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NEWSLETTER - FEBRUARY 2001 |
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Cowlitz Volleyball
Newsletter
February 2001
Volume 10 -- Issue 2
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FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
As customary in January, the Club runs a great
many tournaments. This serves to put some
additional monies into our account which we use
to keep our fees the lowest of any major Club on
the West Coast, while reducing the amount of
travel by our teams, and fans. We have
hosted huge numbers in January, and have
benefited from our staff of volunteers who are
so capable of running efficient
tournaments. The benefits come in the form
of being able to host CEVBA Regional Power
Tournaments, which we have been awarded on March
10, 11 for both 16 and 18 Gold and Silver
divisions.
Our new website which started as a senior
project by Michael Steward last year, has now
blossomed into a masterpiece under the direction
of Rick Woodruff. We will be putting more
and more useful information on the site, and
coaches are beginning to use it as their main
communication source. There may come a
time when this newsletter will only be available
online. Pictures, directions, rosters,
schedules, it's all on the Web, check it
out. Michael Steward, our original
designer, has recently graduated boot camp, and
then some for the Navy, and has just received
his orders to report to Everett. His
mother is my faithful secretary, and works at
home to produce this monthly newsletter for you.
The region is struggling for facilities, and has
awarded us March Power League tournaments if we
can use Lower Columbia College. A major
reason for the low fees at Cowlitz has always
been coaches who volunteer rather work for the
District.
TREE NETTING
Through the generous cooperation of
Weyerhaeuser, and the coordination effort of Jim
Oldis of J L & O Enterprises, our athletes
are provided fundraising opportunities.
The opportunity involves an early morning
take-off to a mountain area where we will
involve ourselves in either planting or covering
young seedlings. On the dates listed
below, athletes can sign up, bring friends
along, and work in the outdoors to raise
money. The money from Weyco is based on
acres covered. Jim calculates the acreage,
and divides it by the athletes
participating. When money is distributed,
additional shares go to those that bring extra
helpers, etc. For this year, the dates are
February 11, March 18, and April 15.
PAYMENT COUPONS
Enclosed in your athlete's team placement
announcement are the payment coupons. I
hope you find them a convenient way to make your
payments. Kudos to Jocelyn Price who
"volunteers" to open the mail, and
manage the money. An enormous job as you
can imagine. The payments for all but two
teams have been divided into two payments with
the second due this week. This front
loading of payments will keep us in the black
with those we do business with. Please
communicate immediately with Jocelyn Price,
Charlene Andrews or myself if payments are a
concern.
TRAVEL TALK
Our Club believes very strongly in the values,
skills and lessons that can be learned by
traveling and competing together. To that
end, we have extended ourselves to the maximum,
serving as a travel agency, and working
diligently to accommodate all-comers that wish
to travel and support us. If you were to
ask around, I think you would find that attitude
unique to our Club. We work year round
securing the best accommodations and locations
for our kids.
LAS VEGAS DESERT CLASSIC - ASICS Team
We are in the final "stages" for this
annual trip. We are also deciding which
show to take the girls to. We are taking
the second largest group in Club history with 44
folks ready to visit "Lost
Wages". For some this is the first
exposure to a national tournament, flying, Las
Vegas, etc. Itineraries are close to
completion; ask your coach for details.
COLORADO CROSSROADS
The 16's Black team is in the final stages of
planning to attend the Crossroads tournament in
March to replace the Vegas tournament.
YAKIMA JAMBOREE
Several months ago, we signed contracts for this
March 2, 3, 4 for 95 rooms at the DoubleTree Inn
in Yakima. Charlene Andrews, Bill Tuggle
and Jocelyn Price work very hard on this project
on your behalf. Tell them thanks when you
see them. A reminder that any parent that
transports three or more athletes (including
daughter), will be reimbursed for their first
nights lodging at the Inn by the Club. The
athletes will be housed with their parent, other
parents, or be asked to pay additionally for
"athletes only" rooms. The only
two people able to address housing concerns with
the Cowlitz block of rooms directly with the
DoubleTree will be Charlene Andrews and Bill
Marshall. You are welcome to look for
housing on your own, but you will not get the
consideration of our special rate, etc.
