Mid-Season Tournament
March 30, 2008 @ Longview, WA

Where have these girls been? I cannot express enough how proud we are with how these girls did this Sunday. What a turnaround for a group of girls that were missing a setter, middle, and our libero. Apparently the time we spent together at Yakima was what we needed to learn to work as a team because this team did fabulous on Sunday and to try and distinguish a standout is impossible because the team as a whole was the standout.

Going into our first match one of the girls recognized the team we were playing as the Olympia team that took third in Yakima and when we lost the first match 23-25 it did not matter because to them it was a victory ... they were competitive with a tough team and that is when their confidence rose. Our second match was to Club Heritage and we went in with that same confidence and beat them our first game. The best part was we had to play volleyball to beat them, no rat ball ... just hard work and it paid off. We lost to them in the second game and beat Cowlitz Silver 2 in the third match. That put us playing Cowlitz Black in the bracket. Our girls went in with no intimidation and just went for it. They played volleyball and were able to hold their own even though they lost to Black 15-25 and 16-25 it was okay with them, Black was the team that took second in Yakima and Cowlitz Blue was able to hold their own against them.

The work at the net by Kate Swett, Kourtney Green, and Lizzie Johnson was a factor in our result. Great serving by Mikala Fernandez, Maryah Kennedy, and Roonie Dombrowsky helped add up the points. Great passing by Mikala Edwards, Brittany Fierst, and Addie Bailey helped set up the offense and worked as a great defense to keep us competitive.

Great job girls, you so rocked!

Northwest Juniors Jamboree
POWER DIVISION
March 15-16, 2008 @ Yakima, WA

Wow, what a great experience for our girls! We had some troopers this weekend and for their first two day tournament I think our girls did quite well. Plenty of fun memories were created this weekend along with a sad one knowing we were playing the last time with our teammate Morgan (the MORGANATOR) Burke who is moving to Arkansas.

Our girls started out Saturday with some great playing but not showing it on the record books. We went up against some tough teams and were able to hold our own even though we were working with a major change in the lineup. Moving Kortney Green to an on-hand hitter was like getting an unexpected Christmas present! She rocked on the net and off and was able to pick up balls dropped over our middles' blocks. And speaking of blocks, Amber Olsen had a lovely stuff at the next that along with Kate Swett and Brittany Fierst acting as walls, we were able to eliminate the competition's offense.

A pizza party and talent show that evening proved that even though we rock at volleyball, we still have other hidden talents such as doing the worm, singing, baton twirling, and the ability to do unending push-ups. A good night's rest and a major pillow fight in room 187 had our girls ready to battle.

Sunday we started out with a victory that was brought on by some great serving by Morgan Burke and Mikala Fernandez. Both girls TIED for a run of 18 PERFECT serves IN A ROW!!! Our next team was probably the sweetest victory we have had. Playing Portland Orange, we were able to pull off another win in three games with the last being 16-14. Savannah Wallace had her first day of libero and was able to do a fantastic job of passing in the back row and once our girls learned how to adjust to someone coming in and out, they were all able to take advantage of her. Roonie Drombrowsky was also an incredible force with her passing and serving. Solid playing by Addie Bailey, Lizzie Johnson, Maryah Kennedy, and Mikala Edwards also helped bring on the victory. Unfortunately we went up against a strong team and lost to Yakima in the fourth game. Seeded second in our bracket, we went up against Portland Orange again and inexperience with two day tournaments, our girls were not able to pull off any other victories.

Power League - March
CONTENDER DIVISION
March 2, 2008 @ Pacific University - Forest Grove, OR

Skill is what we are developing, luck is what we lack. Our 12's did awesome this last Sunday and I am sure if you totaled our points we won the tournament but unfortunately the win/loss record did not look as favorable. We as a team took our first giant step into applying what we have been working on this past three months and put fear into our opponents.

Up at the net we had an incredible force with Kate Swett and Lizzie Johnson going up and reacting to opponents’ offense. Along with great work at the net, Lizzie Johnson came through with incredible serves that accompanied Morgan Burke's 18-point run and Mikala Fernandez's 15-point run!!! Amber Olson’s consistent serves put a few notches in our win column as well.

A front row surprise for everyone was Savannah Wallace who was able to pick dumps from the other team and give our setter beautiful passes to work with. And speaking of setters, who are these girls???? We had some beautiful sets from Maryah Kennedy and Mikala Fernandez. Maryah also had an incredible save with a net serve and followed the ball to pop it up with a great pass that would have made any coach proud.

