Northwest Junior Jamboree
February 25 & 26, 2006 @ Yakima, WA

This tournament started a little off for us because we showed up to play but the gym was locked up tight. We stayed warm in our cars until the doors opened and we began play. We lost our first match to Sudden Impact 12-25, 21-25. Our second match against NCWBC was lost 13-25, 17-25. We finished the day on time and with a much needed win against Tacoma Pink 25-13, 25-21.

Stats for Saturday were:

Serving: Abby Gorton 10 of 10 with 2 aces; Charlie Hamilton 14 of 15 with 2 aces; Kylie Hochhalter 20 of 21 with 3 aces; Rachel Morrow 12 of 13 with 2 aces; Ellie Halladay 15 of 17 with 1 ace.

Assists: Abby 2, Lorraine Suttles 1, Kenzie McDaniel 3, Caitlin Perrin 2.

Kills: Lindsey Cappa 2, Abby 1, Lorraine 2, Charlie 1, Casey Birdsell 1, Caitlin 2, Rachel 2.

Blocks: Lorraine 3 stuff blocks, Kylie H and Rachel M 1 stuff block each.

Digs: Abby and Lorraine with 6 and Ellie with 5.

Sunday morning started out with a tough loss to NW Jrs Ice 23-25, 25-19, 12-15. We rebounded by defeating Kamili'i White in two games. Our last match of pool play was against Club Idaho. Club Idaho was undefeated. It was a great match with the most heart and determination I've ever seen in the girls. We took the first game 25-20, then dropped the second game 13-25 but the girls stuck with it and came out fighting in the third game. Casey Birdsell was our first server and started us out with 11 unanswered points. We ended up winning the game and the match. This created a three-way tie for first place and once all the smoke cleared we were sitting in second place. This was our best finish in pool play so far this season!

Then it was off to bracket play. Our bracket consisted of the top eight teams of Division II. Our first opponent was Puyallup Jrs Black and unfortunately the girls didn't have quite enough strength left after the previous match. We lost 15-25, 22-25. This ended our Yakima experience.

Stats for Sunday were:

Serving: Lorraine 86% with 11 aces; Casey 85% with 14 aces; Kylie H. 94% with 4 aces; Ellie 89% with 14 aces.

Assists: Abby 3, Kenzie 1, Casey 3, Caitlin 1.

Kills: Abby 2, Lorraine 1, Kenzie 1, Charlie 2, Casey 7, Caitlin 4, Kylie H. 1, Rachel 6, Ellie 5.

Blocks: Kylie H. had 3 stuffs and Rachel 1.

Digs: Lorraine 5, Charlie 7, Kylie H. 4, Ellie 7.

Athletes Corner Tournament
February 5, 2006 @ Longview, WA

We started the day off great with our first and only win over VIP Magic 25-23, 25-23. Our next two matches were very close and the girls put up an excellent fight but fell 21-25, 25-20, 6-15 to Tsunami and then 24-26, 25-19, 12-15 to Rebels. Next up in pool play was the always competitive Blues (who eventually won the tournament); we lost 15-25, 14-25.

On to bracket play where we found ourselves up against Club VIP once again. This time we weren't able to pull it out and lost 25-27, 22-25.

Stats for the tournament follow:

Assists - Abby Gorton, 5; Kenzie McDaniel, 5; Caitlin Perrin, 4.

Kills - Rachel Morrow, 13; Abby, 3; Ellie Halladay, 3; Kylie Hochhalter, 3; Lindsay Cappa, 2; Charlie Hamilton, 2; Caitlin, 2.

Blocks - Kylie, 6 stuffs; Rachel, 2

Digs - Abby, 6; Kylee McGarry, 5; Taryn Paget, 4; Casey Birdsell, 4.

Serving - Rachel 91% with 16 aces, Kylie 92% with 2 aces, Lorraine Suttles 91% with 1 ace.

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

Our first game of the season was against NIKE Air Elite; we lost 6-25, 5-25. Our next match was against another tough team, Mt. Hood Makoa, which we lost 7-25, 8-25. Discouraging losses, but the girls would not give in. We were ready to compete against Bridgetown Navy and lost narrowly by 22-25, 16-25.

This sent us to the consolation bracket. East County was our first opponent and our first victory, 25-23, 25-22. In that match Kenzie McDaniel was 8 out of 10 in serving with one ace, Casey Birdsell was 7 out of 9 with 4 aces. In hitting, Kylee McGeary had 3 kills and Lorraine Suttles had one kill.

Our second and most exciting victory was against West Valley Red, 25-22,18-25,18-16. The girls stepped up and played together as a team. Serving stats for that game: Lindsay Cappa was 13 out of 13 with 2 aces, Abby Gorton was 8 of 9 with 1 ace, Lorraine Suttles was 6 of 6 with 1 ace, Caitlin Perrin had 3 aces, and Kylee McGeary was 12 of 14 with 4 aces. Abby and Casey Birdsell had an assist each. Casey and Rachel Morrow each had a kill. Abby had the one lone stuff block.

In the championship match against Narrows, we were down one player, Abby, due to an injury. The girls were exhausted but put up a good fight, losing 17-25. Kenzie was 6 of 7 serving with 3 aces and Caitlin was 6 of 6 with 2 aces. Kylie Hochhalter had 2 kills and Caitlin Perrin had 1 kill.

Overall it was a great learning experience and I would like to give out props to Abby and Kylee McGeary for the highly competitive play throughout the day and to Lindsay Cappa for her consistency.