Club Season Starts Saturday

The 2008 Club Volleyball season starts Saturday with the first session of the 18s Power League. Six Kentlake players are involved during the first weekend.

KJ 18 Baden (with KL Senior Kathy Taylor) is the #1 overall seed out of 48 teams in Power League. KJ 18 Baden will start at Kentwood and should play both Saturday and Sunday there.

KJ 17 Baden (with KL Junior Kellcee Merritt), the top seeded 17s team in the region, is the #8 overall seed (and probably seeded low at that) and will start at Franklin Pierce HS (near PLU in Spanaway) on Saturday but should be at Kentwood on Sunday in the same pool as KJ 18 Baden.

Sudden Impact 17 Storm (with KL Juniors Mackenzie Kyle and Holly Marx) are the #17 overall seed and begin play at FPHS in the same pool as KJ 17 Baden.

Saturday's Warriors Total Control (with KL Juniors Melissa Kozy and Sarah Ralph) are the #26 overall seed and begin play at Kentwood on Saturday morning.

Where each team plays on Saturday afternoon and Sunday depends on how they do in their Saturday pools. Possible locations are either Kentwood, Franklin Pierce or Washington High School on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

There is no entrance fee for local Club tournaments, so come out and see some good volleyball and cheer our Kentlake players to victory.

U16 Power League will start the weekend of January 12th. 11 Kentlake players will be involved that weekend but pools and locations have not been posted yet.

More Details on Ellis

Coach reports that she is still alive and that she is having email problems. We will have pictures on the website tomorrow.

Ellis Adam Behrens
Nov. 27th 2007, 9:54am
7 pounds 4 oz.
20 inches

Kozy Named 2nd Team All-Area

Junior Outside Hitter Melissa Kozy was named to the 2nd Team All-Area Team by the Tacoma News Tribune.

Ellis Is Here

Coach Behrens had her baby, Ellis Adam Behrens, last night. Mother and son are doing well. Details to follow.

Kentlake Players to Play Club Volleyball

The following Kentlake players have committed to play on various local Junior Olympic Volleyball Clubs. Please let us know about those we missed.

Seniors:

Kathy Taylor - KJ 18 Baden

Juniors:

Kellcee Merritt - KJ 17 Baden
Melissa Kozy - Saturday Warriors 18 Total Control
Sarah Ralph - Saturday Warriors 18 Total Control
Mackenzie Kyle - Sudden Impact 17 Storm
Holly Marx - Sudden Impact 17 Storm

Sophomores:

Aryn McCarthy - KJ 16 Baden
McKenna Herron - KJ 16 Baden
Kacey Kretzler - Saturday Warriors 16 Fire
Jessica Roundy - Saturday Warriors 16 Fire
Ginnie Weiss - Puget Sound 16 Silver
Christi Blanton - NW Juniors U16 Inferno
Maggie Howe - Northwest Juniors 16 Storm

Freshmen:

Paeton Bartholomew - KJ 15 Baden
Rebecca Kozy - Saturday Warriors U 15 Crush
Hannah Borgen - Saturday Warriors U 15 In8Power
Alli Gladwell - Sports for Youth 15

Ellis Is Coming Early - Banquet Cancelled

From Coach Behrens:

Dear parents/players/coaches,

I have some unexpected news regarding my pregnancy. I may be getting induced tomorrow, Thurs. 22^nd because of stress-induced high blood-pressure. We had a doctor’s appointment on Monday and my blood pressure was high; we ended up going home that night and calling the doctor because I was having headaches and blurred vision; my doctor advised us to come back to the birth center. We were given the option to induce that night, but my blood pressure went back down and Dan and I thought it was too “sudden”. Dan and I will go in tomorrow morning to get checked in and probably given the option of induction.

I am really sorry for the last minute change of plans; my idea is to give varsity players everything I originally was going to give them (plaques, gifts, etc.) and later maybe doing a “get together”. As for the younger teams, they will have to understand; they will get their stuff too.

Thank you for all your support this year; I know that at times it’s been difficult and cancelling the banquet only adds to it, but we had a great season and I am very proud to have coached these kids. They are outstanding student-athletes; and have surpassed all expectations!

Please, please let me know if you have any questions. Please feel free to call or email us any time. I will definitely be emailing to keep you updated.

Coach Thorsness is going to talk to Coach Behrens and decide what to do about the other three teams, so just hang in there a little bit on that, but the Varsity portion of the banquet is definitely postponed. We will post the team awards, etc when they are announced.

Free Admission to UW-OSU Game

Anyone interested in attending the UW-OSU volleyball Wednesday night game can get a free General Admission ticket in exchange for donation of a canned food item. Just bring your canned food item(s) with you to the game. This is the next to last regular season contest. Friday night is Senior Night against Oregon. Both matches start at 7pm at Hec Ed (Bank of America Arena)

Final Stat Leaders

The leaders for the year in the major statistical categories:

Kills:	Melissa Kozy Amelia Hilsen	328* 234
Attempts:	Melissa Kozy Amelia Hilsen	1030* 774
Attack Percentage:	Kathy Taylor Maggie Henley	.291 .225
Assists:	Britanny Jamison Holly Marx	802 144
Aces:	Melissa Kozy Amelia Hilsen	79 60
Serves:	Melissa Kozy Amelia Hilsen	440 358
Digs:	Jenifer Barber Melissa Kozy	388 228
Solo Blocks:	Kathy Taylor Maggie Henley	35* 16
Assist Blocks:	Kathy Taylor Maggie Henley	62 49

* means school record.

Note: These figures are based on preliminary numbers. The final statistics may vary slightly.

Good Luck and Congratulations for Tryouts

Good luck to those players still doing Club volleyball tryouts and congratulations to those that have made a club team. We will post the names starting Friday of those confirmed on teams. Please let us know if you know a Kentlake player that has made one of the local Club teams.

Week's Best Preps: Kathy Taylor

From the November 17 Kent Reporter (no online version available)

Kathy Taylor
Kentlake

Grade: Senior
Sport: Volleyball
Accomplishments: Taylor had 16 kills and seven blocks combined in state tournament matches against Woodinville and Shadle Park last Saturday. The Falcons put together a three game sweep of Woodinville, but then were bumped out of the tournament by Shadle Park in four games.
Favorite class: French
If you could be any action hero - Batman, Wonder Woman, etc - whom would you be, and why? I would be Superman becuase he can fly - and his cape is extra cool.
Also noted: Taylor has a 3.94 grade-point average. She plays club volleyball and plans to play college volleyball beginning next year.

Banquet on 28th

The Kentlake Volleyball banquet will be at 6pm, Wednesday, November 28th at Kentlake in the commons. We realize there may be conflicts (for instance, KJVBC is holding their meeting that evening) but dates are few before Ellis makes his appearance and coach has other things to think about.

Kozy Gets Two

Melissa Kozy claimed two Kentlake school records at State. She finished with 328 kills on the year (20 more than the old record) and 1030 attempts on the year (more than 100 more than the old record). Considering how much the ball was distributed around this year, with two players (Amelia Hilsen at 234 and Kathy Taylor at 203) over 200 kills, another (Maggie Henley at 158) over 150 and yet another (Sarah Ralph at 136) over 100, it was certainly remarkable for Kozy to get the record.

Kentlake Finishes 9th at State

I know everyone has figured this out by now, but Kentlake finished 1-2 at State, finishing with their best result in five years. The three teams Kentlake faced were a combined 41-1 on the season, with the only loss in the group to now five time champion Mead.

Skyview

The first round opponent was Skyview from the Greater St. Helens league. Skyview was undefeated in league and got a bye to State for winning their league tournament. Kentlake pushed Skyview to five games for the first time all year and had chances to win the match before falling in five.

Kentlake lost the first game 16-25, but came back to win game two 25-23. Skyview then put together one of their best games of the year, combined with probably Kentlake's worst game of the year, to blow out the Falcons 10-25.

However, Kentlake did not let that get them down and responded with a great game to win 25-23. Skyview then pulled out game five, 15-12 to advance.

The Falcons were led by Melissa Kozy's 15 kills and Amelia Hilsen's 13 kills. Meggie Henley had 5 blocks.

Woodinville

Woodinville was undefeated in league, played Kentwood well in the first round, and featured probably the top libero in the state in WSU-bound Betsy Devitch. So, of course, Kentlake swept them off the court.

