The last weekend of Spring Break 2006 found the 16's Blue team at Mark Morris High School, competing against North Portland, Corvallis, and the Cowlitz Red and Black teams on Sunday. Overall, Blue played 11 games and won 8!

Morning matches were against N. Portland and Corvallis; scores were in Cowlitz' favor, 25-10, 25-12, 25-23 and against Corvallis, 25-10, 26-24, 21-25.

In the afternoon, 16's Blue found themselves against a competitive 16's Red who came awfully close in both games; 25-20; 26-24 (Blue Won! Whew!) Unfortunately, this put Red out and Blue up against the Big Dogs …16's Black! It was this match that ignited a fire that hasn't been seen for awhile from Blue. In the first game, not much happened and Black walked away with the win, 11-25. But in that second game, Blue stepped it up and fed Black a loss of 25-14! It was in the third game that the intensity continued, back and forth, point by point, but Black was able to scrape by with a 12-15 win over Blue. The girls were happy that they kept right in there with this top-notch team.

The day was a success and accolades go to the team for their effort. Standout stats: Ranee Cline had 14 kills; Lacie Cadotte had 10. Amanda Trochim had 13 assists, Alisha Bruce had 10. Amanda Trochim served 37 points with 9 aces! Way to Cowlitz Blue!

Power League - April
BRONZE DIVISION
April 1, 2006 @ Not Available

Blue Stays in Bronze

The final Power League for Cowlitz's Blue found this year's team staying where they had started at the beginning of the season … in Bronze. Overall, the girls played well.

First match of the morning was against Ohana. Morning matches tend to be tough for the girls to get moving, but they came out strong and took Ohana (although close) 27-25. Second game proved a little tougher, 17-25. Finally, in the third game, with some stellar action from back-row passers Cassie Leggett and Keisa Tsuda, setters, and with kills from Ranee Cline, Blue won 16-14.

The next match was a tough one against PVC and Blue lost 15-25, 14-25.

Third match again was tough against Columbia. In the first game, there were many good things happening on the court. Amanda Trochim and Alisha Bruce had a great game setting up 8 kills dispersed between Ranee, Lacie Cadotte, and Mandy Clewett. The second game was extremely close (23-25) when Mandy served up 7 service points with 8 aces! Ranee was awesome at the net, blocking 3 would-be kills from the opponent. In the final game, however, even with Lacey's 4 kills and Cayden Gaston's 5 service points (1 Ace), Blue couldn't pull it out and lost in a close finish, 12-15.

The fourth match against Athena was an awesome win for Blue, 14-25, 25-21, 15-12. Final game was against Camas, who ended the day with a win 14-25.

Outstanding stats went to Ranee Cline for 25 kills, 4 blocks; Lacie Cadotte with 20 kills. Ranee also served up 25 service points followed by Mandy Clewett with 21 (12 aces). Assists go to Mandy with 20 and Alisha Bruce with 16.

Adidas Spring Classic
March 11 & 12, 2006 @ Bellevue, WA

Three weekends in a row proved to be too much for the girls of the 16's Blue team as they ended up losing every match but one at Bellevue Community College over the past weekend. Three girls couldn't attend the tournament, which also may have had something to do with the lack of energy or enthusiasm or both. With such an up and down season, this was by far one of the most disappointing to date. While there were definitely some positives for the team, something just didn't click in the big city of Seattle.

Saturday afternoon pool play opened against NCWBC and while it went to three games, Blue dropped the match, 16/25; 25/22; 4/15. The spark was lit but went out as quickly as it came. Lacey Cadotte, Amanda Trochim, Emily Castle, and Cayden Gaston were standouts for serving; Ranee Cline for 2 kills and 3 blocks; and Cassie Leggett was a strong performer in the back row, digging up passes, keeping a smile on her face to help keep team spirits high. The next match against Nike was close in both games, but proved to be too much: 20/25; 22/25. On a positive note, Alisha Bruce played well overall with 4 assists, 4 services points; Emily Castle served 4 services points and an ace; Lacey Cadotte had 3 kills and 3 points; and Amanda Trochim had 4 assists, 3 kills, and 4 service points. Ranee Cline did outstanding at the net with 2 kills and 3 in-your-face blocks.