Brittany Fierst's persistence paid off with incredible passes, and along with Mikala Edwards and Myranda Dombrowsky, we were able to set up our offense for some great opportunities for Addie Bailey and Kortney Green.

All of these girls did an incredible job on Sunday and as disheartening as it is becoming when you see our record, it is beyond amazing what you see when you watch these girls. They are learning to work together as a team and seeing their first practice and now watching their reaction to the ball and each other is better than just knowing that they placed well in a tournament. These twelve girls will be a force to reckon with and as coaches we could not be prouder (okay with the exception of the cookie incident….)!!!!

WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF BLUES, WE ROCK!!!!

Pre-Qualifier Tournament
January 5, 2008 @ R A Long High School - Longview, WA

WOW!!! What an amazing start to the Cowlitz 12 Blue 2008 season!

One would think that an early morning arrival time would make twelve 10 & 11 year old girls tired and groggy. This was just not so for the Cowlitz 12 Blue team. Each and every girl arrived on on time and from the get go, all twelve of them were bubbling over with excitement to begin their their first tournament.

For all but two of our girls, this was the first time ever even being at a Cowlitz tournament, let alone playing or officiating in one! We started out the tournament by refereeing the first two games. Most of the tasks were met with ease and done well. However, without the help of Tina Edwards (Mikala's mom) and Kelly Dombrowsky (Myranda's mom) I don't know where we would have been with keeping score. Both of them took the time to sit with the girls that were assigned to the scorekeeper position and walked them through that process. HUGE THANK YOU TO THEM BOTH!!!

I am so incredibly thankful for the amazing parental support that our girls have. Each of the parents were supportive and encouraging to the whole team and this just increased the overall Cowlitz 12 Blue team spirit that was coming from the R.A. Long gymnasium.

Our team has only one returning player from Cowlitz and one other girl that played for her school this past fall. A lack of playing experience is clearly NOT going to stop this team from excelling way past my expectations or their own. I am so impressed by their ability to work together and support each other. Their constant positive attitudes toward each other are only going to increase their winning spirits. From the first game that we played to our last, the Cowlitz 12 Blue team played and cheered with their whole hearts.

We had some really great play time where Myranda (Rooney) Dombrowsky was able to get in there and get some amazing passes to her other teammates and some where she literally 'saved' the ball because she was able to rush to it and send it back over the net.

Morgan (The Morganator) Burke and Lizzie (Lizard) Johnson are two of my super setters. Both girls were running to their base positions in the rotations and were doing their best to be ready to receive the passes from their team members. I was so impressed how quickly they were able to make good decisions on whether to pass or set the ball. The two of them have amazing go-getter attitudes that pump the team up!

Savannah Wallace ... the teeniest member on our team must have the fastest feet as well. She follows the ball with her whole body... not just her eyes. There wasn't one ball that she didn't go after when she was on the court. Both she and Brittany Fierst were down and ready to get that ball and they hustled each time it came over the net. Brittany also had an awesome serve that scored us a much needed point!

Our whole team is working hard on their over-hand serves and ALL of them are doing an incredible job. Amber Olson and Mikala (Ladybug)Fernandez were STANDOUT servers of the day! I was blown away at their ability to get their serves in. There was one point in two different games where each of the girls had the opportunity to serve several in a row and they just racked up the points for our team! They both served with consistency and with power! Addie Bailey is another one that has incredible strength in her serves and all three of them kept amazing smiles on their faces throughout the games that helped to support the other players.

I was really impressed with Kate Swett and Mikala Edwards' offensive play in the back row, and then when rotated to the front they both were at the net doing their best to play defensively, too! Both girls kept focused on the ball and worked hard to get great passes and serves!!

Kortney Crawford and Maryah (Muscles) Kennedy had all the girls cheering from the bench and on the court. Maryah taught the team Cowlitz cheers and both she and Kortney kept the whole team going by keeping their spirits up. Both girls also played exceptional games the whole day through.

I could not be more proud of the Cowlitz 12 Blue team. They really showed up with winning attitudes and that did not get squashed if the final score did not go in their favor. For a team so young and with such little experience, it did not show on the floor. All twelve girls played excellent games and I am so excited to see where this season will take us.