Pre-Regional Tournament
April 15, 2007 @ Longview, WA

This Longview tournament on the 15th would prove to be a little different than the last two that Blue had won. Yakima sent over their top team, Webfoot sent their top team, Black was back in town ... you get the idea. But Blue was not about to let their reign come to an end without a fight, and they started out good, taking 1st in their pool beating Olympia Extreme 25-18, 28-26, North County White 25-12, 25-6, and Webfoot Silver 25-15, 25-10. That third match score doesn’t reflect how tough a match this was, as Webfoot was playing for their shot at 2nd place in pool, and Blue had their best match of the day to put them away. This was all on top of the fact that we are still without Casey, were without Kiana and Ellie for the day, and were without Natalie for 3 matches. Pretty amazing how well this team can play even when we mix things up. Player of the day awards have to go to Taryn for getting the team fired up and her aggressive play, and Kenzie for setting all day without a break, and doing it well.

The afternoon set up Blue against Evergreen Green who we have had to fight against already this year, but Blue was up to the challenge again, winning 25-15, 25-18. But this is where the trip ended, as the next match pitted us against last year’s CEVA champions, Webfoot Gold. Blue fought a very good hard first game versus Webfoot, even blocking both of their powerhouse hitters, but the 2nd game was probably one of Webfoot’s better games of the season, and they seemed to be able to do no wrong. Blue fell 13-25, 5-25, and was left to enjoy the sunshine the rest of the day after watching 12’s Black fight hard but fall to Yakima Gold. Natalie and Sarilee fought hard again in the back row, even being called to hit a few with Ellie gone. Kylee moved outside part of the day, and again loved it even more than pounding the ball in the middle. Lexi and McKenzi came up huge at the net, and Katie and Lindsey continued to slam the ball down the line in preparation for Regionals. Great job Girls, and we will see you Friday in Corvallis.

P.S. Let’s not forget Parents at Practice on Tuesday, where even after the girls started missing a few serves (on purpose?) and taking every single ball whether it was out or not, managed to beat the parents about 50-10. Most lopsided victory ever for 14 Blue, and goes to show just how much the girls are improving and getting ready for high school. Thanks to everyone that came and to Holly and Patty for all the help they have provided at practice this year. You are all the best families and fans the team could ask for. Keep it up this weekend. GO BLUE!

Power League - April
April 1, 2007 @ Albany Boys & Girls Club - Albany, OR

Cowlitz 14 Blue had a rough April power league on the 1st at the Albany Boys and Girls Club. But with a late gutsy victory in March’s Power League and another late victory again this month, they held onto their Silver standing and will march into Regionals ranked 15th. Morning pool play placed Blue against Rose City Gold, Mt Hood Black, and Oregon City 14-1. Month after month it goes to show the talent and character of this team as they continue to hold their own with other club’s top teams. And this power league was no different with Blue barely losing to Rose City 21-25, 25-14, 12-15, then again barely losing to a fast improving Oregon City 25-17, 19-25, 10-15. The final match against a struggling Mt. Hood Black team netted Blue their only win of the morning 25-10, 25-21. All three matches came down to which team had the least errors, and any of the four teams could have ended up 1st or 4th.

With a 3rd place finish, we were up against Lakeside Blue to fight for a chance at 5th or 6th and a guaranteed trip to 2-day Regionals, but it was not meant to be as the girls again just barely lost 25-22, 16-25, 13-25. We split matches all year with Lakeside Blue, and are looking forward to playing both them and their Gold team this weekend for some well deserved payback. This loss put us into a one-game match for 7th or 8th, but the girls didn’t give up and didn’t give Mt Hood the satisfaction of payback, putting them away quickly 25-11. This win, along with the game last month for 5th place against Lakeside gave Blue the crucial points they needed to stay in Silver, and with 2 day Regionals coming up this weekend, we are hoping to leave it all on the floor as we attempt to knock a Gold team or two down a notch and fight our way up the ladder in Corvallis.

