South Sound Volleyball Club

March 21-23 SSVBC J&B competed in the Pacific Northwest Qualifier in Spokane. We opened the weekend tough by going undefeated on Friday. The girls played hard and swept three matches against 253 Elite, Club ZZU, and Rivals VBC, not letting any of the teams score more than 15 points. During the day's play, Hannah and Alanis each put away 10 aces, Rikki led us with 11 kills, and Kayleigh Shirk covered the back court with 34 digs.

Our first day's success put us in a much tougher bracket on Day 2. We started the day with a tough three-set loss to Post Falls VBC, 25-19, 23-25, and 9-15. While the girls played hard, their big middle blockers eventually took the day although Rylee came away with 5 blocks and Hadassah put up 3. We went into our next match agains Montana Volleyball Academy needing a win, and the girls made it happen in two 25-9 sets. Paige dished up 2 aces and 12 assists to Hadassah, Rikki, Paige, Hannah, and Kailey Means. Our final match was against our own SSVBC team coached by Mike. The two teams battled hard, but Mike's team took the win 18-25 and 20-25. Emily, Hadassah, and Kayleigh each had aces on our side.

Our play during Day 2 put us in the Silver Bracket for Day 3, and the girls played with a determination to win it. A win against WVBA 14s Molten got things started. Bailey, Rikki, and Sarah each put down two kills while Hannah and Kayleigh backed them up with 8 digs apiece. Next, we had a tough match against All Out VBC which we took in two 25-19 sets. Rylee led us with 5 kills while Hannah and Paige defended the right side with 13 and 9 digs, respectively. The championship match was against ITVC 14s, and we didn't even let them in the match, taking it 25-12 and 25-11.  Alanis and Hannah each had 3 aces while Lindsey, Sarah, and Kailey Means each had 2 kills.

While we went into the tourney ranked 7th and left it 13th, Jaclyn and I are very proud of they way the girls played. They pushed hard during a tough round of pool play, and they came out fiercely to prove themselves on Sunday. We look forward to the next round of Power League in which we get to try ourselves against the Flight 2 teams once more.

The weekend of March 8-10 we traveled to Denver to compete in the Colorado Crossroads National Qualifier. The girls battled hard all weekend; we entered the tournament ranked 47th and we left it 26th.

On Saturday, we opened play with two solid wins against Legends Volleyball Club and Mile High Surge and a tough loss to Houston Juniors VBC. The girls played hard and fought for points, even holding Mile High to only 3 points one set. The day ended with us at second in our pool and well set up for the next days play.

Sunday's teams were considerably stronger than most of the Day 1 teams. We started the second day with a three-set win over our pool's number one seed: Diablo Valley. Hadassah and Hannah led us with 3 and 2 aces respectively, while Rylee covered the net with 3 blocks and Kayleigh, Alanis, and Hannah racked up 16,12, and 10 digs apiece. As a team, we battled for points and played hard defense and offense to earn our win. After a tough loss to Southwind VBC and a win over Bear Creek (in which Alanis served 18 points in a row), we had to return to play that evening in a crossover match against Artesia Elite. While we dropped that evening match 26-28 and 16-25, the girls showed up and played hard. With this loss, we found ourselves placed in the Silver B bracket for the final day of play.

Our final three matches were all close and pushed the girls to work hard the whole time. We started off with a three set win over 303 VBC. Rylee led us with 9 kills as Paige dished out 20 assists during the match. Our second match, against 5Star, nearly went to three sets as well; the girls really battled for points during the second set, and we managed to finally pull off a win at 31-29. Rikki, Rylee, and Hadassah owned the net play that match with 3 blocks apiece.

The championship game was against a Texas Team: The Frisco Flyers. SSVBC ran away with the first match; the girls came out swinging and playing hard and we pulled off a 25-22 win fairly easily. FFVBC came alive during the second match, though. They ran a series of quicks that pounded our defense and gave them the second set. The third set bounced back and forth. The girls serve-received an amazing 2.5 average, and we held our own while fighting for the win, but FFVBC ultimately came out on top, 11-15. Despite this, Jaclyn and I are incredibly proud of the way the girls performed. It was a long and exhausting weekend, we played a ton of matches, and we managed to move up 20+ spots in the rankings. The sense of camaraderie that the girls developed this weekend will help give us an edge as we prepare for Spokane in the next few weeks.

Our third Power League Tournament took place on March 2nd at Franklin Pierce High School. We were playing Flight 3 and looking to move back up the Flight 2. After a rough start, a three-game loss to Pacific Coast VBA, the girls picked up their game and we easily secured the second place spot in our pools after beating Capital Ice 13's and SIVA. After easily winning our crossover match against Puget Sound VBA, we, again, came face-to-face with PCVBA. This time, the girls brought their A-game; we won the first match 30-28 and the second 25-19, securing our place back in Flight 2!

February 15-17th we participated in the President's Day Tournament down in Eugene, Or. Our very successful weekend opened with a bang; we went undefeated during the first day of play. First, we took on Juniper VBC, winning in two, before moving on to secure solid wins against BOSS, Northern Valley, and CCE. Alanis killed it at the service line, racking up 13 aces during the three matches.