The first two games were all Kentlake with fairly easy wins at 25-18 and 25-16. Game three was much closer with Kentlake taking the 26-24 victory.

Kentlake was led by Amelia Hilsen and Melissa Kozy, each with 7 kills, and Kathy Taylor with six kills and a season high 9 blocks (4 solo). Melissa Kozy and Sarah Ralph had 4 blocks each (each with 2 solo and 2 assist blocks) and Britanny Jamison had 24 assists.

Shadle Park

Kentlake faced Shadle Park for the right to advance to the 5th/8th contest. Kentlake took game one, 25-23, behind the five kills each of Amelia Hilsen and Melissa Kozy and the solid blocking of the entire team. Unfortunately, the Falcons were unable to maintain their momentum and Shadle Park, led by their #15, took control of the match. Shadle Park won the last three games, 16-25, 16-25, 20-25. Shadle Park went on to sweep Monroe for 5th place.

Kentlake was paced by Melissa Kozy with 12 kills and three blocks, Kathy Taylor with 9 kills and 4 blocks and Amelia Hilsen with 9 kills. Britanny Jamison had 27 assists and Holly Marx had 10 assists.

Ride The Bus to Kennewick

There will be a Player/Parent/Fan bus to the State Tournament in Kennewick. It will depart Kentlake about 12:30pm on Thursday and will return some time Saturday, depending on how the team does. Cost is $25/person. Tough to beat that. Contact Coach Behrens ASAP if you are interested.

State T-Shirts Available

State T-Shirts are available for order from Coach Behrens. You need to order them TODAY from her and they must be paid for in advance with the ASB treasurer. The cost is $10/shirt.

Pictures on Kent Valley Sports

Pictures from yesterday's match against Olympia are now up on Kent Valley Sports. They were taken by "Officer Kevin".

State Brackets Released

The bracket for the State Tournament has been released. We play Skyview HS, the winner of the Greater St. Helen's League (Vancouver, WA area), at noon on Friday. If we win we will play the winner of the Kentwood/Woodinville match at 6:30pm on Friday. If we lose the first round we will face the loser of Kentwood/Woodinville at 9am on Saturday.

Skyview went undefeated in their league, but finished tied for 13th with Kentlake at the Crossover Classic (won their pool and then lost twice [to King's and Hanford] and then won [beating Bethel]). The number two team in their League (Heritage) lost the "winner to state/loser out" match at home to KingCo #3 Inglemoor.

Hannah Merritt Named "Defensive Player of the Week"

Former Kentlake VB co-captain and co-MVP Hannah Merritt was chosen the NWAACC West Region “Defensive Player of the Week”, for the week ending October 30th. Hannah is a Freshman at Green River CC.

Parents Should Have Kennewick Info

All Varsity parents should have received an email this afternoon detailing where we are staying and how to secure a room. If you have not received said email, please contact Tami Kyle or Scott Taylor ASAP for the information. We have a block of 20 rooms, six for the team and 14 for parents.

The draw for the bracket will be tomorrow, but regardless of how things go, due to having three classifications all together at one location (2A starts Thursday and ends on Friday, while 3A starts Friday morning and 4A starts Friday afternoon and both finish Saturday), we will be playing on both Friday and Saturday this year. The first round match will be at either noon or 1:30. If we win there will be a second round match at 6:30 or 8pm Friday evening. If we lose the first round match, the second round match will be 9am or 10:30am on Saturday.

Kentlake Sweeps To State

The Kentlake Falcons swept the Olympia Bears, 25-19, 27-25, 25-12, for the berth to the State Tournament in Kennewick. Game one was close until the mid teens and then Kentlake pulled away for the win.

Game two saw Olympia pull out to a 6-2 lead. Kentlake was making a comeback when the the referee decided to enforce the pickier aspects of the uniform regulations. Amelia Hilsen's spandex had a thin white line down the side, while everyone else except Jen Barber had solid black sides. It was OK for Jen's uniform to have a side stripe since the libero uniform does not have to match the rest of the team, but Amelia's was illegal. There was confusion about what to do, but Amelia left the gym and was quickly back wearing a borrowed set of spandex - and now all black. Kentlake was rattled for a couple of points, but soon fought back to tie 21-21 and the lead 23-21. The Bears would not go away, until Kentlake finally won 27-25.

Kentlake came out fired up for Game three and rocketed out to a 12-0 lead behind the serving of Senior Setter Brittany Jamison. The lead stayed about the same for the rest of the game until Olympia put it long for match point and the celebration began. All of the parents were very glad that the "on the edge of the seat nail biting" aspects of the game were severely lessened by the quick start.

Kentlake was paced by the 11 kills and 3 aces of Melissa Kozy. Amelia Hilsen added 7 kills and 1 ace, Sarah Ralph had 6 kills and 1 ace and Kathy Taylor had 5 kills, 1 ace and 3 blocks. Maggie Henley also had three blocks including two solo blocks. Jen Barber had 16 digs.

Kentlake Sweeps Bethel

For the second time in a week, Kentlake swept the Bethel Braves, 25-20, 25-25, 25-17, in West Central District action this morning at Kentwood. Kentlake featured a very balanced attack with both middles and both outsides with 9 or more kills. Junior OH Melissa Kozy had 12 kills and 2 aces, while Senior MB Kathy Taylor had 11 kills and 1 ace (for a .588 kill percentage). Senior OH Amelia Hilsen and Senior MB Maggie Henley each had 9 kills. Senior Setter Brittany Jamison had 40 assists and 3 kills. Defensively, Libero Jen Barber had 14 digs while Amelia Hilsen and Melissa Kozy had 7 and 8 digs respectively.

Kentlake will play the winner of the Wilson/Olympia match at 2pm. Wilson was up 2-1 after three games, but it was a very close match.

There was a good crowd for this mornings game, but it would be great to have a huge crowd for the "Winner to State" game this afternoon.

Kentlake Loses in Four to Kentwood

It was a hard fought match, but in the end Kentlake had to settle for "moral victories" in the match against Kentwood, losing in four, 19-25, 25-14, 19-25, 15-25. Kentlake was led by the 11 kills of Melissa Kozy and the 8 kills and five aces of Amelia Hilsen. Brittany Jamison had 28 assists and 4 blocks. On defense, Jen Barber had 21 digs, Maggie Henley had 5 blocks. Kathy Taylor had 2 aces and 3 blocks. Sarah Ralph had 7 kills, 11 digs and 3 blocks.

Falcons Sweep Tide

Behind the 11 kills of Melissa Kozy, the 10 kills and 4 aces of Amelia Hilsen and the 9 kills (and .750 kills percentage) of Maggie Henley, the Kentlake Falcons swept the Gig Harbor Tides, 25-16, 25-19, 25-18.

Kentlake easily won game one, but fell behind early in game two 6-2. The kept it close, however, and finally pulled in the lead 18-17. They did not let up and pulled away for the win. Game three saw Kentlake pull out to a 19-12 lead and cruise in from there.

Defensively Kentlake was led by Jen Barber's 10 kills and Kathy Taylor's 4 blocks. However, the defensive gems were two solo blocks by Brittany Jamison including one of the prettiest sounding (and looking) blocks you will see. Brittany also had 33 assists in the match.

Kentlake next plays the Kentwood/Emerald Ridge winner at 5:15. Kentwood won the first game but it was all tied at 22 in the second game when the score was last reported.

District Scanarios

You can find the bracket at http://www.wcd3.org/VB_4A_BracketUpdate_07.pdf

If we beat Gig Harbor we play the Kentwood/Emerald Ridge winner at 5:15 Friday. If we beat them we play at noon on Saturday and then either 2pm or 4pm (depending on whether we won [4pm for 1st/2nd] or lost [2pm for 3rd/6th]).

If we beat Gig Harbor but lose to Kentwood, we play at 10am Saturday. Win then and we play at 2:00 Saturday for a berth to State.

If we lose to Gig Harbor, we play the Kentwood/Emerald Ridge loser at 3:30 on Friday. Win that and then we would play at noon and, if we win, 2pm on Saturday for a berth to State. If you win your side of the loser's bracket there is a coin-flip to determine the 4th/5th seeds instead of playing it out.

So, lose zero or once and you go to State. Lose twice and you are out.

Kentlake to Face Gig Harbor

Kentlake will face Gig Harbor in the first round of the West Central District #3 playoffs on Friday at noon at Kentwood. The game will be on Court #4 which should be in the New Gym.