Casey did another great job at stats for us, but between 2-a-week practices and tournaments every weekend, you might notice the usual lack of recognition from other write-ups. This is because EVERYONE continues to improve and stand out each weekend. Kiana and Kenzie continue to anchor the team setting, while both of their hitting improves. Ellie continues to amaze with her hustle, back-row hitting and enthusiasm, along with Sarilee the DS that everyone can’t stop talking about, Taryn who is fast becoming one of our most improved as well as an inspiration to her team, and Natalie who continues to lead the team in serving as well as taking a more aggressive approach to the game every week. Lindsay, Katie, McKenzie, Lexi, and Kylee continue to dominate at the net, both outside and middle, learning to follow the hitters arms for those blocks, find the corners with their hits, and find the open spots with their tips. Keep it up girls, and next month should be the best tournament yet.

Mid-Season Tournament
March 25, 2007 @ Longview, WA

14 Blue wins again in Longview

Blue played some good volleyball this weekend at Mark Morris, starting the day seeded 1st with Black taking the weekend off. We won all 6 games in the morning pool. After a tough first game, Blue missed only a few serves each game the rest of the morning, and behind serving from Ellie, Kylee, and Taryn, setting from Kiana and Kenzie, hitting from Katie, Kylee, Lexi, and Lindsey, and a great passing game led by Sarilee, Ellie, and Natalie, Blue was #1 in their pool.

Cherry City Crush 25-21, 25-17
Evergreen 25-14, 25-7
North County Wildcats Black 25-16, 25-13

With a #1 seed and a bye in round 1 of bracket play, Blue got to ref 12’s Black as they fought off a tough North County Orange team, then finally got their highly anticipated match against 12’s Black. And Black lived up to the hype, passing and serving way above the 6th grade level and having the coaches dreaming of the years to come at the 14's level. Blue was nervous, but with their eyes on a 1st place finish, they defeated Black 25-19, 25-10 with Katie and Sarilee leading the way. Next was another tough match versus Evergreen Jack, the other #1 seed stand in for 14's Black. This Evergreen team played like they really wanted to earn that seeding, and after Blue won the first game 25-11, Evergreen came out playing tough and Blue fell 25-27. The third game came down to the wire, but Blue came back to win 16-14 with some of 16's Blue, 14's Black and 14's Red looking on. It was another exciting, heart-wrenching match for the coaches and parents again, but set us up for the re-match that Olympia Forza was looking for from Yakima. But Blue was too fired up now, winning 25-19, 25-12, to win their record setting 3rd t-shirt of the year. Another truly team effort as every single player had a hit and a pass in this match. It was another great Sunday and we are all looking forward to Power League in Albany this weekend.

Yakima Jamboree
POWER DIVISION II-A
March 17-18, 2007 @ Longview, WA

14 Blue takes 2nd in Yakima

The girls fought long and hard this weekend to earn the t-shirts they won, placing 2nd in Division II of the Power Division in the Yakima Jamboree. We felt we ended up with one of the harder pools of the tournament being seeded 3rd because of an early season CEVA seeding mistake. After barely losing in 3 games to last year’s nemesis PVC Green from the CEVA Gold division, and barely losing in 2 games to Splash 14 who we fought hard against but just couldn’t steal the lead from, we mixed up the line up and finished off Desert Heat and cruised into an afternoon and Sunday morning pool in Division II.

vs PVC Green – 25-21, 18-25, 12-15
vs Splash 14 – 18-25, 22-25
vs Desert Heat – 25-13, 25-14

The lower division turned out to be a little bit of a character builder, but with 2 tough matches against 2 good coaches with great teams, the bump down to the 2nd division turned out pretty good and very exiting for the girls, coaches, and parents. Girls had fun hitting outside instead of setting or playing middle, serving instead of playing libero, playing outside instead of passing, and trying hard to get it together in a 2 tough matches 20 minutes after playing half a match out of rotation. Our congratulations to Sandpoint and hopes that we get a chance to play them next year in Yakima.

vs Bridgetown Navy – 25-12, 25-11
vs Above the Net – 25-9, 25-11
vs Columbia Jrs Black – 21-25, 27-25, 16-14

