Banquet November 13th

The Kentlake Volleyball Banquet will be next Wednesday, November 13th in the Commons at Kentlake HS at 6:30 pm.

Varsity players: Salads and Bread

 JV Players: Pasta/Lasagna dishes

C Team Player: Drinks and desserts

Falcons Take 2nd at Mount Baker Invitational

In their final tune-up before SPSL the playoffs, the Kentlake Falcons fell to perennial small school powerhouse Brewster 25-19, 29-27 in the finals of the Mount Baker Invitational in Deming on Saturday.

After a slow start in game one of the first pool play match against Mount Baker, the Falcons rallied for a 2-1 victory over the hosts. They then overwhelmed Sultan and Riverside Christian. Against Sultan the Falcons had 20 aces, including a school record tying 10 from Victoria Boyko. Against Riverside Christian the script was almost the same, except it was Sean Taylor who had 9 aces in the first game.

In the semi-finals Kentlake outlasted a very tough Forest Ridge team that had previously only lost to 1A #1 Annie Wright.

The Falcons were without Setter Madoline Seumalo and Middle Blocker Taylor DiLeonardo, and Outside Hitter Lexi Lockhart played out of position to rest her sore hand.

The Bellingham Herald has a nice set of pictures of the tournament and several articles.

Senior Night

Tonight is Senior Night and a very important match against Auburn. Win and (barring a major upset of KM beating Kentwood) then we should secure the fifth and final spot for the SPSL League Playoffs. Auburn is 1-10 on the season with the one victory over Thomas Jefferson, so hopefully... Tonight we will honor Seniors Erin Ryan and Sean Taylor. Erin has been a two year starter at Libero while Sean is the first four-year full time starter (3 years as Middle Blocker and one as Outside Hitter) in school history (and only the second player at Kentlake to play Varsity all four years). Sean holds the school record for Assist Blocks in a match (8 last year against Kentwood) and probably aces in a single game (7 against Lincoln, the record for a match is 10 held by Courtney Thompson, Hannah Merritt and Sean's sister, Kathy) but we don't track that one and Sean only played the one game in a rout of Lincoln.

SPSL and Bi-District 3/4 4A Volleyball Tournament Information

Five teams from the SPSL North will make the SPSL League Playoffs the weekend of November 2nd (details as to time and location have not been announced). They will face off against five teams from the SPSL South. Of those ten teams nine (yes, all but one) will continue to the Bi-District 3/4 4A Volleyball Tournament on November 9th and 10th. The Bi-District Tournament will have nine teams from the SPSL, four from Narrows League (The league with Bellarmine, Timberline, Olympia, etc) and three from the Greater St. Helens League (The league from the Vancouver, WA area with Prarie, Skyview, Camas, etc). The WCD playoffs will be November 9th and 10th at Kentwood HS. Seven teams will make state from WCD.

Varsity Coming Into Their Own

The conventional wisdom was that Kentlake would go 1-2 last week with losses to Curtis and Enumclaw and a victory over Thomas Jefferson. While that is what happened, it does not give the full picture.

The match against Enumclaw, a tough five set loss to one of the better teams in 3A, showed a lot of grit and determination from Kentlake. After losing a close game one and a sloppy game two, Kentlake came back to pound Enumclaw in game three and then come back from well down to force game five. At one point in game four Enumclaw had a 12-3 lead, but Kentlake traded points then had good serving runs from Lexi Lockhart and Victoria Boyko, aided by great front row play by Sean Taylor to get back in the game. Unfortunately Enumclaw was able to pull away late in game five and win 15-11.

Sean Taylor and Victoria Boyko had almost error free matches with Victoria getting 7 kills on only 1 error, while Sean had 14 kills and only 1 error for a stellar .565 average. Lexi Lockhart contributed 12 kills and Zoe Gaines had 9.

Now Kentlake goes up against Tahoma (home on Tuesday) and Kentridge (away on Thursday). Tahoma is 2-3 on the year with a victory over Kentridge but a bad loss to Bethel. Kentridge is 0-6 on the year but played Olympia very tight at the Kent Classic, getting blown out in game one but coming back to edge Olympia 33-31 (or close to that) with Olympia playing their starters in both games.

Volunteers Needed for Tahoma Match on Tuesday

We need parents to volunteer to assist during the home games this year. We need line judges, scorekeeper, concessions and libero tracker. Direct links to the sign up pages are below.

Varsity	Jr. Varsity	C Team
Tahoma Kent Meridan Auburn (Senior Night)	Tahoma Kent Meridian Auburn (Senior Night)	Tahoma Kent Meridian Auburn (Senior Night)

We have three home matches left and really need parents to step up. We don't want a repeat of last Friday where JV players had to call lines for the Varsity match and we certainly don't want Varsity players to ever have to work during the JV and "C" team games where they should be getting ready for their own match.

Problems?

If you have problems with the signup links, go to http://www.signupgenius.com/findasignup and search for lpierce "at" go.shoreline.edu. This will give you a list of the signups that Coach Pierce set up. You can then choose the one(s) you need to register for.