Gig Harbor went undefeated during the Narrows League regular season, but lost twice on Saturday, 3-2 to Olympia and 3-1 to Wilson to finish as the #4 seed.

The winner of the Kentlake/Gig Harbor match will face the winner of the Kentwood/Emerald Ridge match at 5:15, while the losers of those matches will face-off at 3:30. Both matches will also be on Court #4.

Kentlake Sweeps Bethel

All the other matches to that point had gone five, but Kentlake was determined to put Bethel away and they did in three (25-21, 26-24, 25-11). The Falcons were paced by Amelia Hilsen with 17 kills and Melissa Kozy with 10. Brittany Jamison had 37 assists. Defensively Jen Barber had 17 digs and Melissa Kozy had 10. The Falcons had no solo blocks, but Kathy Taylor led the team with three assist blocks.

Taylor Gets Two More Records

Senior Middle Blocker Kathy Taylor tied one Kentlake school record and set another in the match with Curtis. She had five solo blocks which ties the all-time school match record. In addition that gives her 28 solo blocks for the year, which breaks the season record (was 27). Last year she tied the school record for Aces in a match with 10 against Decatur (tying Hannah Merritt and Courtney Thompson).

Kentlake Loses in Five to Curtis

Kentlake fell behind early to SPSL South #2 seed Curtis but rallied to force game five. However, the rally was not enough and Curtis pulled out the victory (25-22, 25-22, 16-25, 16-25, 15-8). Kentlake was paced by 12 kills each from Kathy Taylor and Melissa Kozy and 10 kills from Amelia Hilsen. Brittany Jamison had 39 assists in the match. Kathy Taylor led the Falcon defense with 7 blocks and 13 digs. Jennifer Barber had 17 digs while Maggie Henley added 6 blocks.

Week's Best Preps: Brittany Jamison

From the October 27 Kent Reporter (no online version available)

Brittany Jamison
Kentlake

Grade: Senior
Sport: Volleyball
Accomplishments: Jamison, a setter, dished out 20 assists in three-game sweep (25-14, 25-19, 25-21) of Kentridge on Oct. 17. The win helped the Flacons move into second place in the South Puget Sound League North Division.
Favorite class: Calculus BC
If you could be any action hero - Batman, Wonder Woman, etc - whom would you be, and why? I would be Elastigirl from The Incredibles so I could make myself as tall as I wanted to be.
Also noted: Jamison has been on the varsity volleyball team for four years at Kentlake and hold an impressive 3.91 GPA.

Editor's Note: Brittany is the first, and only, four year Varsity letterman in volleyball at Kentlake

Kentlake Gets SPSL North #3 Seed

Kentlake lost to Tahoma 2-1 (18-25, 25-22, 12-15) Thursday night but swept Kentridge (25-23, 25-19) to take the SPSL North #3 seed. Kentlake was led for the night by Amelia Hilsen with 16 kills and Melissa Kozy with 15 kills, 4 aces and 11 digs. Kathy Taylor 8 kills and 4 blocks while Maggie Henley had 5 kills and 3 blocks. Jen Barber had 17 digs and 2 aces. Britanny Jamison had 42 assists.

Kentlake will play Curtis HS (SPSL South #2 seed) at 11am tomorrow. Curtis is 12-2 on the year with losses to (and victories over) Rogers and Puyallup. The winner of that match will play the winner of the Tahoma/Puyallup match at 3pm. The loser of the Curtis/Kentlake match will play the winner of the Thomas Jefferson (SPSL North #5)/Emerald Ridge (SPSL South #4) match at 5pm.

SPSL Playoffs Seeds Set

Kentlake will face Tahoma in the "A" Match at 6pm on Thursday for the SPSL North #2 seed. The loser of that match will face Kentridge at 7pm for the #3 and #4 seeds. Both matches will be Best 2 out of 3.

Please come out to support the Falcons as they go for the SPSL North #2 seed and a match against Puyallup.

SPSL North Tie Breaker on Thursday

The format and times for the SPSL North Tie Breaker have been released. Which team gets which draw will be determined this afternoon.

There will be three teams playing for three spots: Kentlake, Tahoma and Kentridge. Lots will be drawn to designate these teams as A, B, and C.

Teams A and B will play at 6pm on Thursday at Kentwood. The winner will be the SPSL North #2 seed (Kentwood is SPSL North #1 seed) to the SPSL Playoffs. The loser of Game 1 will play Team C at 7pm. The winner of that game will be the SPSL North #3 seed and the loser will be the SPSL North #4 seed.

The SPSL Playoffs will be this Saturday at Bethel HS in Spanaway. The top five teams in the SPSL North and the top five teams in the SPSL South are involved. All 10 teams will move on to the West Central District #3 Playoffs the following Saturday at Kentwood. The top 6 teams from the Narrows League will also be involved at WCD.

The SPSL North #2 seed will play the SPSL South #3 (Puyallup) seed at 11am on Saturday. The SPSL North #3 seed will play the SPSL South #2 (Curtis) seed, again at 11am. The winners of those matches will play at 3pm for the SPSL #3 and #4 seeds to Districts (Kentwood plays Rogers for the SPSL #1 and #2 seeds).

The SPSL North #4 seed will play the SPSL South #5 (Bethel) seed at 1pm. The winner of that match will play the loser of the North #2/South #3 game at 5pm. Similarly the North #5 (Thomas Jefferson) will play the South #4 (Emerald Ridge), with the winner playing the loser of the North #2/South #3 match. The winners of those matches do a coin flip for SPSL #5/#6 seeds, while the losers do a coin flip for SPSL #7/#8. The losers of the 4/5 matches do a coin flip for SPSL #9/#10.

You can download a copy of the bracket.

Varsity Loses to Kentwood

They gave a valiant effort, but the Kentlake varsity lost to Kentwood 25-21, 25-21, 25-14 last night. The loss, coupled with Tahoma and Kentridge victories, creates a three way tie for second place in the SPSL North. A playoff will be held Thursday (format, time and location still to be announced) to decide the seeds for Saturday's SPSL Playoffs.

Kentlake was paced by the 7 kills and 2 aces of Melissa Kozy. Maggie Henley added 5 kills. Defensively Amber Anderson was on fire with a total of 6 blocks (2 solo). Kathy Taylor added 4 blocks and 9 digs. Jennifer Barber also had 9 digs and 2 aces. Brittany Jamison had 15 assists.

The amazing Kentlake Pep Band added to a great atmosphere for Senior Night. Tim Vagen, who has provided jump training for several of the Kentlake players and was there as a Senior Night guest of Kathy Taylor, sang the National Anthem.

Senior Night and Kentwood

Tomorrow night is Kentlake Senior Night honoring the first four year Senior Class at Kentlake - Brittany Jamison, Kathy Taylor, Amelia Hilsen, Maggie Henley, Amber Anderson and Amanda Ogle. It is also time to spoil Kentwood's perfect record on the year and grab sole possession of 2nd place in the SPSL North. It should be an exciting night, full of tears and cheers. Please come out to support the teams.

The JV and Sophomore teams play at Kentlake at 6pm, while the Freshman team plays at Kentwood at 5pm.

Kentlake Sweeps Chargers

The Kentlake Varsity came out fired up and swept to a 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-21) victory over Kentridge on Wednesday. Sarah Ralph led the Falcons with 8 kills and 3 aces. Melissa Kozy added 6 kills, 7 digs and 5 aces. Jen Barber had 9 digs and 4 aces. Kathy Taylor had 7 digs and 4 blocks. Kentlake combined for 18 aces on the night.

Wednesday Showdown At Kentridge

The Kentlake Varsity, JV and Freshman teams travel to Kentridge on Wednesday. For Varsity it is an crucial game in the quest for the 2nd seed to the SPSL Tournament. They must win on Wednesday to have a chance for the second or third seed.

It is Senior Night for Kentridge and Kentridge is always a tough place to play, so we really need all the support the loyal Falcon fans can provide. So lets fill the stands and cheer the Falcons to victory.

The Sophomore team plays Tahoma at Kent-Meridian at 4pm.

JV and Varsity Sweep Federal Way

The Kentlake Varsity defeated Federal Way, 25-20, 25-5, 25-6 Monday night. Kentlake was paced by Kathy Taylor with 9 kills on 12 swings with no errors. Melissa Kozy had 6 kills and 3 aces, while Sarah Ralph led the Falcons with 5 aces. Brittany Jamison had 19 assists and Jen Barber led the team with 8 digs.