Bracket
vs Olympia Forza – 25-12, 25-18
vs Sandpoint Mary – 21-25, 19-25

Casey was new to the stat sheets last weekend, but it looks as if she does a better job than I usually do, plus it allowed me to focus on screaming out directions and encouragement. She also was able to point out some weak spots Abby and I missed, so thanks to Casey. We saw some more amazingly consistent serving from Natalie who served every match and only missed one serve (that’s huge for a 2-day tournament). She is also becoming one of our most dependable passers along with Sarilee, Taryn, and Ellie who continue to anchor the back row. McKinzi and McKenzie continue to be tall at the net along with Lexi, as well as all three contributing some wonderfully hard to pass serves along with Taryn, and Kenzie stepping up to set some full games for Kiana in a long tournament. Lexi also stepped up blocking, along with Kylee and McKinzi and I think even Kiana got up and stuffed one. Kylee continued her dominance hitting middle, and then found that she LOVES hitting right. Look out 16s division, as there aren’t many good right side hitters out there. I know we mentioned Sarilee already, but she came into serve one game for her first time in 2 years I think, and nailed it. Ellie and Kiana continued to be the major hustlers on the team, as well as serving us to victory more than once. These two continue to bring oohs and ahhs from the crowd when they get to balls that everyone in the crowd as given up on. Kiana’s setting isn’t bad either, and Lindsey and Katie are sure to appreciate that, pounding away on the teams in Yakima all weekend.

If anyone can find a more exciting team to watch besides 12s Black (won their third major weekend in a row and the first ever win in Yakima for Cowlitz I think) I would love to see it. After scarfing down some Round Table pizza and watch Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Jon Heder win the day in Benchwarmers, decorating some doors, and eating some of the best no-bake cookies I have ever had, we were greeted in the morning with a phantom knock at the door and some St. Patrick’s Day cookies. We have the best team ever (and noooo, we don’t say this every year no matter what Holly and those other girls say), so keep it up and we will see you at Mark Morris Sunday to try and win a record setting 3rd t-shirt for the 14s Blue.

Power League - March
SILVER DIVISION
March 11, 2007 @ Longview, WA

It was amazing to read last year’s March Silver division post. It was almost a mirror image of this year’s write-up. Cowlitz Blue came in to Silver looking to move up in the rankings to secure points to keep them in 2-day Regionals at the end of April. They would have to move up from 8th or be forced back down to Bronze, but being at home (thanks Bill) we knew we had the advantage. Up 1st in our pool was Lakeside Blue. Cowlitz started strong, but fell in two very close 2nd and 3rd games, 25-18, 26-28, 14-16. It was hard to stomach the loss, knowing that we should have put them away in 2 games, but Lakeside played hard for that victory and earned it. Next up was North Clackamas who was down from Gold, and they played like it sweeping us and the entire pool. After losing 12-25, 16-25, the girls knew they had to get fired up no matter what the outcome of this final match, and gain some momentum into the critical afternoon match. They finished the morning 0-3 after losing 25-13, 23-25, 7-15 in another match where they should have won in 2, then just couldn’t get the other team to make any mistakes.

The girls seemed a little nervous to be in Silver, but after some pep talks and back to back reffing assignments, Blue was up against their arch rivals Clark County Black to see who stayed and who moved back down. We had already beat them twice this year, but lost the final match last month to let them win the Bronze division, so the girls were ready and hungry for a rematch. Coaches and parents of both teams expected a tough match, and the girls did not disappoint. CCJV took us down the wire again in the 1st game, but the girls held strong and won 25-23, and held a late lead to win the 2nd game 25-17. After much celebration, Blue was set up for a rematch versus Lakeside Blue, and after some amazing late game heroics by the back row, Cowlitz finished 5th winning 26-24. The coaches hearts did not explode out of their chests, which was surprising considering all the 2 point games, but the girls finished strong and are looking forward to carrying that momentum to Yakima this weekend to try and top Erik and Abby’s previous team’s finishes. This year’s Cowlitz 14 Blue continues to be one of the best yet, and a team to be watched if you get the chance.

Big thanks to Kiana, Casey, and Kenzie setting, and hopes for Casey to get better soon as her concussion from earlier this month forced her out of the last game after an awesome performance all day and especially in the pivotal game versus Clark County. Big at the net awards go to Katie, Lindsey, Kylee, and McKenzie who were hitting and blocking and filling in for our missing middle blocker/cheerleader Lexi. Hustle awards and improving passing by Ellie, Kiana, Sarilee, Taryn, and Natalie saved the team more than a few sets of lines in Tuesday’s practice. And awesome serving by Natalie, Kenzie, and Kiana kept us in a few of those tight games. I think every single person had at least one dig, one hit, and one set, and this is truly turning out to be a team effort every weekend when we are winning. Thanks girls, and see you Friday night in Yakima.

