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.