Rare Monday Night at Federal Way

It is another rare Monday/Wednesday set of games this week with Varsity and JV traveling to Federal Way on Monday and to the big showdown with Kentridge on Wednesday. The Freshman team travels to Kentwood for 4:00 contest against the Kentwood Silver team, while the Sophomore team travels to Kent-Meridian for a 5:45 contest against the KM C team.

Varsity Plays Well in Spokane

The Kentlake Varsity team played well overall in Spokane at the Crossover Classic, but could not close out games when it counted and finished 10-3 and in 13th place for the Tournament. Kentlake cruised through pool play with three game sweeps of Wilbur-Creston, Cheney and Gonzaga Prep. Kentlake lost the first round of bracket play in two 25-23 nail biters to East Valley. After surging to a 20-12 lead against University High, Kentlake gave up their one long streak for the weekend and fell 26-24. Determined to make up for the results against U-Hi and to keep from having to ref the final match (and some desire for revenge regarding last year's Kentridge's loss in the boy's basketball final), Kentlake steamrolled over Ferris for 13th place, 25-12.

Melissa Kozy led the Falcons with 34 kills for the day, but Kathy Taylor had 29 kills with only 2 errors for a blistering .491 hitting average. Brittany Jamison had 105 assists to bring her season total to over 400. She also had 12 aces to pace the team. Melissa Kozy led the Falcons with 25 digs and Jennifer Barber had 22. Maggie Henley led the team with 11 total blocks.

Note: While they played 13 games, the nine Pool Play games started at 7-7, so they were only 18 point games. That keeps the "per game" stat averages down about 1/3.

Varsity off to Spokane

The Kentlake Varsity is off to Spokane for the 64 team Spokane Crossover Tournament. The tournament is the largest high school volleyball tournament in the state and one of, if not the, largest in the country. Kentlake opens pool play on Saturday morning at Central Valley HS with Wilbur HS, followed by Cheney HS and Gonzaga Prep.

Falcons Sweep Royals

Looking determined after the loss to Tahoma, the Kentlake Falcons surged to huge leads in the first two games and swept Kent-Meridian Thursday night. Melissa Kozy led the Falcons with 12 kills. Kathy Taylor and Sarah Ralph contributed 8 kills each. Kathy Taylor and Jen Barber led the team in digs while Holly Marx led the team in assists with 26.

JV was swept by KM but did salvage a win in game three.

Falcons Fall in Five to Bears

Varsity dropped the first two games to Tahoma on Tuesday, but came back to force a deciding game five. Unfortunately the comeback fell just short as the Falcons lost 17-15 in five. The loss dropped Kentlake into a tie with Tahoma for 3rd place.

In the opening match, JV was swept by Tahoma.

Important Match at Tahoma

The Kentlake Varsity, JV and Freshman teams travel to Tahoma for matches on Tuesday. Varsity needs a win to stay in 2nd place in the SPSL North. Kentlake defeated the Bears 3-1 at Kentlake early in the season, but Tahoma is always tough at home. Tahoma always has a loud and vocal crowd, so we need lots of Falcon supporters to even things out.

The JV and Freshman teams play at 6pm with Varsity following at about 7:15.

The Sophomore team travels to Kentwood to play their Sophomore team at 5:45.

Kentlake Overcomes Raiders

The Kentlake Varsity overcame a scrappy Thomas Jefferson team on Thursday with a 25-16, 25-17, 19-25, 25-14 victory. All 12 players played at least two games. The Falcons were once again led by Melissa Kozy with 12 kills and 9 aces. Sarah Ralph had 11 kills. Kathy Taylor, playing both front and back row, had 7 kills and 4 blocks and led the team with 16 service receptions. Brittany Jamison led the team with 26 assists. Jennifer Barber had 14 digs. The team had 23 aces spread between six players.

Varsity/JV Travel to TJ

The Kentlake Varsity and JV teams travel to Thomas Jefferson High in Federal Way on Thursday. Thomas Jefferson is 3-5 on the season and in fifth place in the SPSL North. Please make the trip to support the Falcons.

The Sophomore and Freshman teams are at home on Thursday. The Sophomore team hosts the Kentridge Freshman at 4pm team while the Freshman team hosts the Kent-Meridian Freshman team at 6pm.

Kentlake Sweeps Gators

Both the Kentlake Varsity and JV swept the Decatur Gators tonight in SPSL league play. Varsity won 25-12, 25-12, 25-14. All 12 players played and everyone got at least one dig. Melissa Kozy led the Falcons with 12 kills, 5 aces and 5 digs. Kathy Taylor had six kills, four aces and one block. Kelcee Merritt six kills and two aces. Brittany Jamison had 14 assists and Holly Marx had 9 assists and two aces.

Decatur Comes to Kentlake

The second half of the league schedule starts with the return trip of Decatur to Kentlake on Tuesday. Varsity swept the Gators in the first match of the season at Decatur. Please come out to support the Varsity and JV to start the second half right. The Freshman and Sophomore teams both travel to Kentridge.

Rooms Filling Quickly for Spokane

Parents interested in getting rooms at the special reduced rate for the trip to Spokane should make their reservations today or tomorrow. Three rooms have been added to the block, but there are only four rooms left. The Kentlake Varsity will play in the Spokane Crossover Tournament on October 13th. Details about where they will play and exactly what the rest of the schedule is will be available next week.

Falcons Swept By Conks

Kentwood beat both the Varsity and JV teams on Wednesday. Melissa Kozy led the Falcons with nine kills and three blocks and Brittany Jamison had 20 assists.

Kentridge Upsets Falcons

The Kentridge Chargers upset Kentlake on Monday 25-17, 25-20, 19-25, 29-27. Melissa Kozy led the Falcons with 16 kills and 3 blocks. Amelia Hilsen contributed 12 kills and 5 aces despite her sprained hitting hand while Kathy Taylor added 8 kills and 3 blocks. Brittany Jamison had 39 assists. Jennifer Barber had 18 digs and 2 aces.

The Chargers also swept the JV team.

Kent Reporter Features KL Volleyball

From the Covington Reporter and Kent Reporter:

Kentlake downs Tahoma
by Erick Walker

Kentlake has plenty of tradition on the volleyball court. Five state berths and three titles since 2000 attest to as much.

As good as the past has been for the Falcons, they showed on Tuesday that their future is plenty bright, too.

Juniors Melissa Kozy and Sarah Ralph combined for 29 kills, leading the Falcons past upstart Tahoma – 25-22, 25-16, 19-25, 25-15 – in a South Puget Sound League North Division showdown.

more...

Kentridge Comes to KL on Monday

This week is a rare Monday/Wednesday set of matches with Kentridge coming to Kentlake to face Varsity, JV and Freshman teams. The Sophomore team has their bye for the season. Kentridge Varsity is 3-2 in SPSL play with a tough five set loss at Tahoma and a sweep by Kentwood. They are led by #7 Ashley Nguyen who is averaging 12 kills per game.

On Wednesday all four teams play on the road against Kentwood, however, for some reason, the Freshman team is playing the Kentwood Freshman team a mile away at Tahoma.

Kozy Named Times "Star Athlete of the Week"

From the Seattle Times:

Melissa Kozy
Kentlake High volleyball

Melissa Kozy, a 5-foot-10 junior outside hitter, smashed a career-high 19 kills and served up six aces as the Falcons remained unbeaten in the South Puget Sound League 4A North with a 3-1 victory over Tahoma High of Covington. She also recorded 12 kills in a 3-0 win over Federal Way

Varsity, JV and Soph Teams All Win in 3

The Kentlake Varsity swept the Kent-Meridian Royals yesterday. Melissa Kozy once again led the Falcons with 11 kills and 6 aces. Kathy Taylor had a season high 5 blocks (possibly a school match record) and contributed 7 kills. Holly Marx set all three games and had 24 assists.

JV dropped the first game but rallied to win in three. Maggie Howe led the team with 6 kills and Katie Shelton had 5 kills and 6 aces.

The Sophomore team won in three.

Varsity/JV/Soph at KM on Thursday

The Sophomore, Varsity and JV teams will play Kent-Meridian at K-M on Thursday. The Freshman team also plays K-M but for some reason at Kentwood. As a word of warning: it is Open House night at K-M on Thursday, so parking may be very busy. However, please don't let that deter you from coming out to support our teams.