The Inn has been instructed not to accept
reservations through anyone else from our
group. The Inn situation is critical and
we must adhere to strict guidelines. We
will fax no later than February 14 a completed
rooming list. It will be your
responsibility to call the Inn after February
14, and tell them your name and leave your
credit card number for billing and guarantee
your room past the 6:00 pm check in time.
If you do not call and guarantee your room, you
risk the chance of losing your room! Any
parent meeting the transportation requirement
will be refunded by the Club for the first night
housing at a later date. That is the way
that the motels have asked us to handle
it. Any changes in rooming arrangements,
will be made by Charlene and Bill. It is
important that you make your contract for
billing purposes. If you snooze, you lose
on this one. There is a State basketball
tournament being held in Yakima this same
weekend. Housing will be tighter than
ever.
BEND IN APRIL?
There are lots of rumors out there, none that
have been confirmed. The Region is hoping
that several divisions of the April Power League
will be held in Bend, OR at the fairgrounds as
they were last year. There is also a plan
in the works to have some Regional championships
held there as well. I contacted the Region
office last week, and nothing can be
confirmed. We will let you know as soon as
final arrangements can be made.
VOLLEYBALL FESTIVAL 2001
Nineteen years and still going strong. We
anxiously await our yearly trek to the sunshine
state. Improvements include having the
tournament headquartered at the Sacramento
Convention Center for use by the 18-U
competition (29 courts under one roof), the 16-U
competition at Cal Expo (25 courts under one
roof), and the 14-U competition at the Davis
Recreational Center in air conditioned
comfort! We annually take as many teams or
combination of teams that are interested.
We have taken six teams most years.
Coaches will be discussing the event with you in
order to make decisions about participation.
COWLITZ
ASICS
Coaches: Bill Marshall, Kim Pierce
The month of January has been a great
experience. We actually began in early
December with practices and a Jamboree of sorts
in Gresham vs. Nike, Rose City and Cowlitz
teams. We ended the month of December on
the 31st with a mini-tournament featuring
Cowlitz players, both current and past. It
was a great event!
In early January, we jumped into the fire with
the first Power League of the year. We
were successful in placing second in the first
pool, and winning the second, securing a berth
in the Gold Division for February. It was
a great weekend progressing as we did throughout
the day, introducing five new athletes to the
level of intensity that is in the 18's division.
The Power League was a springboard for the
Fiesta Classic, held at Arizona State University
in Tempe, AZ. Our kids entered the
tournament seeded 13th (too high for me) and
finished 7th (way beyond my
expectations!). Our first effort was a
loss to Yavapi, and our last effort was a loss
to the 4th seeded Diggers from Manhattan Beach,
CA. In between, we made amazing progress
over the three days, while establishing
ourselves as a legitimate contender at the
National level. The 7th place finish was
the best National tournament finish in the 20
year history of the 18's Black.
For the first time since 1988, we have what
would be called a tall team. This will
compliment our always noted defense, and ball
control that has been the trademark of our team
for twenty years. The team is led by five
returning seniors beginning with Jessica Bunn, a
5' 7" defensive specialist from State
placer Prairie, who is joined by high school
teammate Tiffany Thorkildson, a 6' 0"
outside hitter who we call the
"Enforcer". Abby Pond is a 5'
3" defensive specialist from Vernonia, and
our two returning middles are Lauren Anicker, 6'
0" from State placer Kelso, and Melissa
Rowe, 6' 0" from Mark Morris. Our
sixth senior up from the Blue team is 5' 8"
outside hitter Katie Waliezer from LaCenter.
Our juniors fro the first time in Club history
all come from the 16's Black and include Tara
Andrews, 5' 3" setter from State placer
Rainier, Stephanie Storedahl, 6' 0" middle
blocker from State placing Kalama, Amanda Lee,
6' 0" middle blocker from Prairie, and
teammates Brooke Clark, 5' 10" right side
hitter, and Katie Sorensen, 5' 7" left side
from Kelso. Stop by and check us
out. We will be hard to miss.
18'S
BLUE
Coach: Marcy Gilchrist
This is going to be an exciting year for the
Blue's. We are young and are constantly
improving our game. With only one senior,
Raven Northrup, Kelso, the 18's Blue will be
working on gaining some depth. One of our
strengths this year is our powerful outside
attack from Mandy Larson, Woodland, and Danielle
Sweet, R A Long. We also have two great
finesse attackers on the outside as well.