Power League - March
DIAMOND DIVISION
March 4, 2006 @ Albany Boys & Girls Club - Albany, OR

March 4th the 16's Blue played in Albany, Oregon and ended the day beating Nike, Gara Jr's, and North Clackamas to find themselves back in Bronze after slipping into Diamond. Kudos go to the team: 20 kills by Lacey Cadotte, Ranee Cline had 15 kills and 6 blocks; Cassie Leggett played libero and did an awesome job of passing, saving the back row time and again; Brittany Weiand played all-around, serving, passing, and hitting; Amanda Trochim dished out 26 assists while Mandy Clewett had 22; Emily Castle served up 13 points and had 5 kills; and Keisa Tsuda with her upbeat attitude kept the team in stitches and kept the ball alive with some spectacular digs and kills! McKenzie Sager played tremendously in the back row, giving needed relief to front row players. Cayden Gaston had another great day, setting a little, but powering her way through the front lines ... hitting and passing as needed for the team! Way to go girls! Keep it up!

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

The Blue team showed great team effort this past weekend in Yakima. Finally, more of a "want it" attitude reared its face and the girls played well. While Coach Amy tried to get the team moved to a lower division, after the first few matches where the opponents were tough, it was obvious these girls needed the challenge of good teams; they simply play better when tested. In the end, 8 matches and 18 games later, with 3 wins and 5 losses, the girls played hard and did well overall as a team. We are very proud!

Morning matches found the girls up against Oregon Suns, West Valley, and Club Selah. The Suns game proved the girls had come to play with Cassie Leggett's 5 service points with an ace in the mix. Ranee Cline came out on fire with 2 blocks in the first game! Unfortunately, they lost 21/25, although it was close. In the second game, things seemed to go downhill in a quick way with a loss of 15/25. Brittany Weiand set well for the team. The second match against West Valley found Mandy Clewett serving up 5 services points and a sublime 4 aces! We rely on Mandy's ability to lead the team in a positive way … she does it every time. Again, it was close but not a win for Cowlitz; the final score: 19/25. Amazingly enough, things seemed to repeat and the next game was a loss at 10/25. Finally, in the third match of the day, Blue rallied to win the two games, 25/11 and 26/24. Outstanding stats for the games go to Ranee Cline with 9 services points and 1 ace along with Emily Castle who had 5 service points with an ace. Mandy had 9 assists during the two games, mixing it up between Lacie Cadotte and Alisha Bruce (5 kills apiece).

In the afternoon, Blue stepped up and played a great match against TG Jrs. In the first game, Emily Castle served an awesome 9 service points, with 2 aces. Cassie and Keisa Tsuda both had some fantastic digs to keep the ball in play and Mackenzie Sager had some great back row passing and attacks. Amanda Trochim dished out 5 assists. The final score was close, but Cowlitz couldn't pull it out with a loss of 24/26. In the next game, Ranee served 5 points with 2 aces and Lacie had 2 kills. Cayden Gaston played great all-around with 1 assist and 2 kills (one tip and one unassisted). 16's Blue was alive with a win of 25/23. Unfortunately, as seems to be the pattern, the girls fizzled out in the final game, losing 4/15. This was quite a blow after such a total team effort in game 2.

Nike was the opponent for the first match on Sunday morning. The girls played solid but the match ended with a two game loss: 21/25, 16/25. Brittany Weiand served 9 points with 2 aces, had 3 kills, and tremendous passing. She's an impressive volleyball player with loads of potential anywhere on the court. Wahine was probably one of the better matches Blue had faced (not just because they won, either). Final scores: 18/25; 26/24; 15/6. Cayden played extremely well, doling out 9 points, 3 kills, 1 block, and 6 assists. Wow! What can't this girl do? Also note that Lacie had 5 kills during 2 of the 3 games she played. Can you say "hang time?" She's definitely got it. With one win under their belt, Blue took the next match against KJVBC 25/12 and 25/18. It was with the astounding serving of Lacie, Mandy, and Cassie that this game was won. The team played with great heart, with few errors and attacks everywhere you looked! The heartbreak of the day was the final match against Puget Sound. While they looked as though they came from the land of the Jolly Green Giant, Blue couldn't have played any better against such a talented team. Brittany Weiand (playing libero) made it possible for the team to advance where they had in the afternoon, giving Cassie a needed break. Her passes helped out the setters so much, allowing Ranee to furnish 5 kills and 2 blocks. Lacie's arm never tired that afternoon as she served 7 more points with 4 aces. All in all, nobody could really complain. Everyone got on the court; maybe not in the position of choice, but where the team needed them most at the time.