Falcons Down Bears

Playing some of their best volleyball of the season, the Kentlake Varsity downed the #9 Tahoma Bears 3-1 on Tuesday (25-22, 25-16, 18-25, 25-15). Kentlake dominated in every category, led by the amazing 19 kills with no errors of Junior OH Melissa Kozy. Junior RS Sarah Ralph contributed 10 kills with only one error and Senior MB Kathy Taylor added 9 kills with only one error. That is an outstanding 38 kills with only two errors combined. Senior OH Amelia Hilsen was slowed by an injury but still contributed six kills and Senior MB Maggie Henley added four kills. Senior Setter Britanny Jamison kept the Bear defense off balance by distributing the ball very well and had 41 assists. Jennifer Barber (12 digs), Sarah Ralph (11 digs and 2 blocks), Aryn McCarthy (10 digs) and Kathy Taylor (3 blocks) paced the Falcon defense that kept the potent Bear offense in check.

Kentlake will travel to Kent-Meridian to play the Royals on Thursday.

JV Swept By Bears

The Kentlake JV kept it close, but Tahoma was able to pull away in the later stages of both games and won 25-17, 25-20. Paeton Bartholomew paced the Falcon attack with six kills. Katie Shelton led the team with 12 assists and Bekah King contributed 10 digs. Kentlake had 6 aces from four players in the two game set.

Varsity Finishes 10th in Kent Classic

The Kentlake Varsity played very well most of the time on Saturday at the Kent Classic. After easily beating Garfield and Mount Si in the first round of pool play, they ended up in a very tough second round pool and lost to both Monroe and two-time defending Classic Champion Central Catholic (Portland, Or) in three very close games to finish third in their pool. Kentlake bounced back from a blowout in game one against Central Catholic (which several Ram parents described as Central Catholic's best game of the year "by far") to play the Rams point-for-point in game two, finally losing 22-25.

Kentlake then beat Anacortes in two. After a very long delay, Kentlake finally played Mercer Island for 9th place. In a very uncharacteristic match (marred by some very questionable calls at critical junctures) Kentlake lost 16-18 in three to the Islanders.

Varsity Aces Eagles

Seven players contributed to a 21 ace serving attack for the Kentlake Falcon Varsity as they overwhelmed Federal Way (25-4, 25-5, 25-11) in tonight's action. Three players (Kathy Taylor, Amelia Hilsen and Kellcee Merritt) each had four aces, while two others (Brittany Jamison and Sarah Ralph) had three. Melissa Kozy paced the Falcons with a season high 12 kills and Sarah Ralph contributed another 7.

JV in Barn Burner Over Federal Way

Behind another exceptional serving attack from Katie Shelton (9 aces) and Maggie Howe (6 aces), the Kentlake JV team lost game one to Federal Way, but came back to win the match in three (17-25, 25-11, 17-15). Kentlake featured a very balanced attack with three players (Paeton Batholomew, Rebecca Kozy and Christi Blanton) with four kills each and another two (Maggie Howe and Riley Butler) with three kills each. Katie Shelton led Kentlake with 11 assists and Bekah King led a very balance defense with 5 digs.

Federal Way Tonight

The busy home match schedule concludes tonight with JV and Varsity playing Federal Way at home. The Sophomore team plays Kentwood 9 at 5:45 in the back gym. The Freshman team plays at Kent-Meridian at 4pm.

Varsity Downs Sunnfjord

Behind the hitting and blocking of the Middle tandem of Maggie Henley (team high 6 kills, 3 blocks (one solo) and .308 Hitting Percentage) and Kathy Taylor (4 kills, team high 4 blocks (3 solo) and team high .375 Hitting Percentage) the Kentlake Varsity defeated their international visitors from Sunnfjord, Norway. The first game was very close with Sunnfjord leading most of the way, but Kentlake pulled out a 25-22 victory. The second game started close but Kentlake won 25-19. The visitors were showing some effects of jet lag and having played seven games by the third game and Kentlake prevailed 25-17.

Melissa Kozy had 5 kills and Amelia Hilsen 4. Britanny Jamison led Kentlake with 13 assists in two games, while Holly Marx had six assists in one game. Jennifer Barber led the team with 17 digs.

Everyone played in the match including the first Varsity appearance of DS Kellcee Merritt coming off injury and getting an ace and three digs.

Sunnfjord had defeated Kent-Meridian 3-1 in the early contest.

International Volleyball

Don't forget the extra game tonight. Kentlake will take on Sundfjord, Norway at about 7:30pm. The Sundfjord region is a Sister City to Kent and the team is here to play in the Kent Classic this weekend. They will play Kent-Meridian at 6pm followed by Kentlake at about 7:30. Since Norway does not have organized sports in their schools, the Sundfjord team is a club team representing the four city area in Sundfjord. Last time they were here for the Kent Classic (five years ago) the only team they lost to was Kentlake (at the time the two-time defending State Champs) led by Courtney Thompson.

Please come and support Kentlake.

We need several parents to help with tonights match. Please see the online signup sheet at http://www.kentlakevb.com/match_sept12.htm

Varsity Sweeps TJ

The Kentlake Varsity swept the Thomas Jefferson Raiders, 25-12, 25-20, 25-17, in action Tuesday night. Kentlake was paced by Amelia Hilsen with 11 kills, Melissa Kozy with 6 kills and the middle tandem of Kathy Taylor and Maggie Henley with 5 kills apiece. Brittany Jamison led the Falcons with 20 assists and Jen Barber had 21 of Kentlake season high 71 digs. Sarah Ralph also had double digit digs with 11. Kathy Taylor had two solo and one assist block, while Maggie Henley had two solo blocks. Six Falcons had one ace each.

JV Outlasts TJ

Behind the 8 aces and 14 assists of Katie Shelton, including 7 aces to start game 2, the Kentlake JV team beat Thomas Jefferson in three, 18-25, 25-21, 15-10, Tuesday night. Paeton Bartholomew led Kentlake with 7 kills and 12 digs while Riley Butler contributed 4 kills and 3 aces.

Varsity to Play in Kent Classic on Saturday

The Kentlake Varsity will cap a busy week playing in the Kent Classic on Saturday. The Kent Classic features 24 teams from Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Norway. Kentlake will open play at 8am against Garfield and 10am against Mount Si in the main gym at Kentlake. Most likely Kentlake will play the afternoon session at Kentwood HS.

Please signup to bring food for the Hospitality Room. We need breakfast items.

Three Home Matches Next Week

The Kentlake Varsity will have three home matches next week (JV will have two). Both JV and Varsity will play Thomas Jefferson on Tuesday and Federal Way on Thursday.

On Wednesday the Varsity team will play a team from Norway at about 7:30pm. Preceding that game, Kent-Meridian will play the Norwegian team at 6pm at Kentlake.

We need some people to help with tasks, especially during the three Varsity games. We need JV parents to help during the Varsity games while Varsity parents do the work during the JV contests. In that manner everyone gets to watch their daughter play while still helping the Kentlake volleyball program. Right now there are several parents working both JV and Varsity games and we really need everyone to step up and help.

You can sign up online to help.

Kentlake JV Defeats Decatur

Behind a 22 Ace serving attack, the Kentlake JV team defeated Decatur 25-8, 25-16 on Thursday. Kacey Kretzler and Maggie Howe each had 6 aces and Katie Shelton contributed 5 aces. Kacey Kretzler led the team with 5 kills and 5 digs. Katie Shelton had 8 assists and Paeton Bartholomew had 3. Riley Butler had two blocks.

Kentlake Varsity Downs Decatur

Behind the hitting (9 kills) and serving (7 aces) of Amelia Hilsen, the KL Varsity defeated the Decatur Gators 25-20, 25-14, 25-16 on Thursday. Kathy Taylor, Melissa Kozy and Sarah Ralph each had 5 kills. Brittany Jamison led the team with 17 assists in two games, while Holly Marx had 11 assists in one game. Kathy Taylor led the team with 4 digs. The team totaled 16 aces in the three game sweep.

First Match Thursday at Decatur

The Kentlake Varsity and JV teams open the season Thursday at Decatur High School in Federal Way <<map>>. The JV contest will be at 6pm and the Varsity will follow at about 7:15pm. As per SPSL rules, admission will be charged for both contests.

Traffic can be very bad in Federal Way and you may want to consider coming from 272nd/288th to Pacific Hwy S and then Dash Point Point Rd. Follow to 21st Ave SW then to SW 320th. That usually avoids the worst traffic.

