Northwest Junior Jamboree : Yakima, WA
Mid-Season Tournament : Longview, WA
Estacada Tournament : Estacada, OR
Power League - April : Forest Grove, OR
Regional Championships : Corvallis, OR

As most of the coaches have already heard, this year has been tough for 14 Blue, between being on the wrong end of multiple tiebreakers and being on the wrong end of multiple poorly refereed matches (especially those crucial afternoon Power League matches). But through it all, the girls have continued to improve every week, willing to show up for 2 practices a week during the heart of the season and playing in tournaments almost every weekend including both weekends of spring break. After playing strong in the January, February and March Power Leagues but still managing to move down a division each time, Blue came ready to play in late March and April, determined to show what they had learned all season. They started turning around the season in Yakima, beating some tough teams to make it to Division 1 of the 14 power. After fighting strong but succumbing to one of those tiebreakers we have been experiencing, they got the chance to try and win Division 1C. Excel was hoping for a rematch in the championship after Blue had beat them for the second time this year, but having a parent rep ref for Evergreen worked out in Selah’s favor and Blue settled for 3rd place and had to watch Excel take them easily for 1st place. But after this 3rd place finish and a taste of victory, Blue got ready for back-to-back spring break tournaments.

Blue took 2nd in the last Longview tournament on March 30th, beating everyone they came up against except 14 Red, including Nw Jr’s Power, NW Jr’s Air Elite (1st time 14 Blue has ever beat NW Jr’s top team) and a few other strong teams from around the area. This included one of the best comebacks we have ever seen with Brittany serving us from 11-14 to 16-14 including 3 aces, 2 of them coming on the last 2 points. I have never seen anybody serve that hard of a game point and it actually bounced off the back row on the last two points with no chance of a return.

The girls then carried this intensity into the Estacada tournament and were able to stay strong against a few weaker teams while keeping up the enthusiasm to allow them to beat a few tougher teams to maintain the #1 seed into the afternoon. They then completed the day to finish up strong against three straight good Oregon teams to win the championship and new Nike t-shirts and bags. The parents were really coming into their own this weekend and now match the girls on the court and the bench cheer-for-cheer … even sporting new blue pom-pom wigs.

After this it was on to the April PL in Contender with the girls needing a combination of a strong finish as well as a weak finish by one of the teams now up in Diamond to allow them to make the Bronze/Diamond Regionals. The girls started out nervous, barely dropping all three matches in the morning to teams playing up for a chance to beat Cowlitz. But they turned it around in the afternoon, showing great character beating Pacific Crew on a huge comeback while fighting through a ref that wouldn’t call anything. They then finished it up beating Columbia for a 5th place finish and as it turned out, the final 5 points they needed to move back up for Regionals. They even did this all in the same week they took time out of their busy practice schedules to teach their parents a thing or two about volleyball. They showed them everything they had learned, but not enough to let the parents beat them, as the size and jumping ability of the parents wasn’t enough to match the determination and skill of their daughters. We stopped keeping score after awhile because it wasn’t pretty. But after all this preparation, Blue was ready for Regionals.

The girls hopped in the cars and headed for Corvallis along with just about every other volleyball player in the area. With the great finish from last month, Blue secured the last spot in the Bronze/Diamond Division and was determined to make the most of it. They started strong against Clackamas 13 Gold, taking the early lead in all 3 games, but strong runs in the middle of the 1st and 3rd games by Clackamas put them on top and an eventual 1st seed. Next was NW Jr’s Power who has played 14 Blue tough every year, usually trading matches. But this year we seemed to have their number and beat them again and this time in 2 games to give us a chance at a Bronze Division finish. The last morning match could have gone either way after a strong 1st game by Cowlitz, but an uncharacteristically poor serving game 2, and a close game 3 and Blue settled for a 3-way tie for 2nd. This has usually not helped, but we were finally due and by beating NW Jr’s in 2 and taking the other teams to 3 games, we finally won a tiebreaker and were seeded into the Bronze Division to take on Oregon City Thunder. They were the top seed in the division this weekend, but 14 Blue answered the challenge by playing their best match of the season when it mattered the most. They took everything they had learned, everything their coaches had been repeating over and over, and won the 1st game, almost won the 2nd game, and then dominated the match by winning the last game 15-5. This was the highlight of the tournament as the hits were in, the passes were on target, the sets were high enough, and they served close to 100% in the match. The highlight had to have been Morgan diving and digging the ball 3 times in one play (which is saying something on that SportCourt) and then finishing it off with a kill from back row. But after all this excitement and an hour break and then reffing (you ref if you win?), Blue came up for the final time against 14 Red for a chance at the championship. After seeing how good Blue was playing, 14 Red started off a little more timid then normal and the girls tried to take advantage, but fell to the experience and court smarts of the Red team in 2 games and finished the season proud, moving from 32nd to 19th in one day and finishing 3rd in Bronze.

