represented and maybe 40-50 attendees.  At first I was pleasantly surprised and then overwhelmed by the 20+ countries represented and easily 400+ attendees.  I wish I would have taken notes for this blog post.  In addition to India, Nepal, Afghanistan, China, Philippines, Austria, Mexico, Israel, Palestine, Chile come to mind.

Table were set up and students and parents shared cultural items, pictures, wore traditional dress and in a lot of cases served snacks and desserts.

After an hour of milling about, the event moved from the cafeteria to the gymnasium for song, dance and finally a fashion show.

Given the success of this initial event, I could very much see this being an annual event.

Dakota Ridge JV Meet

Diya ran the 800 meters and the 1600 meters.

800 meters:  3:35 (1:44 / 1:51)

1600 meters: 8:31 (1:57 / 2:18 / 2:15 / 1:59)

Purdue - Final Four

Purdue has returned to the Final Four for the first time since 1980.  For ride or die Purdue Basketball fans this is a once in a lifetime experience that probably warrants shelling out $5,000 for game tickets and plane tickets to Phoenix, AZ.

Purdue again had the number one seed and marched past Grambling St, Utah St, Gonzaga and Tennessee (my sister's alma mater) and will now face NC State.  Gonzaga was a tough sweet sixteen match up and Tennessee certainly played well also.  NC State is playing with confidence and despite being an 11th seed, they have proven the win and advance strategy that got them a national championship in 1983 under Jim Valvano as a 6th seed.  

It is quite the turnaround from last year's loss to 16th seed Fairleigh Dickinson University (Purdue was a number 1 seed).  The most memorable meme last year was "Purdue - Where you are more likely to walk on the moon, than be in the final four."

I started at Purdue in 1989 and over the past 35 seasons it has been tough to be a Boilermaker's fan.  Every bracket pool I submitted had Purdue winning it all and more often than not, Purdue lost in an upset in the first or second round.  My bracket this year sits at 1491st among 559,172 entries by correctly picking Purdue and NC State (my Dad's alma mater) in the final four.  I also picked Northwestern (lost in the second round to 1st seed Connecticut) and Clemson (lost in the Elite Eight to 4th seed Alabama).  I will not be winning any money as I have not entered a pool with friends since 2018.

Gene Keady coached for 16 of those seasons with 10 NCAA tournament invites.  Purdue had 2 Elite Eight appearances (Glenn Robinson in 1993-1994) and 2 Sweet Sixteen appearances.  

Matt Painter (who played for Keady) has coached for the past 19 seasons with 15 NCAA tournament invites.  Purdue has had 1 Elite Eight appearance and 5 Sweet Sixteen appearances under Painter.  stand out players include JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore.

Going to the Sweet Sixteen 10 times over the past 35 years is quite an accomplishment, but Purdue still has had a reputation for playing "small ball" and competing well in the Big 10, but less well against the style of play and the fast transitions of the NCAA at large.

Personally, I will be watching the game on Saturday at home.  Maybe I will have my new hat, t-shirt and throw pillows.  I usually do not stock up on sports gear, but when I have a team in the hunt, I make an exception.  Case in point the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and now the Purdue Boilermakers.

Purdue Football has not fared much better with 16 bowl appearances in the past 35 years and the best performance being a Rose Bowl loss to Washington in 2000 (Drew Brees era).

D'Evelyn vs Conifer V2/JV - 3/29/2024

D'Evelyn hosted Conifer at the high school courts.  The girls on both squads are definitely getting into a rhythm.  Although the weather started off as a sunny 45 degrees,  a slight dip in temperature and overcast skies brought out the sweatshirts and for the sidelines, hats and gloves.

The girls were playing best of three sets, but a tie break would be played if a third set was forced.  Sudden death was the rule at deuce.

D3

Conifer started off serving and won the first game, before D'Evelyn took off winning the next five games.  D'Evelyn won the first set 6-2 without ever getting their service broken.

The second set was much more back and forth with constant service breaks.  The girls got mixed up on the score and settled at 2-1 Conifer (instead of 3-2 Conifer).  

D'Evelyn vs Conifer (Played as)

1-0

1-1

2-1

2-2

2-3 (1-2)

2-4 (1-3)

3-4 (2-3)

3-5 (2-4)

4-5 (3-4)

5-5 (4-4)

6-5 (5-4)

6-6 (5-5)

7-6 (6-5)

7-7 (6-6)

8-7 (7-6)

Tie break is first to seven points and D'Evelyn squeaked past7-4 avoiding the third tie break set.

Stats:

26 first serves

2 second serves

0 aces

0 double faults

16 forehand winners

14 forehand errors

1 backhand winner

1 backhand error

4 forehand volley winners

2 forehand volley errors

0 backhand volley winners

0 backhand volley errors

The teams were pretty well matched with both teams serving well.  Conifer quickly learned to lob it over the player at the net.  That is something D'Evelyn could have worked on.  

D'Evelyn JV Meet - 3/27/2024

6'-0" vault

Third track meet of the year for Diya and the athletes competed on a pleasant 50 degree day under sunny skies at the D'Evelyn High School Track.

I got there early and was supposed to run the discus event which ended up being canceled.  The field was still a soggy mess.  I tried to go over to the shot put, but they had plenty of help.  Finally, I wandered over to high jump and they also had everything covered.  I then headed to the pole vault pit to enjoy the meet.

The girls and boys competed together and the opening height was 4 feet.