They are Rachel Braun, Scappoose, and Josie
Perry, St Helens. The outside hitters are
all working on transitioning to the outside to
gain more power and visibility to their
attack. Caitlin Davis, Mark Morris, and
Bethany Clayton, R A Long, because of their dual
skills will swing both outside and right side
this year. They are quick and can easily
adjust to either side of the court, whether
front or back row. Our middles are working
hard every match to become an aggressive
offensive threat. They are making their
presence known as assertive blockers at the
net. Our middles are Raven Northrup, Jen
Davis, Scappoose, and Alicia Cooper, Wahkaiakum.
All three athletes have been working on
improving their quick attack, and they continue
to impress me with their work ethic.
Catricia Magsayo, Heritage, is our lone
defensive specialist who will sometimes mask as
our setter. She is known to come up with
some great down balls from the back row, and is
a great communicator. Lastly, Dana Mackey,
Mark Morris, is our setter. She is
learning to speed up our offense and is becoming
a leader for our team. She is also
learning how demanding I am on my setters!
With our continual growth, the 18's Blue are
sure to be a threat in our region. We
often take the persona of the underdog, which is
a definite advantage for us. We are a fun
team to watch, and will be full of surprises
throughout the season.
16'S
BLACK
Coaches: Jocelyn Price, Bill Tuggle
The Cowlitz 16's Black team started off the
season with baptism by fire. With only two
practices under our belts, we played in a
mini-friendship tournament with both of our 18's
teams, two very good Cowlitz Alumni teams and a
very promising 16's team from Olympia.
Boy, did we get an education. We
discovered that we have a lot to learn yet and
need to spend some quality time on the practice
court.
The next weekend sent us to the qualifying
tournament for the 16's division down at Pacific
University in Forest Grove, OR. We played
much better than the weekend before, but of
course, our opponents weren't quite as
experienced as the one from the previous
weekend. Anyway, we finished second in our
first pool behind Washington VB Academy out of
Seattle, WA. We advanced into the next
pool, with the confidence of getting a pool
win. However, we dropped the first match
and that's all she wrote. We had a chance
to stay in the top two, but with a late start in
our final match, we only got to play one game
instead of a full match, and we weren't able to
get it done. So, this will place us in the
Silver Division for the first Power League
tournament. We were happy with our
improvement on the court, but not with our
finish. We will have something to prove in
February, to the opposition and more
importantly, to ourselves. The practice
time in the gym seems to be helping us master
some skills we've had trouble with, and we hope
to put them to use soon!
This year's team consists of our two returning
veterans, Heather Gordon (Onalaska) as our
setter/outside hitter and Breanna Jenkins (Mark
Morris) as our outside/backside hitter. We
will look to these two to provide the leadership
out on the court that comes with the experience
from last year. Julie Henderson (Mossyrock)
will also hold down a setting position with
Brenda Riggs (St Helens) doing some work on the
right side. Our middle hitters are Breanne
Cochran (Wahkaiakum), Courtney Fritsch (Wahkaiakum),
and Ashley Flahaven (St Helens). Heidi
Yohe (R A Long) finishes up our list as an
outside power hitter, with Emily Popp (Rainier)
filling in every once in a while. Emily
shares the new "libero" position with
teammate Merete Rice (Mark Morris).
Bill and Jaws have had a lot of fun with group
already and are also learning from them.
Hopefully we can share some of our knowledge
with the team together we will have much
success.
We would like to thank all the parents for their
continued positive support. It is greatly
appreciated by the coaches and most importantly,
your daughters. Thank you very much!!
16'S
RED
Coaches: Lina Peloli, Cortney Engelson
The 16's Red team is off to a good start, and we
are looking forward to having a lot of
fun. We were pleased with how well we
played at the Qualifier tournament in
Newberg. We are hopeful that we will do
better as we play together more. We have
twelve girls on the team, and have many girls
that can play any position that we need them
to. The players include: Toni
Waadevig, Brittni Reid, Jamie Sophusson (Mark
Morris), Elise VonAllmen, Sarah Bliss (St
Helens), Katie Blackstone, Mackenzie Quartly,
Shawnda Kerr (R A Long), Hailey Sundberg, Allie
Shrull (Castle Rock), Allison Lee (Prairie), and
Jessica Proctor (Heritage). We appreciate
all the positive support from the parents, and
look forward to the rest of the season.