Everyone has remarked at how well the girls handle themselves at tournaments and how well they accept the hard knocks they have had to deal with all season. They have showed tremendous character for a young team, most in only their 1st or 2nd year of club volleyball, while having to start the season at a very high seed and move their game to the next level very quickly. If there was an award for Most Improved Team, 14 Blue would win it hands down and are home wishing there was just one more tournament for another chance at 14 Black and 14 Red. This was one of the best serving teams we have ever had, surprising us with multiple 100% accuracy games and matches. With the girls continuing on to Kelso, Castle Rock, Union, Ridgefield, RA Long, and Mark Morris to join the girls from 14 Black, Blue, and Gold from the last few years, the future looks bright again for next year’s area high school teams. And with the talent on Red, Purple and Gold, you can be sure that the 8th grade teams next year are going to pushing the limit for more tournament champion t-shirts.

Outstanding players for the last few months:

Jessica and Hanna: setting, serving, and all around hustle, leading the team with assists and aces as well as intensity on the court and in the huddle

McKenzie and Ashley: back-up setting and hitting including much improved hitting for McKenzie and a very consistent pass-set from Ashley

Erin, Heidi and Brittany: Some of our best hitters and servers, running together strings of kills and serving comebacks to keep us in the game when we needed it

Chloe and Talissa: Strong at the net on hitting as well as constantly improving on blocking, they were also behind the line getting the job done on the serving end

Mykie and Morgan: Throwing 2 new players in to anchor the defense might sound crazy, but with Mykie at libero and Morgan at left back, we held our own with teams from Gold down to Diamond and couldn’t have done it without them

The girls always have to vote on awards at the end of the year, but we had to wait until after Regionals as so many people were deserving of multiple awards. The team has had a lot of fun, has enjoyed the difference that a year makes between Purple and Blue, and likes that winning feeling and hopes to take that into their high school careers. Go Blue!

Subway Classic
February 3, 2008 @ Mark Morris HS - Longview, WA

There was a new format for the Subway Classic on Super Bowl Sunday and Blue stepped up to the challenge. With hopes of missing the big game by winning into the afternoon, Blue played strong in all three morning matches only to tie for 1st when all three teams in pool C beat all three teams in pool D. But being seeded 3rd as well being the recipient of some creative scorekeeping in almost every match (as you can see below), had us seeded 3rd going into the playoffs in pool D. The first match was between 2nd and 3rd, with Blue coming out on top against Park Rose. The match was fun and tough, but after a two-hour break it wasn’t quite enough to get the girls fired up for a win over a tough Alpine team. Alpine had some heavy hitters, and although our serving remained almost as strong as it had been all day, some missed hits and passes and some more shifts in the lineup brought a close to our 3rd tournament of the year tied for 5th.

Everyone had such a good day that I am changing my normal reporting of outstanding players to give some serving stats. I know this doesn’t leave much room for Mykie’s hustle awards or back-row kills, Ashley’s first assist out of left-front, Mckenzie’s sets and kills up front, or anyone else’s other outstanding play, but next week I will post some passing and hitting stats and everyone can have something to shoot for, whether it be more kills, more service points, better percentage, etc. Many of these serves were aces and the girls consistently get better at hitting the open holes and the spots called for by the coaches. Great weekend girls, see you in Portland on Sunday.

Vs Hood River 25-12, 25-19
Vs Puyallup Black 27-16, 26-16
Vs Columbia Gorge-2 25-13, 25-12
Vs Park Rose 24-18, 27-16
Vs Alpine 17-25, 14-25

Serving:
Jessica 30 pts, 39/46
Talissa 27 pts, 39/42
Heidi 12 pts, 14/17
Chloe 17 pts, 21/26
Erin 12 pts, 18/20
Brittany 28 pts, 32/37
Hanna 18 pts, 22/27

Power League Qualifer
January 27, 2008 @ Lane Events Center - Springfield, OR

Blue had a great 1st Power League. They started off barely losing to Webfoot Silver in a nail biter 24-26, 24-26. 14 Blue has fought tough against this team year after year and this was again one of the best matches of the day in the whole gym. The girls came off some tough matches in the Pre-Qualifier and it was great to see them come together as a team so early in the morning. Next Blue beat the NW Jrs Force 25-13, 25-18 to assure at least a Bronze finish. Webfoot ended up finishing off NW Jrs after a 2nd game comeback, so there was no chance of moving back up to our Silver spot going into the last match against Gold ranked West Valley Black. Although the girls played some more inspired volleyball, they fell 13-25, 7-25 in a match where the score does not reflect how well they played. They made West Valley earn every one of those points and just couldn’t seem to get any serving runs going. The afternoon games were cancelled due to the snow since they were just for seeding and we would have most likely got stuck in the snow just to stay 22nd or maybe move to 19th, so we packed up and headed for home.

Offensive standouts included Talissa, McKenzie, and Erin as well as Brittany with a record 7 kills in the 2nd game versus Webfoot Silver. Assist and hustle leaders were Jessica and Hanna. Defensive standouts were Mykie and Morgan in the back row with Chloe adding a couple strong blocks to her offensive kills. And Heidi and Ashley stepped in at the net as well as in the back row. I think every player had at least one kill or one amazing dig and many of the girls had stats in every category, which was impressive. We didn’t get as many rotations in as we had hoped because of the snow, but are looking forward to adding more stats to the books this weekend in Longview and next week in Portland at the Bronze Power League.