Power League - February
BRONZE DIVISION
February 11, 2007 @ Mt Hood CC - Gresham, OR

Blue started off Pool Play Sunday morning at Mt. Hood C.C. versus Webfoot Silver. Silver had been our nemesis a few years, and is fighting their way back up into the Silver and Bronze divisions. Having beat them in the past, we hoped to hand them an early loss, but fell a few points short 24-26, 25-13, 13-15. The team saw a huge difference between wins and losses all day, with 8 missed serves in the 2 games we lost, and none in the game we won. Lexi was the standout, serving 7 straight points in game 2, backed up by solid passing all match from Sarilee and Katie. Next up was Oregon City #1, with our hopes of a 1st or 2nd place finish now depending on wins versus O.C. and Clark County. Blue finished the match strong while showing great character in playing through some horrendous officiating mistakes by Clark County to win 23-25, 26-24, 15-11. Kiana, Kenzie & Ellie led the way serving, Kenzie & Kiana setting, and Sarilee & Ellie on defense. This win set up a deciding match with Clark County Black to decide the whole pool. Blue started off again a little late, losing the first game again by 2, 23-25. This turned out to be the last element Blue needed to light a fire under their butts, and proceeded to take 1st in the pool winning 25-8, 15-3. Serving was the big turning point, with Kenzie, Kylie, Ellie & Lexie all standing out, plus a new record for 14 Blue set by Kiana with 13 straight points in game 3. When the girls are missing 2 or less serves this year, they are unstoppable. Other standouts were Lexie blocking and hitting, and Kiana setting.

With a 1st place finish, Blue moved on to challenge Mac Jrs Black for a spot in Silver, and continued their momentum to reverse their first game habits for the day winning by 2 points 25-23, then finishing the match off in 2 games 25-17. Serving and setting from Kiana, Serving, passing and hitting from Katie, and serving, passing, and great hustle from Ellie were standouts for this crucial match. Additional great play at the net on offense and defense from Lindsay and Lexie helped seal the deal, and Blue did what they set out to do and are on their way up to Silver. With their goal accomplished, last up was a rematch versus Clark County Black, Blue’s new “nemesis.” The girls started off strong winning 25-17, with Ellie breaking Kiana’s 2-hour old record serving 14 straight points. But our first power league win in 3 years was not meant to be, as 2 late comebacks fell short dropping the match 23-25, 11-15. (actually 12-14, thanks Webfoot…) Standouts at the end of the day were Ellie and Katie serving, Taryn and Sarilee on defense, and Kiana setting the tone with her setting and hustle. The girls and coaches were happy with their play and glad to have a little competition. With some higher level play next month, we hope to play up to the level the girls have shown when taking games from 3 different gold teams this year. March is setting up to be pretty exciting.

Subway Classic
February 4, 2007 @ Lower Columbia College - Longview, WA

14 Blue Better Than the Super Bowl

14 Blue started off a 7 team round robin Sunday at LCC by beating PDX Green 25-5, 25-19. Standouts were Katie, Casey, & Lindsey serving, Kenzie setting, and Sarilee, Natalie, & Taryn on defense. Next we beat Evergreen 25-10, 25-10 behind the serving of Kiana and Ellie and the setting of Casey with help from all her hitters up front. Third up was Cascade Excel who we had seen in league already last month. With the intensity of play ramped back up after the morning matches, Blue found some areas they need to improve on, and split the match 25-23, 24-26. Serving from Katie & Natalie and setting from Kiana were the standouts in a match unfortunately plagued by mistakes on offense and defense. But after a “fun” pep talk, some lunch, and a change into our new lucky Ford (Get The Edge!) uniforms, Blue came back ready to make up for that lost game.

Our fourth match was against Cherry City Crush, and behind serving from Ellie & Natalie, hitting from Kylee & Katie, and defense from Sarilee, we started the last 3 matches strong with a 25-16, 25-9 win. Next was the Bearcats, and knowing we could be seeing them in a few months as they climb through the league rankings, Blue was determined to give them their first losses of the day. Blue won the match 25-17, 25-19 behind serving from Lexi, Kylee, & Kiana, setting from Kiana, hitting and a few blocks from Lindsey, Kylee, & McKinzi, and more passing and great hustle from Sarilee and Ellie. After 14s Black also beat the Bearcats, it was time for Blue and Black to square off for the championship.