Final stats:

#1 Cayden Gaston: 9 kills, 15 points, 14 assists, 4 blocks.
#2 Brittany Weiand: 4 kills, 10 points, 2 aces, 4 assists, good passing
#3 Makenzie Sager: 3 kills, 3 points, good passing
#4 Amanda Trochim: 2 kills, 9 points, 5 aces, 13 assists
#5 Alisha Bruce: 12 kills, 10 points, 9 assists, 1 block
#7 / 10 Mandy Clewett: 13 kills, 28 points, 5 aces, 20 assists
#8 Keisa Tsuda: 2 kills, 3 points, good passing
#9 Cassie Leggett: 18 points, 4 aces, numerous digs, good passing
#11 Lacie Cadotte: 17 kills, 25 points, 11 aces, 1 assist, 2 blocks
#12 / 15 Emily Castle: 8 kills, 13 points, 2 aces, 2 blocks
#13 Ranee Cline: 13 kills, 21 points, 6 blocks

Power League - February
BRONZE DIVISION
February 5, 2006 @ Not Available

This past weekend, the 16's Blue had a tough time holding their spot in Bronze, dropping them to Diamond for the next Power League. Overall, the team had some very good play at times, but the opposing teams were obviously "clicking" just a little more and maybe just wanting "it" a little more than Blue.

Scores:

Match 1: Nike Air 25 / Cowlitz 17, Nike Air 25 / Cowlitz 9
Match 2: Camas Ohana 22 / Cowlitz 25, Camas Ohana 25 / Cowlitz 23, Camas Ohana 13 / Cowlitz 15
Match 3: N. Clackamas 25 / Cowlitz 17, N. Clackamas 14 / Cowlitz 25, N. Clackamas 15 / Cowlitz 10
Match 4: Webfoot 25 / Cowlitz 21, Webfoot 28 / Cowlitz 30, Webfoot 15 / Cowlitz 13
POOL Play : N. Clackamas 25 / Cowlitz 23

Mandy Clewett set every game with help from Alisha Bruce and Amanda Trochim, who switched out each game. Mandy led assists for the day with 20, followed by Amanda with 13, and Alisha with 7. Our hitters both middle and outside were successful throughout the day with Lacie Cadotte leading the team with 15 kills. Right behind her was Ranee Cline with 8 and Emily Castle with 5. Cassie Leggett as libero handled passing for most of the day. She hustled and tried her best but our blocks were lagging so it pretty much killed our back row; we'll work on that portion of our defense in the next few weeks before Yakima! Keisa Tsuda, who took a turn in the afternoon, relieved her. Cayden Gaston made her debut (she'd been on vacation for our first tournaments) and proved her usefulness as a solid hitter and blocker for the team. She had a few assists during times of need and also hustled to dig balls that were looking like they'd not be playable! Finally, our serves were okay, although when we needed them most, they seemed to fizzle! Leading scorers were Brittany Weiand with 22 points, 8 aces and Mandy Clewett with 21 points, 8 aces. Lacie was next with 18 points with a very impressive run of 9 during the match with N. Clackamas.

All in all, we played much better "as a team" but seem to be lacking the desire to "want to win." Hopefully we can pull together that desire over the next few weeks, and build our team to be a team that does "want it!"

Power League Qualifier
January 8, 2006 @ Not Available

This past weekend, the 16's Blue made their appearance for Power League and they were ready to play! The first opponents were the Oregon Suns, a very formidable team first thing Sunday morning. The girls gave it everything they had and took a 5 point lead early on. Play continued with both teams battling back and forth for the win. Overall, Blue looked good on the floor, covering and playing like a team should. However, we were handed our first loss for the day, 20-25. Mandy Clewett's assists to hitters Lacey Cadotte and Emily Castle, as well the serving power of Alisha Bruce and Brittany Weiand, were exceptional. In the second game, Lacey again came on fire with three kills matched by the intimidating serves of Ranee Cline (4 services points) and Brittany again (4 service points, 1 Ace). Unfortunately, the Suns were as strong as we'd expected and we took the second loss of the day 19-25.