The Kentlake Sophomore and Freshman teams are both at home. The Sophomore team plays Kentridge 9 at 4pm and the Freshman team plays Kentwood C at 5pm. No admission will be charged, nor will concessions be available.

Jamboree on Tuesday

The Kentlake Varsity Volleyball team will begin the season with the SPSL Jamboree at Bonney Lake High School on Tuesday at 4pm. The schedule is:

• 4:00 - Kentridge
• 4:30 - Bye
  
• 5:00 - Thomas Jefferson
• 5:30 - Puyallup
• 6:00 - Bonney Lake
• 6:30 - Bye
• 7:00 - Graham Kapowsin
• 7:30 - Curtis
• 8:00 - Auburn Mountainview

The other three teams will practice after school.

Ny Kamp Lagt Til Planen

That's "New Match Added to Schedule" for those that don't speak Norwegian, because the Kentlake Varsity will play a visiting Norwegian team on Wednesday, September 12th. The Norwegian team is coming to play in the Kent Classic that weekend and wanted some extra local competition. Once every three years you are allowed to add an extra contest to play a visiting international (not including Canada or Mexico) team, so we get to add a 17th contest to play the Norwegians.

Kent-Meridian will play the Norwegian team at 6pm, followed by Kentlake vs. Norway at about 7:30pm. Both matches will be best 3 out of 5 and there will be at least 30 minutes between contests.

We need the normal range of volunteers to help. Please sign up at http://www.kentlakevb.com/match_sept12.htm

Spirit Wear Deadline Extended

The ordering deadline for Kentlake Volleyball Spirit Wear has been extended to Monday, September 3rd (Labor Day). All orders must be in by that time. You can order online or via the mail. The user id for the online system is "falconsvb" and the password is "vb07".

All orders for practice t-shirts should be made directly through Coach Behrens, NOT through Gear Athletics (formerly Athletic Supply).

Volunteer Positions Filling Fast; Need JV Parents

Volunteer positions at the Kentlake matches are filling fast, but mostly with Varsity parents. We really need JV parents to fill some of the positions, especially during the Varsity matches. Generally we encourage JV parents to help during Varsity matches and Varsity parents to help during JV matches. That allows the parents to help (a service that is very much appreciated - and needed) but still be able to watch their daughter play. Of course, some parents prefer to help during their daughter's match and that is, of course, fine too. More than one parent has remarked "I do lines during my daughter's game so I can't get too excited. It makes me stay calm."

Online signups are available. Go to the proper date, select the job you are interested in and click on "Sign Me Up". This will allow you to send an email message to Kentlakevb already formatted with the name of the job you want to do and the match in the subject line.

Varisty to Practice Early on September 1st.

The Varsity team will practice from 7am to 9am on Saturday, September 1st. There will be no practice scheduled for Monday, September 3rd (Labor Day). Varsity has the SPSL Jamboree at Bonnie Lake on Tuesday, September 4th.

JV & Sophomore Practice Time Change

The practice time for JV and Sophomore teams on Monday and Tuesday, August 27th and 28th, will change to 3:30 to 5:30pm. The Varsity and Freshman teams will practice from 8-11am as planned.

Spirit Packs Available Online

Players and parents can now buy Kentlake Volleyball Spirit Wear at Gear Athletics website. The User ID is "falconsvb" and the password is "vb07".

Some of the popular items are Parent T-Shirts (with team rosters on the back), player sweat shirts and pants, polos and caps. The prices are quite reasonable. The initial order will be made Wednesday, August 29th, so shop early.

Spirit wear will be delivered to the school and distributed to the players to bring home.

Online Volunteer Signups Now Available

The online Volunteer Match Assignment system is now up and running for 2007. You can signup for jobs either using the online system or send an email to kentlakevb. If you want the same job for all seven matches, then just sending one email is fine. If we receive two emails for the same job we will take the first one, so don't assume you have a given job until you see it on the chart and you have received a confirming email.

• September 11, Thomas Jefferson
• September 13, Federal Way
• September 18, Tahoma
• September 24, Kentridge
• October 2, Decatur
• October 11, Kent Meridian
• October 23, Kentwood (Senior Night)

You can also sign up for matches at the barbecue tonight.

Teams Named

Congratulations to those players that made the four Kentlake Volleyball teams. The rosters for all four teams will be posted online soon, but all players have been notified of which team they are on.

The 2007 Kentlake Varsity roster is:

Seniors

• Amber Anderson
• Maggie Henley
• Amelia Hilsen
• Brittany Jamison
• Amanda Ogle
• Kathy Taylor

Juniors

• Jen Barber
• Melissa Kozy
• Mackenzie Kyle
• Holly Marx
• Kellcee Merritt
• Sarah Ralph

Sophomores

• McKenna Herron
• Aryn McCarthy

New Online Calendar

The Kentlake Volleyball Calendar, with practices through the end of the month and all JV and Varsity games, is now available on Google Calendars. Click the link below to access the calendar or page down to the bottom of the blog and it is embedded there. You can also download it to your Outlook Calendar or access it through RSS.

Friday Practice Time Change for JV & Sophomore Teams

The practice time for JV and Sophomore teams on Friday will change to 3:30 to 5:30pm. The Varsity and Freshman teams will practice from 8-11am as planned. Players will have time to shower and change before the barbecue at 6pm.

All Player/Family Barbecue

The annual Kentlake Barbecue will be held THIS FRIDAY at 6pm in the Kentlake Commons. All players and their families are encouraged to attend. The mandatory Volleyball planning meeting will follow the food, so you might as well come for the food and stay for the news. At least one parent for each player needs to attend the planning meeting.

The Kentlake Volleyball Booster Group will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, condiments and bottled water.

Please bring an item to share based on your grade:

• 9th grade - Pop or Chips (Note: This has changed from earlier posts)
  
• 10th grade - Casseroles or bean salads
• 11th grade - Other Salads .... green - pasta - potato
• 12th grade - Desserts

Note, that is by grade, not by which team you are on.

Kentlake to Have Four Teams

About 45 players showed up for tryouts today, thus ensuring Kentlake will, once again, have four volleyball teams. We will find out next week how many teams the other SPSL schools will have and the Freshman and Sophomore teams will have to wait until the first week of September to find out their schedules.

Mandatory Parent Meeting

There will be a mandatory Parent meeting on Friday, August 24th in conjunction with the Barbecue. This is in place of the volleyball part of the Fall Sports Meeting. The Fall Sports Meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 28th, but the SPSL Volleyball Coaches Meeting is that evening so Coach Behrens would not be able to attend our meeting. Therefore the Volleyball meeting that normally follows the Fall Sports Meeting will be held on the Friday, the 24th instead. At least one parent of each player should attend the barbecue/meeting. You can also attend the Fall Sports Meeting, but that is optional. The speaker at the Fall Sports Meeting will be the same as last year (Bruce Brown).

The barbecue will begin at 6pm and the meeting will follow.

Tryouts Start

Tryouts start tomorrow at 9am sharp. Everyone should be in proper volleyball attire and ready to go by 8:45am. Anyone that has not completed the athletic registration process will not be allowed to participate. It is unknown how long the registration process will take for those that did not complete it last week but it is unlikely any such players will be able to participate in tryouts on Monday at all. Remember that tryouts on Monday at in two sessions, 9-11am and 1-3pm.

Download Calendar

An online version of the Kentlake Volleyball Calendar is now available. You can open this calendar on any computer with a Internet Calendar compatible program installed, such as Microsoft Office Outlook. To view and subscribe to this calendar, copy and paste the following Web address into your Web browser:

webcal://calendars.office.microsoft.com/pubcalstorage/n4hkwkcz177860/Scott_Taylor_Calendar.ics

Alternatively, you can view this content on the Web at:

https://calendars.office.microsoft.com/pubcalstorage/n4hkwkcz177860/Scott_Taylor_Calendar.htm

This includes tryouts, the first week of practices and all matches for JV and Varsity. It will be updated with Freshman and Sophomore matches and more practice times as those become available.