ATHLETES
CORNER 14'S BLACK
Coaches: Joe Perry, Eric VanZanten
The 14's Black team has gotten off to a very
fast start this year. We are currently
16-1 in tournament play with 2 first place
finishes and 1 second. We qualified for
the Gold Division two weekends ago and can't
wait to match up with the rest of the Big Dogs.
The players have been working very hard in
practice to learn what I expect out of my
players. I have noticed a lot of
improvement so far this season and still think
that we will be even greater later. The
team is, so far, living up to my expectations of
what they might be capable of doing after
watching them play last year.
This year's 14's Black team is made up of
players from 5 different schools. Some
have played together before and some are new to
the team. Rashelle Davenport is a
left-handed right side player from Kalama.
Jonelle Davis is a middle blocker from
Cascade. Kelsey DeLaGrange is a setter
from Cascade. Laura Jensen is a left side
hitter from Monticello. Hillary Mussman is
a setter from Monticello. Sara Peterson is
a defensive specialist from St Helens.
Kaitlyn Senn is a left side hitter from
Cascade. Tara Thomas is a defensive
specialist from Woodland. Tasia Trochim is
a middle blocker from Cascade. Kara
VanZanten is an outside hitter from Cascade.
As I said, the expectation level is very high
for this team and so far they have risen to the
occasion.
14'S
BLUE
Coaches: Celeste Sjogren, Robert Sjogren
This is a great team. I am Celeste Sjogren,
head coach of the 14's Blue. I am assisted
by my dad, Robert Sjogren. We make a great
team!!! I have wonderful girls,
too!!!! First off is Alesha Elliott.
She is an outside hitter as well as a right side
hitter. She is a hard worker and has a
drive to learn. Megan Nichols is my
outside hitter also. She is more than
willing to sacrifice her body to the floor and
is very coachable. Ashley Grayson, a big
middle blocker, is very outgoing and is always
celebrating (even mistakes)!! RaeAnn
Willequette is one of my setters. She is
very open to new ideas and will actually use
them! Greta Moseson plays just about
everything. She is a very open player able
to play any position I throw her into.
Mostly, she plays middle and outside
hitter. Stephanie Erdman, my setter, has
wonderful spirit (even with Skittles). She
is always willing to hit the floor to be able to
keep a play alive! My DS is Danielle
Young. She is going to be my libero now
that I understand how it works! She is an
excellent passer and works well on the
court. Kristina Driver is my outside
hitter. She is learning new things
everyday and putting them to work on the
court. She is a great listener and wants
to win. Last, but not least by any means,
is Lisa Walker, my big middle blocker. She
is quick on her feet and moves on the net
nicely.
This whole group is very outgoing. They
all get along and when a person makes a mistake
on the court, everyone is there to help her
out! This team is one to watch! They
are going to be a power in this Club. So,
the Black team better watch out. We're
coming up fast!!
14'S
RED
Coaches: Paul Batzle, Katie Spears, Jim
Oldis
It is nice being back coaching again, especially
since I have such a great team and two excellent
assistants. The youngest assistant is
Katie Spears from Castle Rock and the next
oldest is Jim Oldis from Kelso. Katie has
played for Cowlitz and Jim has been a parent of
one who played for us. The three of us
make a great combination. Now for my young
ladies: all the way from Vancouver comes
Aaryn Lee; from Woodland comes Kim Carter; Megan
LaRoy and Aanjulena Sweet come from Kalama; St
Helens, OR sent us Whitney Pellham; Alisha
Grendon is from Kelso; and Longview's finest are
Ashlee Logan, Emily Gray, and Ashley Aasen.
Oh, did I forget someone ... finally, Toutle has
sent us a very talented young lady with the name
of Charlee Wuollet.
It is one the tasks at this level to start the
process of specialization. I don't know
who it is harder on to understand, the players
or the parents. We introduce the 5-1
offense, 4 and 3 person serve-receive, hitter
coverage, defensive court strategy, and good
old-fashioned teamwork. The intensity of
play is also higher at this level. It is
difficult for some to come into this system when
they have been the best on their team to find
out that they now are one of the best, or almost
the best. Those who learn to jump in, have
fun, and work their tails off have the most
success. Pouting is not tolerated.