Match 2, Game 1 was quite exciting against Salem's 16-Black team. Game One was a loss at 18-25 but on a positive note, Amanda Trochim had three assists and 3 service points, and Mandy Clewett executed two beautiful kills with good passing by Keisa Tsuda and Cassie Leggett.

Game 2 was our first win of the day, 25-22. Highlights included Ranee's awesome serving once more (6 service points, 1 Ace); Lacey with a kill and 4 service points, 1 ace; and Mandy with 2 service points and two kills. With Alisha Bruce and Amanda Trochim setting, things seemed to work well in the game.

Game 3, the tie breaker. Don't know exactly what happened but Cowlitz seemed to momentarily deflate and lost 5-15. Truly there were no stats to talk about, it went that quick! So, on to better game results!

Match 3, Game, 1 we were intent on beating Nike Impact. Slow to start, Blue struggled in the first game, losing 15-25. But the second game,… whoa! Something happened and Cowlitz decided it was time to win and that's exactly what they did. Highlights: McKenzie Sager stepped up and initiated several key passes to setters Mandy and Alisha who in turn dished up some awesome volleyball play with an always-wished-for "pass, set, hit" combination. In the 3rd game, Blue was able to meet their goal of a winning match, beating Nike 15-3. Alisha Bruce served 5 services points including 3 Aces and Cassie Leggett switched out of her Libero uniform and served up 2 points and a kill for the team.

On to the afternoon.

Game 1, N. Clackamas: 25, Cowlitz: 15
Game 2, Cowlitz: 25, Camas Ohana: 13
Game 3, Nike: 25, Cowlitz: 15

Day's End Results: Brittany Weiand: 22 service points, 4 aces, 4 kills; McKenzie Sager 2 service points; Amanda Trochim: 12 service points, 5 aces; 8 assists, 3 kills; Alisha Bruce: 14 service points, 5 aces, 10 assists; Keisa Tsuda: 1 assist, great passing overall; Cassie Leggett: 7 service points, 3 aces, 3 kills, great passing; Mandy Clewett: 10 service points, 4 aces, 14 assists; 10 kills (3 dumps); Lacey Cadotte: 10 service points, 3 aces, 10 kills; Ranee Cline: 13 service points, 5 aces, 12 kills, 3 blocks; and Emily Castle: 15 service points, 1 ace, 4 kills. Good Job Blue!

Pre-Qualifier Tournament
December 31, 2005 @ Longview, WA

We finished with a good record in our first tournament at 4 & 1. We placed 2nd in our round robin event. We came out on fire against Vancouver Lightning 25-7, 25-6. We out-matched them and stayed up at a high level of play. Amanda Trochim, Alisha Bruce and Brittany Weiand all were able to get some offense running and spread the ball around very well. Cassie Leggett led our serving with 9 points in the second game with pin-point serves. McKenzie Sager did a very nice job as libero.

Our second match was against Power Surge, which we dropped 25-27, 19-25. We had an illness and an injury in the match and couldn't get it together. We played well with some nice volleys, we set the ball up very well and were very impressive. We got burned several times in transition with the ball coming back so fast. Lacie Cadotte and Ranee Cline hit some killer shots on the back line. Mandy Clewett led the assists in game 1 and did a nice job at the net as a middle.

The third match was against the 15's power surge and we prevailed 25-17, 25-10. Alisha and Mandy did a great job setting and serving. Emily Castle was quick and smart at the net, winning more than one joust! Keisa Tsuda did a nice job right-side, with some well-placed hits! Brittany was jumping high and hitting hard on the outside; along with Lacie, they combined for more than the 15's could handle.

Match 3 vs. Cowlitz Red was a great match, ending 25-20, 25-21. Cowlitz vs. Cowlitz matches are always fun! Red played great, so we had our hands full. The teams matched up very well, and we look forward to playing them again!

Our final game was against Vancouver Lightning and we came out on top 25-17, 25-12. This was our best playing of the day. We were able to run some 1's and some slides. We had some great blocks, nice coverage from McKenzie and Cassie, and great setting by Mandy! All around, everyone played great!!!!

We were able to see a lot of different looks with our line-up, and with 5 setters we need to find some outside hitter help. It was a good starting point and we are looking forward to a great season!!!!