On the second day of play, we came up against a much tougher set of opponents. Our first match was against OVA, one of the tournament's top teams. We pushed the match to three sets, and although we ultimately lost, the girls played hard and fought for every point. Kayleigh Shirk got up 18 digs during the match while Hadassah and Rikki owned the front row with 6 kills apiece. After that tough match, we went on to beat Webfoot, before losing our final match to Multnomah Athletic Club. Day Two's record does not do justice to how the girls played; they dug in and really played their hearts out all day against some incredibly tough teams.

Day Three found us in the Bronze Bracket. We opened the day with a win over a different OVA team, then proceeded to play a very tough Athena 13's team. After dropping the first set to them, we rallied and took the next two sets. Rylee led us with 6kills that match with Kailey Means, Lindsey, and Sarah following with 2 each, and Hadassah owned the net with 4 stuff blocks. With that match under our belts, we went on to win our bracket by beatin OVC. Emily came up with 3 aces, Paige fed our hitters 13 assists, and Sarah tooled the tournament winning kill directly off of OVC's blockers.

At the end of the weekend, we were all exhausted but excited! The extended playing days gave the girls an opportunity to really get a feel for each other's style of play, and that closeness is going to serve us well in our future tournaments.

On February 8^th we played in our second round of Power League. After having dropped down to Flight 3, we put in a couple of hard weeks of practice in order to improve our team playing. We started the morning strong with a win over Yakima Gold, 25-13 and 25-12. Alanis was a serving machine and quickly racked up 10 aces during the match and she was supported by 7 digs from Kayleigh, 5 assists each from Paige and Hannah, and kills from Hadassah, Bailey Rikki, and Lindsey.

After the first match, the tone of the morning changed, and we had to come out really fighting in a match against SIVBC Inferno. We pushed it to three games, but fell short in the last set. Hannah led our aces, backed by kills from Hadassah, Rikki, and Sarah. Although we lost the match, it was a hard fought game, and we went into our third match with confidence.

The final pool play match was a win against Cascade 13’s; Bailey led us in kills with 4, while Hadassah and Rikki earned a block apiece. We ended second in our pool moving into crossover matches where we faced off against Lake Tapps 13’s for our toughest match of the day. While Tapps came out the winner, we held our own against their smart and hard-hitting offense. Alanis and Emily earned 5 and 1 aces for us, while Kayleigh and Hannah covered the floor and got up 9 and 4 digs apiece. As usual, Hadassah led us in kills with 6, but she was closely followed by Rikki and Kailey with 3 each. The girls fought especially hard during the second match, pushing the score to 22-25.

Finally, we had one last match against Northwest Jrs. 13 Black, and we took the one match game to secure a high seed in the next Power League. While we are remaining in Flight 3, and we are still looking to work our way back up to Flight 2, Jaclyn and I were impressed with the work ethic of the girls. During a long day of tough matches, they never backed down. One of our concerns from the previous week was the levels of support between the court and bench, and the girls brought it this weekend; there was constant and positive communication between the groups that helped the team end the day so successfully.  

Our first Power League on January 26th was a rough day for us. We began in Flight 2 with a three game win over OPVBC Inferno. Hadassah, Kailey Means and Rylee led our offense with 5, 3, and 3 kills, respectively, while Kayleigh Shirk and Rikki covered things in the back row and amassed 12 and 10 digs. Hadassah and Rylee were powerhouses at the net with each putting up 3 big blocks over the course of the match. After that first match, however, we struggled to keep our energy up. After dropping another three-game match to Capital Ice 13’s, and additional tough matches with SSVBC Mike and SIVA in which Emily led us in total aces, we found ourselves facing OPVBC once more in a battle for the top seed in Flight 3. After a tough day, the girls pulled together to make the final match strong, and we won 25-19. Alanis chased down 11 digs and Bailey and Paige combined to get us three aces.
While we struggled this tournament, we are not disheartened. The girls learned about how important it is support one another, both on the court and from the bench, and we will come into Flight 3 ready to battle our way back up.

                14's Jac & Brea came into the first tourney of the season with a powerful mixture of returning players and new additions. The girls meshed incredibly well over our first practices, so we were excited to see them compete on the court.

                We opened up the day with easy wins against Cascade, MVA, and SIVBC Cyclone. All the girls got a chance to show their stuff on the court and begin getting a feel for each other's playing style and our various rotations. The afternoon matches against Capital Ice 13's and Wahine provided a bit stiffer competition, but we came out with two more victories. By the end of the morning, Hadassah had been killing it at the service line with 17 aces, while Rylee and Rikki had headed up the offense with 11 and 10 kills each. ALthough tired, we pulled ourselves together and headed to the crossover match against WVBA.

                WVBA's girls came out hitting and serving hard, and our girls proved themselves up for the challenge. Kayleigh and Alanis mopped up the floor on defense, coming up with 6 and 4 digs for the match, while Hannah, Rikki, and Hadassah led us in offense. We came up short for the match at 19-25 and 22-25, but the girls played hard and are already excited to play again.

                At the end of the tournament, Lindsey summed up the day by noticing that even though some of the girls had never played together before, they all came together to help and support one another throughout the whole day's playing. Jaclyn and I are looking forward to more of this great playing and team dynamic in the tournaments to come!