Practice Times Set

Practice will be by team starting after tryouts are over. After school starts practice will be after school each day that the team does not have a match. Practice times until school starts are:

• Friday, August 24th - 8AM to 11AM (6PM Team BBQ)
  
• Saturday, August 25th - 8AM to 11AM (Varsity Only)
  
• Monday, August 27th - 8AM to 11AM
  
• Tuesday, August 28th - 8AM to 11AM
  
• Wednesday, August 29th - 3:30PM to 6PM
  
• Thursday, August 30th - 3:30PM to 6PM
  
• Friday, August 31st - 3:30PM to 6PM

All Players MUST Register During Athletic Registration Day

All players MUST go through the athletic registration process at Kentlake today or tomorrow. Registration forms will NOT be accepted next Monday, the first day of tryouts. It must be done before Falcon Day. The forms you need to turn in are linked below. All incoming freshman and transfer players will need a new physical. High School sports physicals are good for two years, so most Juniors will also need a new sports physicals, but most Sophomores and Seniors will not.

Volleyball BBQ on 24th

The annual Kentlake Volleyball Barbecue will be held on Friday, August 24th, at 6pm in the commons at Kentlake. All players and their families are invited to relax and have good time after a tough week of tryouts and practice. Details will be announced in the near future.

Varsity to Practice on Saturday the 25th

The Kentlake Varsity team (and only the Varsity) will practice on Saturday, August 25th from 8AM to 11AM.

Tryouts Scheduled

Tryouts for the 2007 Kentlake Volleyball Teams will begin Monday, August 20th at 9AM. The schedule for tryouts:

• Monday: 9AM to 11AM and 1PM to 3PM
• Tuesday: 3:30PM to 6:30PM
• Wednesday: 3:30PM to 6:30PM
• Thursday: 9AM to 11AM and 1PM to 3PM

The teams (Varsity, JV, Sophomore and Freshman) will practice by team on Friday, August 24th from 8AM to 11AM.

Athletic Registration Days

The Athletic Registration Days are a new thing at Kentlake this year. In the past some players would wait until the first day of tryouts before turning in their registration forms. This would inevitably lead to some players not being able to tryout as their forms were not signed properly, they did not have a valid physical, etc. This year everyone needs to turn in their forms either Monday, August 13th or Tuesday, August 14th. Kentlake Athletic Director Cindi Perez, assisted by our own Tami Kyle, will check the forms and make sure everything is correct. If there is a problem players will have a week to fix the problem instead of having to scramble around on the first day of tryouts.

You can download the forms at:

• Athletic Registration Form
• Physical Examination Form
• Emergency Medical Form

Fall Sports Meeting

The Fall Sports Meeting will be Tuesday, August 28th at 6pm. The volleyball meeting will follow the main meeting at approximately 7:15pm.

The Fall Sports Meeting is a large informational meeting for parents of all athletes participating in fall sports at Kentlake. At least one parent of each volleyball player should attend the volleyball session. Players are welcome too, but their attendance is purely optional.

Feedback?

We would appreciate any feedback you have on this blog, the website or anything else surrounding Kentlake volleyball. You can add a comment by clicking on the comment button under this or any other post on the blog or you can email us at kentlakevb@comcast.net

What is the booster group?

The Kentlake Volleyball Booster Group is the group of parents whose children play volleyball at Kentlake. So, if your daughter plays volleyball at Kentlake you are automatically part of the booster group. We hope you will be an active part. There are no dues to join the booster group, although we would encourage you to join PTSA.

The booster group provides support to the coaches to help with activities that support the team so the coaches don't have to do everything. The coaches have enough to worry about without worrying about raising money, selling concessions, running the fall tournament, etc. Some of the activities the booster group helps with:

• Registering players and checking eligibility on the first day of tryouts
• Registering players for summer camp
  
• Selling concessions, doing the scorebook, doing lines, etc during games
• Providing "goody bags" and decorations on overnight trips
• Planning reservations, etc for overnight trips
  
• Organizing Senior Night activities
• Organizing the annual Kentlake trip to a UW Volleyball game
  
• Running the "4 on 4" tournament and other fundraisers
  
• Running the website and blog

But why should you get involved in the booster group? That is, hopefully, easy to figure out. Because you want your daughter's high school volleyball experience to be a good one and are willing to help out to see that happen.

It is easy to get involved with the booster group. We welcome any and all volunteers. We have things that need to be done from the very easy to the fairly complex. You can email us or talk to Tami Kyle at the Fall Sports Meeting, etc.

Federal Way? What happened to Auburn?

Every two years the WIAA reclassifies schools based on their enrollment. With the opening of Auburn Mountainview, the enrollment in the Auburn schools dropped below the threshold for being 4A schools. Schools can "opt up" to play in a higher division, but the Auburn schools decided to play as 3A. Kent Meridian opts up to be a 4A school like the rest of the Kent schools, although their Grade 10-12 enrollment is below the cutoff.

The latest reclassification occurred in 2006. Starting last year, the three Auburn schools now play in SPSL 3A and we not play them. Instead this is the second year of a "home and away round robin" schedule in SPSL 4A North (Kentlake, Kentwood, Kent Meridian, Kentridge, Tahoma, Federal Way, Decatur and Thomas Jefferson) where each team in the eight team league plays home and away with each of the other teams. However, Auburn Riverside was only 20 students below the cutoff last time and it is likely one or more of the Auburn schools will be 4A next year.

Game Days

What happens on game days varies greatly from team to team and whether it is a home or away game. However, one thing is constant for everyone - you must attend all of your classes on game day or have a note signed by the Principal or you cannot play. If we have to leave early from 6th period (very rare) then that counts as being there for class.

Varsity (and sometimes other teams) usually decides ahead of time what they will wear to school. This may be jerseys, dress, sweat, etc but the idea is to look like a team. If it is a home game they may put up signs encouraging everyone to attend the game. I understand our new ASB President (our own senior Amber Anderson) has some ideas on that.

One problem with the "C" and Freshman schedule is that they don't always play the same opponents as the JV/Varsity and sometimes will be away for a home Varsity game or home when Varsity is away. Of course, many of their matches are at 3:30 or 4pm so that means there is a large break between C/Freshman and JV/Varsity.

If the "C" or Freshman team have an away game (which may or may not be at the same location) they will have a bus (or buses if they are going to different schools) that will leave about 2:15. It will only be those teams and their coaches riding on the bus. The bus will take them back to Kentlake after the match. The JV/Varsity will travel seperately.

It is up to them, but the Varsity has been having a team dinner after school and before their matches, regardless of whether it is home or away. They all meet at one player's house and have a simple dinner for everyone. Spaghetti and garlic bread is popular. JV could certainly do the same thing.

The JV and Varsity ride the bus together if the game is at one of the Federal Way schools (TJ, Decatur and Federal Way, we don't play Todd Beamer). That has to arrive in time for the JV to warm up, so it leaves about 4:15pm. For away games at other schools, the players (or their parents) are responsible for getting there on time.

JV warms up starting about 5pm and plays at 6pm. Varsity may warm up in the back gym, or wait until after the JV game. They will (finish) warm up after the JV game and then play at least 20 minutes after the end of the JV game (but not before 7:15pm).

The JV team should plan on staying for at least the first game of the Varsity match but should stay for all of it if possible. Varsity will attend the JV match but may warm up during part of it.

We will have a very good selection of concessions at all home games. What is offered at other schools varies widely, but usually pales in comparison to home games.

If they took the bus to the game (all away games for Freshman/C and Federal Way for JV/Varsity) then they take the bus back to Kentlake and drive home or are picked up there.

What is "Club Volleyball"?

Club Volleyball is the equivalent of AAU basketball or "travel" softball. USA Volleyball, the group that runs the US National teams, is the governing body for "Junior Olympic Volleyball". There are many volleyball clubs in the Puget Sound area and some of the best are here in Kent. They vary in philosophy, but most Club teams provide sound training in volleyball.

Do not feel like you have to do Club Volleyball to excel in volleyball at Kentlake. However, you get better at volleyball by playing and Club volleyball is an excellent way to keep playing in the HS off-season. This last season Kentlake had 21 players from the 2006 Kentlake squad play Club volleyball. However, Club volleyball is not cheap. It can range from about $800/player for a limited season team that plays only local tournaments to more than $5000/player for a team seriously trying to qualify for the national Junior Olympic tournament.

Uniform Colors

Each team will decide among themselves if they want to standardize the colors of their accessories (kneepads, socks, etc). Often the teams will decide to wear black kneepads and socks, but that may change from year to year and team to team. The teams will decide that prior to their first match.