We now have been together for a month. We
have been in two tournaments, faced some very
good teams and did quite well. However, in
the last tournament, we found out that we have
to start out hot at the start or else we really
get beat up. This is a group of
thinkers. We did a drill that took some
previous teams two to three weeks to figure it
out ..... these girls did it in 3 minutes and 36
seconds. If they use that intelligence and
problem solving ability in the right way, we
will be tough.
Many thanks to the parents who jump in to shag
balls, set up the nets, and generally do so many
helpful things to help the team ..... you are
appreciated. You all have great
kids. Thanks for sharing them with me.
14'S
PURPLE
Coaches: Holly Cudworth, Mike Lee
Mike and I have a very dynamic group of young
ladies this year. Each has their unique
personality and set of talents both on the court
and off the court! Our roster includes
eleven girls from various schools in the
area. They are: Amanda Harris, MH;
Amanda Johnson, DS; Emily O'Hollaren, S; Brooke
Burns, S; Amanda Dibblee, RH; Britney Lichty,
OH; Lindsey Divine, OH; BreAnna Wells, S; Bry
Lemmons, MH; Mikah Clancy, DS; Cassie Matherson,
OH.
We have worked hard in practices and are now
concentrating on clenching wins with our awesome
serving power. This group of ladies takes
care of the ball at all times and they are
exciting to watch. We finished 18th in our
first tournament and just finished 3rd in our
second wave of pool play in the Power League
tournament. We all are certain that with a
little more hard work and determination, we have
a lot of big wins in our future.
12'S
BLACK
Coach: Tammy Watkins
The 2001 season is off and running. This
year looks to be an exciting one for the
twelve's. As you know, we have started a
second team, expanding our Club and bringing
more young athletes into our volleyball
community. Thanks to all that supported
the addition.
We have played in two tournaments so far, the
Longview Pre-Qualifier and Power League.
The first tournament basically was all about
learning how to transition and rotate. The
three hit philosophy of pass, set, hit was
tossed aside for part of the day while we
focused on our transition. We did set the
ball up a few times and even had a couple
kills. Power League was a different
story. Transition was only a minimal
factor. The girls set the ball up several
times and worked focusing on pass, set,
hit. We did fall short to a couple of the,
what I call "bump bump" teams.
To try and transition when the ball is being
passed right back over the net makes it very
hard to pick up the ball. The girls are so
focused on getting to their position, the
reaction time is just not there yet to stop and
pass up those slop balls that are thrown our
way. They are a great group, hard-working
and funny. Always making me laugh and at
moments blow my mind what they are capable
of. We are using the libero option and it
has proved to be a great advantage for us.
Sara Charette from Cascade, and Brittany Carey
from St Helens are filling that role for
us. Ashlee Hanson from St Helens and
BriAnne Culbertson from Monticello and Janelle
Frutchey from Butler Acres are playing
middle. Ashlee will occasionally play
outside. Chelsie Barnes form Cascade,
Talia Hamer from Columbia Heights Christian
Academy play outside. Liz Spears from
Castle Rock plays right side. Nichole
DeSantis from Woodland and Amanda Trochim from
CVG are setting. These young ladies have
great potential. I see very good things
for us this year. If you have a chance,
come see the twelve's. We may not crush --
we sure try our hardest to do just that.
12'S
BLUE
Coaches: Jennifer Bennett, Tara Wuerth
This is the first year that 12's have two teams,
which is great because more kids get the
opportunity to experience and learn the game of
volleyball. This year's 12's Blue
volleyball team consists of twelve
players: Margarita Castro (Monticello),
Becky Nein (Mint Valley), Ainsley Uhlenkott
(Castle Rock), Rachelle Reid (Cascade), Jilllian
Sanchez (Cascade), Lacy Colwell (CVG), Daryl Neu
(Mint Valley), Morgan Worth (Monticello),
Stephani Hail (Monticello), Katie Hail-Jendro
(Monticello), Teresa Jeans (Monticello), and
Sadie Aschoff (Monticello).
Everyday the girls improve and it is exciting as
coaches to see their enthusiasm and energy,
especially when they win! Step by step,
each girl is learning the process of playing the
game and the complex idea of playing their
defensive position and switching. Their
improvement is amazing and will keep getting
better as the season progresses. The team
took 11th in their first Power League
tournament.
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