Blue came out on fire, playing like they really wanted to take home the cotton. In the first game, serving from Kylee, hitting from Lindsey, McKinzi, & Katie, more setting and hustle from Kiana, and even more defense from Katie, Sarilee, & Ellie helped Blue hold on to a mid-game lead and win 25-21. But with the earlier split with Cascade Excel, it was going to take 2 wins to give Blue the title. Ellie led the way serving 12 points, as well as hitting with Kylee, and hustling on defense with Sarilee. Kiana again stepped up leading by example with her setting and hustle, and Blue finished the day winning 25-16 and taking 1st for the first time in a Longview tournament. Great job girls, and your coaches and booster club/cheering section will see you in Oregon this weekend as we try to jump from Bronze to Silver in League.

Power League Qualifier
January 21, 2007 @ The Courts at Beaverton - Beaverton, OR

With so many new clubs and teams in the area (over 90 teams in 8th / 7th grade alone), Blue went into the Pre-Qualifier seeded 19th, dropping a few spots from their 14th place finish last year. Well, as everyone had heard (or found out about half-way through pool play), Power League had a new format. Under our belt so far this year were 2 games taken from 2 tough Gold teams (Cowlitz Black and West Valley Black), as well as 7 other matches warming us up for what was promising to be a tough first Power League.

Cowlitz Blue started off versus 3rd seeded Nike Air Elite, AND CAME BACK TO GIVE ERIK & ABBY THEIR FIRST EVER WIN VS AIR ELITE 27-25 (sorry, but it was pretty exciting). Blue fought tough the next two games, but fell 19-25, 11-15. Top servers were Kylee & Ellie, hitters Katie, Kylie, & McKinzi, setters Kenzie, Casey, & Kiana, and passers Katie, Sarilee, & Ellie. Plus blocking a team whose roster was all 5’9 or taller was pretty impressive after not having many opportunities to block coming into this match. Next was Clark County Black, and Cowlitz came out firing 25-18, 25-11, behind serving and setting from Casey, hitting & blocking from Lexi & Kylee, and passing from Taryn, Ellie, & Sarilee. Last of the morning was Camas Ohana Kekoa (yes, somehow we drew 3 different club’s top teams in our pool) and again Cowlitz came out firing, but this time couldn’t hold on to that intensity, dropping the match 25-13, 18-25, & 7-15. Leading the valiant effort to climb into Silver was Ellie serving, Kiana setting, Katie, Casey, Natilie, & Sarilee on defense, and Lindsey, Kiana, McKinzi, & Kylee at the net on offense and defense, putting up a bunch of kills and more of this new-found blocking talent.

All this effort led to a 19th seed for the afternoon and a new format requiring the girls to fend off a Diamond team, and then another Bronze team if they wanted to retain their ranking. Salem Black was the first to fall in what proved to be an exciting afternoon. After Salem had dropped from Silver to Bronze and hoped to redeem themselves, Blue fought off a mid-game comeback and the first of two afternoon near-game-costing scorer’s mistakes to win 25-23 and then finish it off 25-17. Katie, Sarilee, & Ellie led the way with their defense, Kiana setting, Kenzie & Kylee serving, and Lindsey, Kylee, Katie, & McKinzi hitting. With a guaranteed Bronze finish in hand, but with their coaches pulling for the team to avoid a drop to 22nd and the dreaded 3rd seed in pool (double reffing duty, yuk!), Blue finished the day beating Oregon City 14 #1 25-19, and then finishing 25-23 (actually 26-22) on a huge comeback despite the other team getting one of Kylee’s aces for their point instead of ours. Nothing feels quite as good as winning even when everything seems to be going the other teams way, and the girls showed amazing character closing out the match in 2 games. Every single girl contributed in this match, and to see that kind of effort and refusal to quit after 9 hours of play hints of great things to come from what could possibly be 14 Blue’s best team since we started coaching 4 years ago. With a bunch of practices and a Longview tournament coming up to prepare for the first official Power League next month, Blue is looking to make a statement winning Bronze and getting to and surpassing that 14th place ranking of last year’s team. Keep it up girls, and see you and all the great fans in a few weeks on Super Bowl Sunday.

