Can the Ascension rise at the right time?

Ascension has been a rather fitting team name for Phoenix’s VLA team this season.

Phoenix enters this weekend’s championships ranked fifth, and will face regular-season champions Team LVC and Indiana’s Team Pineapple in Pool A play. They will certainly get the chance to prove they are better than what their ranking suggests.

An impressive VLA Cup run earned them a chance to claim the West Division Championship, but they faltered at an inopportune time, finishing 1-3 at May’s West Division Event.

At times this season, the team’s level play has been a tale of two months, and even a tale of two days.

In February, the Ascension defended their home court at State Farm Stadium and won two matches against West Division rival SoCal Rising Tide. Three months later, the Rising Tide flipped the script on Phoenix, answering with a stronger roster and two victories.

At a recent weekend exhibition against the West Coast Brigade and Phoenix Valor, the Ascension dropped matches to both teams on Saturday. The exhibition style of the event matched up the Ascension with the Brigade and Valor once again on Sunday, and this time, they were ones who flipped the script.

Opponents will have to be prepared for the best version of the Ascension throughout the entire tournament. If the results can change so drastically in a matter of months and only a day, who is to say it won’t change from one match to another?

The semi-final play-in matches that will be played on Saturday afternoon make this even more of a possibility for the Ascension.

“Our team is capable of putting up a great fight with anyone, we need to choose to have that mentality every match if we want to stand a chance at the championship tournament,” said setter and team representative Vince Zanzucchi.

One specific team a “great fight,” as Zanzucchi referred to it, will be needed against is Team LVC. Their only matchup with the regular-season champions was a five-set loss. “Team LVC is always a wild matchup for us,” said Zanzucchi.

Team LVC’s middle play from Blake Leeson and Micheal Marshman specifically stands out to Zanzucchi. “They have the two best middles in the league,” he said, while also noting that Jordan Varee is “consistently deadly on the opposite” for Team LVC.

While the Ascension might enjoy their position as dangerously looming underdogs against some teams this weekend, they will still need to watch their backs as the favorite in a crucial pool play match against Team Pineapple, who ranks third in their pool but has a proud history of success in the VLA.

“We are 3-0 against Team Pineapple since the league was formed. [Team Pineapple] get[s] closer and closer to taking us down every match. Hopefully we can maintain our same intensity against them so they don’t flip the script on us,” said Zanzucchi.

An important roster note is that the Ascension are without opposite Bryan Lewis this weekend, who is responsible for a large portion of their offensive attack. Tasked with playing in his place is Brenden Hardt, a 6’9 opposite who is relatively inexperienced at the VLA level. Zanzucchi believes this weekend could be a good opportunity for him to prove himself.

Phoenix’s mission this weekend is clear: rise to the occasion. They’ll have to do it without Bryan Lewis, but if their setter has faith in his new opposite, the Ascension’s opponents will have to be ready for him to perform well.

And How do the Ascension believe they are to rise to the occasion, you might ask? “If we are to win the championship this weekend, we will need exceptional ball control in order to run our middles and have a balanced offense. It will take everyone doing their job on every point if we are going to win it all,” Zanzucchi said.

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