• 4'-0" make
• 4'-6" make
• 5'-0" make
• 5'-6" make
• 6'-0" make
• 6'-6" miss

I was really impressed with her form.  Among the JV girls there from four different schools, she was second place to a vaulter from Evergreen who cleared 6'-6", but missed 7'-0".  Tae's dad was there again giving pointers.

With the discus canceled, her second event was the 800 meters.  She had a clean start and came through with the middle of the pack at 1:40, before slowing down.  Her final time of 3:44 was a big improvement over her first meet when she finished in 4:08.

800m staring line

D'Evelyn vs Chatfield V2/JV - 3/26/2024

D'Evelyn V2/JV headed to Ken Caryl Ranch for their a match against Chatfield.  For a lot of the girls it was their first match ever.  The facilities were really nice and it seemed like all of the girls had fun.  Chatfield had some very talented girls.

The matches were one set with sudden death at deuce.  This caused the games to move pretty fast and finished between 30-45 minutes.  It was a pleasant 45 degrees and sunny at the start of the first game, but the temperature easily dropped 5-10 degrees by the finish of the second game.

Game 1:  D2

D'Evelyn started off serving and lost the first 3 games, before rallying with a couple of wins.  Ultimately, Chatfield's D2 finished up 6-3.  Nisha played well with her partner, but the power displayed by Chatfield was difficult to match.  If not for some strong net play by D'Evelyn and unforced errors by Chatfield, the score would not have been as close.

Nisha felt good about her play, but admitted the speed was a big step up from her match against Bear Creek.  She did roll her ankle near the end of the match, but shook it off.

Stats:

9 first serves

2 second serves

0 aces

1 double faults

3 forehand winners

9 forehand errors

0 backhand winners

1 backhand error

3 forehand volley winners

0 forehand volley errors

0 backhand volley winners

0 backhand volley errors

Game 2:  JV

D'Evelyn again started off serving both team lost when serving the first 4 games.  A lot of this was double faults and the absence of getting a rally going.  D'Evelyn secured the win taking 4 of the last 5 games with a final score of 6-3.

Nisha felt good about her play.  The tempo of the match was decidedly slower.

Stats:

9 first serves

1 second serves

0 aces

1 double faults

5 forehand winners

2 forehand errors

1 backhand winners

2 backhand error

0 forehand volley winners

1 forehand volley errors

0 backhand volley winners

0 backhand volley errors

I enjoyed keeping stats, but it was not easy.  I felt like I was losing track by quickly recording Nisha's performance and the score.  It was obviously harder when she was serving.  I did not track overhead shots of defensive lobs, but I do like the tennis stats tracker written an published by Joel Loo.

Jeffco Non-Qual #1 - 3/13/2024

Second track meet of the year and the athletes competed on a cold, rainy day at Jeffco Stadium.  The facility is great, but Track & Field certainly does not bring folks out of the woodwork like Football or Basketball.

I got there a little late and unfortunately missed my daughter in the pole vault.

• 5'-0" miss, did not release the pole
• 5'-0" made the height
• 5'-6" miss, did not have the height
• 5'-6" miss, went right into the bar

I was able to see her in the 1600m

• 400m split - 1:57
• 400m split - 2:10
• 400m split - 2:17
• 400m split - 2:01 (8:24)

I was really impressed with her splits

She was slated for the 800m run, but the meet was cut short due to the persistent heavier rain fall.

D'Evelyn vs Bear Creek V2 - 3/12/2024

D'Evelyn girls tennis has a big squad this year.  Being no cut, 11 girls were selected for varsity, 11 will play in V2 matches and the remaining girls will make up the junior varsity squad.

The V2 team faced off against Bear Creek on Tuesday, March 12.  My daughter and her friend Abby were the D3 pairing.  Apparently, a team is made of of S1, S2, S3, D1, D2, D3 and D4 with S1 being the strongest singles player and D4 being the weakest double pair.  That way matches are more even for the participants.

The girls arrived and starting warming up between 3:30 and 3:45 PM.  Introductions were made around 4:00 PM and then players started warming up with their opponents.  On the (4) courts, S1, S2, S3 and D1 got underway around 4:15 PM.  D2, D3 and D4 were waiting in the wings for courts to free up.  D3 started around 5:45 PM and wrapped up around 7:15 PM.

D3 played well winning the first set 6-1 and the second set 7-6 in a tie break.  The tie break rules confused me a bit, but the idea is team 1 serves the first point, then team 2 serves 2 point, then team 1 serves the next 2 points until somebody wins by 2 point.  I think the tie break finished at 7-5.  My daughter said that it was getting harder to see the ball as it got dark.

As a spectator, I learned to bring a chair and extra warm clothes.  As evening settles in Colorado in March it is nice to have a hat, gloves and a thermos of coffee.  The players should take similar cues by having proper warm-ups and even hand warmers.

I also learned that I want to start keeping stats.  I downloaded a few off of the internet and will start out pretty simple with serves, forehand winners/errors, backhand winners/errors etc.

Dyson Upright Vacuum

We bought at Dyson a couple of years ago and have really enjoyed it.  You certainly get what you pay for in terms of performance and there is a big difference between a $300 vacuum cleaner and a $90 vacuum cleaner.

However, this morning it did not sound right and was losing suction.  I started with the obvious of emptying the tube and cleaning out the brushes.  With no luck, I went to the online troubleshooting guide which was amazing.  The 3rd place I looked, I found a giant plug of dust, hair, cereal, popcorn and other food crumbs.  Clearing this plug of crap out, got it back to normal.