Pre Qualifier Tournament 2010

The girls had a good start to the 2010 season in Longview this weekend. 14's Black is carrying 10 players this season and all are very talented athlete's. Miranda Cunningham, Renee Pitts, Sarah Luedke, Ryleigh Dobbins, Nicole Seidl, Kallie Schmit, Jamilee Iddings, Jaimi Gomes, Meredith Hickey, and Julia Leggett make up the roster for our team this year.



Kellie and I both were not sure what to expect in the 14's division. We have good height, strong setters, and a solid passers, but we were not sure where we would fall in terms of depth when compared to opposing teams.



The girls showed up excited and ready to play from point 1.

We dominated our first 2 games easily against Olympia's Roshambo. Nicole and Renee are our setters and both did an outstanding job of getting to the ball and using all of their hitters. Strong serving by Nicole and Ryleigh in this match started our day on he right foot from the service line.

88% for the day (every kid got to serve at least once)



We rolled into our 2 match against a little stronger team but still finished them off easily. Sarah (MB)and Jamilee (RF) worked well together at the net and blocked the ball very well. Julia was a standout in the back row as our libero making solid passes and getting louder as the day went on, starting feeling more comfortable in her roll as libero.



Our 3rd match was against Excel Silver we split with them after easily beating them in the first game we lacked intensity in the second. Meredith (RF) made key serves and is starting to be more aggressive at the net, learning transition and contributing well to the offense. Jamilee and Kallie both (LF) are new to club this yr., both with a ton of hops! Jamilee sets a solid block, and when she swings hard has a great cross court shot. Kallie is a hitter, making it look easy, and is working hard on learning transitioning. I saw good things from the 3 girls who are new to the 14's club division. A big jump from middle school to Club ball, and all 3 are picking it up really well.



Ryleigh and Sarah (MB) have their work cut out for them this yr. blocking and working on quickening up their game. Kellie and I expect a lot from them and they both did very well this weekend. Ry had some awesome 10's and Sarah had critical stuffed blocks. Both girls are learning on closing blocks and running 1's with confidence. They are a strong MB combo.



Renee and Nicole were solid all day long and they are communicating better with their hitters and each other. Both girls made great saves (Nicole even saved a 4th hit that was amazing), great leaders on the floor all day!



We came out of pool play ranked #1 and really looked good. we were in the Championship bracket which pitted us against the #2 from Pool A (Power Surge) . We battled hard and had a few bum breaks (ref didn't know the rules, kept calling double contact on first ball over, wouldn't let my captain talk to him, was a mess) awe well though. It is what it is and no whining about it now. Lost gm 1.) 24-26 won gm. 2.) 25-21 with an amazing service run by Jaimi (DS) 8 or 9 points in a row to give us a lead 23-18 when she was done. Jaimi is quick and is able to adapt where I need her, she plays hard and is competitive on every point, saw her improve as the day went on. We eventually lost gm 3.) 15-8, we just ran out of gas.



We can hang with some of the top teams right now, we had moments of brilliance and moments of not so brilliant. Kellie and I were both really happy with the way we played as a whole, everybody contributed, everybody worked hard. It was a good place to start. We go to Power League on the 24th............ Then I guess we will see how we really stack up .



Miranda went home sick, hoping she is feeling better, we missed her :)