There are some very good kneepads on the market and some not so good ones. What works best for a kneepad is a matter of personal taste and what fits well. Do not hesitate to ask one of the older players if you have any questions regarding kneepads, ankle braces, etc.

OK, my daughter made the team. What is it going to cost me?

Actually, very little. We do not have "Pay to Play" in Kent, so there is not a charge for playing volleyball. However, all players do have to have their ASB card.

We provide uniforms to all players. That is the jersey (home and away) and spandex. We also provide one practice t-shirt for everyone and jackets and bags for the varsity. You can purchase additional practice t-shirts and will probably want to have extra spandex for practice.

You will have to provide kneepads, shoes, socks, etc. We encourage the use of ankle supports. There are several good brands including Active Ankles and ASO, but figuring out what works best for your player is up to you.

We will have t-shirts (for both players and family/friends) and sweatshirts (for players at least) available for sale after tryouts are over. The last two years the family t-shirts had the names of the players on all four teams on the back. This has proved to be very popular (and provides built-in obsolescence so parents buy the shirt every year ).

All SPSL schools charge for entrance for anyone that does not have an ASB card. The SPSL mandated charges are $5/adult, $3/student and $2/senior citizen and elementary students. For home matches you can avoid this charge by doing one of the many jobs that need to be done.

Fall Sports Meeting

The Fall Sports Meeting is the big organizational meeting for all fall sports. There is a large group meeting with a speaker (usually quite good) followed by "breakout sessions" for each sport. As the second largest fall sport (football is larger so they get the PAC) we usually meet in one of the two "revolving" rooms next to the PAC.

The meeting will probably be August 29th or 30th at 6pm, followed by the volleyball session at about 7:15pm. We will have exact dates and times very soon.

It is very important that at least one parent for each athlete attend the Fall Sports Meeting. We will discuss a lot of information and this is the only way to get it.

The Fall Sports Meeting is NOT the athletic registration that takes place next Monday and Tuesday (August 13th and 14th). That is done so everyone is all set to go before tryouts. The Fall Sports Meeting is more an informational meeting for parents (although players can attend if they want).

Game Times

The times for Varsity and JV games are standardized. JV plays at 6pm and Varsity follows, usually at about 7:15pm, but it may be a little later if JV goes long.

The Freshman and "C" team games can be at 3:30, 4:00 or even 6:00, depending on gym and referee availability. It is not uncommon for the Freshman and "C" matches to change times or even be canceled. Last year schools without Freshman teams showed up on the schedule, leading to inevitable cancellations. We will try to let everyone know about any schedule changes ASAP, so listen to what the coaches say and read the blog frequently for updates.

The Freshman and "C" schedules will be released in late August or early September after it is known how many squad each school will have.

We would prefer to run all of the non-Varsity matches at 6pm but we have to live with what the schedule dictates. In particular it can be very hard to schedule enough refs and running three matches simultaneously requires an extra ref.

People attending "C" and Freshman games do not have to pay to attend just those games unless they are in the same gym at the same time as the JV game. People attending the JV game do have to pay. That is a SPSL rule and we can't do anything about it. However, if you do a job that day for any match you get in free to the JV and Varsity matches.

Parents and Game Days

It has been a tradition at Kentlake that parents take care of running the event on game days and the players and coaches take care of playing the games. So we need parent volunteers for a variety of jobs for each match, not just Varsity matches, but JV, "C" and Freshman team matches also.

It works best if Varsity parents help with the JV matches, JV parents help with the Varsity matches, and "C" and Freshman team parents help with their own matches. The "C" and Freshman team matches are run earlier in the day and do not involve refreshments and tickets, so they are much easier to run.

We need help with the following:

Concessions

We need two people to sell concessions (handle the food, take money, give change, etc.) for the Varsity and JV matches.

Tickets

We need one person to sell tickets for the Varsity and JV matches. This person must be a PTSA member.

Scoreboard

We need one person to keep score and run the clock. This is done with the scoreboard for the JV and Varsity matches and usually with the manual "flip chart" for the "C" and Freshman team matches.

Scorekeeper

This is one of the more technical jobs as the method of keeping the scoresheet is a little complicated. However, it is nothing that cannot be picked up in 30 minutes. Come sit in and watch someone else do it once and you should be able to do it after that. Remember: 10 year olds do it in Club. The scorebook is kept for all four matches.

Libero Tracker

This is probably the easiest job. The libero tracker keeps track of when the Libero (the defensive player with the alternate colour jersey that subs in and out "on the fly") goes in and out of the game. Of course, this is only done for those teams that use the Libero, but that will be most matches. The libero tracker also assists the Scorekeeper with capturing all the substitutions. The libero tracker may also have to run the scoreboard sometimes for "C" and Freshman games depending on the number of volunteers available.

Lines

We need two lines people for each match. This is fairly easy for JV, "C" and Freshman and can be quite intimidating for Varsity (the speed of the game is much quicker). However, with some simple techniques it is not that hard.


Signups

We will have signup sheets at the Fall Sports Meeting and any other events. You can also send an email to kentlakevb@comcast.net with your job preferences. We will have an online signup method soon.

10 Practice Rule

WIAA rules require ten days of practice before the first contest for each player. For Freshman and "C" team players this is usually not a problem. The days of tryouts count as practices for this rule, but "Two-A-Days" (when there are two practices in one day) only count as one day, not two practices. Unless there are weekend or holiday practices, guess how many days of practice there are between the start of tryouts on the 20th and the Jamboree on the 4th. Give up? Ten.

So, the moral to this story is: don't miss practice if you want to play - even for a good excuse. JV gets two extra days, but Varsity has no "wiggle room". We have no way around the 10 days of practice rule unless we have extra days of practice (on Saturday, Sunday or Labor Day) for the entire team.

If you are injured and cannot take full part of practice then that day does not count. If you are injured for more days than you have practiced then the clock resets. So if you have three days of practice, then are injured and are out for four days, then it starts over again at zero and you have to have ten more days before you can play.

PrepVolleyball.com

I would encourage you to look at PrepVolleyball.com, especially the Girls Volleyball page. It has a very active forum of people from around the country that are interested in HS and Club volleyball. There is one topic that follows Washington State high school volleyball with input from around the state. The link to the PrepVolleyball.com message board is in the "Volleyball Links" section in the lower right of the main page.

State and District Tournaments

The West Central District #3 (WCD #3) Tournament will be held at the Kitsap Pavilion in Silverdale (street address is Bremerton, but it is really Silverdale). It will be Friday and Saturday, November 2nd and 3rd. We have a block of rooms reserved for the night of the 2nd at the Silverdale Beach Hotel (formerly the Red Lion). Kentlake will qualify for WCD #3 Tournament if we finish in the top five in the eight team SPSL 4A North, as the SPSL gets ten teams to the district tournament this year and the SPSL tournament will only be for seeding purposes.

The Washington State 4A High School Volleyball Tournament will again be held in the Toyota Center in Kennewick, WA on November 9th and 10th. Kentlake will qualify for State if we finish in the top six (out of 16) at the WCD #3 Tournament. We have a block of rooms reserved at the Kennewick Hilton Garden Inn (which is literally across the parking lot from the Toyota Center) for the nights of November 8th and 9th.

Dead Period

For those new to high school volleyball, the period between August 1st and the start of tryouts is the "Dead Period" under WIAA rules. The coaches cannot have any volleyball-related contact with current or prospective team members.

Tryouts

Tryouts will be August 20th to August 23rd. Anyone interested in playing volleyball for Kentlake must be there, even if unable to play due to injury.

The exact times have not been determined but tryouts will probably be "two-a-days" from Monday until Wednesday or Thursday. Since Coach Behrens is a teacher at Kentlake, and there are some in-service activities for teachers during the two weeks before school starts, the schedule may vary some depending on her schedule. We will post the times as soon as they are available.

Incoming Freshmen must have a Sports Physical done after June 1, 2007. School physicals are valid for two years, so most incoming Juniors will also need a post-June 1, 2007 physical. There can be no exceptions made. No physical by August 20th means no tryout. You can download the Sports Physical Form from the the Kent School District website.

All players trying out will also need a signed Athletic Registration Form for the first day of tryouts. You can download that from the Kent School District website.

<< More information on tryouts >>
<< Time Commitment >>

Andrea Sinclair Makes All-State

Senior OH Andrea Sinclair has been selected to play for the 4A West team for this summer's All-State Showcase. This is the second year in a row that Kentlake players have been chosen for this prestigious event.