Salem Tournament
January 14, 2006 @ Salem, OR

Cowlitz 14 Blue traveled to Salem this past weekend for a little warm up before the Power League Qualifier. With a 3-team pool in the morning, the girls played two matches of 3 games each to 25. They started off versus Webfoot Jrs White, winning 25-6, 25-10, 25-12. They finished up the morning with a match against Salem Red, and this one proved a little scary so early in the morning as Salem surprised Blue with a mid-game run. Down 24-20, and behind a 6-serve run from Kylee including 4 aces, Blue came back to win 26-24, and then went on to win 25-12 and 25-6. The girls took 1st overall for the day based on point differential, and waited for their chance to make it to the championship game. We saw outstanding play from all the girls, with standouts including Kiana and Casey setting, Kylee, Katie, Lexie, and Kiana hitting, Lexie with I think the only block of the day, Katie, Kylee, Lindsey, Casey, and McKinzi serving, and Katie, Natalie, and Kiana hustling and passing.

In the afternoon, Blue went up against Cascade Jrs Excel, and in a best of 3 match, won 25-15 and 25-5 behind serving from Ellie, Katie, & Kiana, hitting from Kylee and McKinzi, and setting from Kiana. Then after another break, Blue was in the championship match against our very own Cowlitz 14 Black. The first game was tough with a few jitters to work out, dropping the game 13-25. Standouts were Ellie, Sarilee, Casey, & Taryn on defense, and with the only kills of the game, Ellie & Lindsey. The second game we saw a new team on the court similar to the game against West Valley, winning 25-17 on a long serving run from Katie. All around hustle and points at every position from Kiana and Katie, setting from Casey, and defense from Sarilee and Lindsey helped the girls tie the match up at one a piece. But the day came to a hard fought end in the 3rd game, as they lost 8-15 after not being able to recover from an early Black lead. Good hustle from everyone, even at the end of the day and during a finally exciting match, has the coaches and girls looking forward to some hopes of a Silver or Bronze starting this weekend in Power League (maybe even Gold, right Ellie?) See you in Beaverton.

Pre-Qualifier Tournament
January 8, 2006 @ Longview, WA

Cowlitz 14 Blue started the season off right this year at Mt Solo, sweeping through pool play in the morning with a hard-fought victory over Cowlitz 14 red, as well as victories over Wy East and Evergreen Green. Red proved to be the toughest team in our pool, which is saying something considering they are a year younger than us. Blue had strong serving all morning, including no missed serves in our very first game of the year, and great defense, setting, and hitting throughout the day. Blue had a good time getting ready for some tougher competition in the afternoon and trying out some different lineups, as they swept all 3 matches in 2 games.

After a long break, Blue moved over to LCC for a match against Nike Force. Nike proved to be a good competitor again this year, but after trading matches with them all last year, this year's Blue team rose to the occasion and beat them in 2 games. At this point, we realized that a match against Cowlitz 14 Black was possible, and all we had to do was beat the #5 ranked team in the region, West Valley Black. West Valley is returning from a Gold division finish in 2006, with the same team they fielded last year. But all that pressure was lost upon the girls, as they rallied back in one of the most exciting games of the year to win the 2nd game and be the only team to take a game from West Valley all day. The excitement was set up by an amazing block from McKenzie that almost hit the ceiling, it was hit so hard at her. Abby says she and Patty actually cried a little they were so happy. Unfortunately, the 3rd game went the same as the 1st, and Blue finished tied for 3rd.

Great Job Girls. Special mentions go to Kiana for serving and setting, Katie for serving and hitting, Sarilee for her awesome defense, Kylee for hitting and blocking, and Ellie for serving. Everyone played hard this weekend and made us proud. Next week when I don't go home sick, I hope to get some actual stats and everyone's accomplishments in the write-up, so keep it up girls. More strong play from the girls has the coaches and players looking forward to the Salem Tournament this weekend and Power League on the 21st with the hopes of proving our starting Bronze ranking to be a fluke and moving straight into Silver. See you all in Salem.