Match Day: Curtis

The Curtis Vikings come to Kentlake for the final non-conference matchup before SPSL play starts (there is one more non-conference match on Friday against Enumclaw). Curtis is 2-2 on the year, but the two losses have been to Auburn Riverside and Kentwood. The Vikings have a number of players that play club together and are led by OH Janell Sparks. As per normal JV and "C" are at 5:45pm and Varsity will follow somewhere around 7:15pm.

Kent Classic

The annual Kent Classic is this weekend at Kentlake and Kentwood High Schools. Kentlake will be in Pool G at Kentlake to start. The other teams in the pool are 2A Selah, a traditional power in 2A (they finished #3 the last two years), and Bothell (KingCo 4A) who is 0-4 on the season.

Where Kentlake plays in the second round and playoffs is determined by how they do in the first round of pool play. If they finish first or a "good" second they will play at Kentwood in the afternoon, alternately they will stay at Kentlake.

Jaguars Defeat Falcons

Kentlake gave Emerald Ridge (#2 in 4A) a good fight but ultimately lost 1-3 in a very sparsely attended afternoon affair at Kentlake. Much of the Emerald Ridge teams trains together year-round and it showed.

Emerald Ridge Comes Visiting

Kentlake will play Emerald Ridge HS today in the first home contest of the season. "C" team will play Mount Rainier since Emerald Ridge does not have a "C" team. Emerald Ridge is currently ranked #2 in the state and is 3-0 with victories over Kentridge, Auburn Riverside and Tahoma and a First Place finish at the Puget Sound Adidas Invitational at Auburn Mountainview HS last weekend. Six of their players play club ball together for Puget Sound VBC.

The game is early with Varsity playing at 3:30pm and JV and "C" following (officially at 4:45pm but probably more like 5:30pm or later).

Tournament Added

THe Kentlake Varsity will travel north to Deming, WA (near Bellingham) for the Mount Baker Invitational on Saturday, October 26th. This should serve as a final tune-up for SPSL playoffs the following weekend.

Travel details will be announced later.

"C" Game Added

Kentlake "C" team will play Enumclaw at home on Friday, September 27th just like the JV and Varsity.

Falcons Soar Over Abes

Kentlake Varsity defeated Lincoln on Wednesday. Kentlake was led by OH Sean Taylor with 10 kills and 4 Aces.

Kentlake Travels to Lincoln

All three teams will travel to Lincoln High School in Tacoma for a 3:30 match with the Abes. Varsity will play at 3:30 followed by JV and "C". Or maybe not - the Lincoln schedule has JV and "C" playing first.

Lincoln is 2-1 on the season but may have played as many as five matches (two are listed as "No Info" on the TNT website but are duplicates of matches on other days).

From the Tacoma Weekly:

The Abes graduated seven seniors last year, but interest in the program remains strong, as 58 girls turned out this season.

Headlining the group is senior outside hitter Lyric Jones, a solid all-around player, while senior setter Iyris Fua shows good court awareness and leadership skills. Sophomore basketball star Tamia Braggs joined the team this season and has impressed early with her work ethic and focus, and incoming freshman libero Leea Jones – Lyric’s sister – is a skilled defender and excellent passer who should contribute early.

“Defense and passing are going to be our strength,” noted head coach Steve Johnson. “I’ve probably got more good passers this year than I’ve had in…I can’t remember how long.”

Falcons Fall to Sentinals

Kentlake showed typical "first day jitters" in the first set but came back to take Spanaway Lake to four games before falling 3-1 to the Sentinals. Led by the 8 kills and 14 digs of Junior OH Lexi Lockhart the Falcons battled back from a shaky first game to give Spanaway Lake all they could take finally losing 15-25, 23-25, 25-23, 26-28.

It's Finally Game Day!!!

The first match of the year is finally upon us. The saying is "The last shall be first." Well, for the second year in a row, we are the last school in the country to start play for the year, so hopefully...

Kentlake Varsity, Junior Varsity and "C" Team all travel to Spanaway Lake HS for non-conference matchups. You can get a map for Spanaway Lake HS on the Schedule/Results page. "C" and JV begin play at 5:45pm while Varsity follows at about 7:15pm. Normal SPSL entrance rates apply.

Spanaway Lake traditionally has a very good volleyball team. They should feature very good defense with standouts Raelin Magaoay and Kaila Norton.

Don't forget that tomorrow all three teams travel to Lincoln HS in Tacoma and Thursday they are home against a very tough Emerald Ridge team ("C" plays Mount Rainier at home, ER has no "C" team).

Rules

Anyone that is interested in the rules for High School volleyball can download the iPod/iPhone App from the Apple AppStore. Search for "NFHS Volleyball Rules". The App is $5.99 and you get both the Rule Book and the Case Book (which has how the rules are supposed to be interpreted). This is much better than buying the paper versions which are $7.99 each.

The only problem with the App version is that currently it is the 2012-2013 rule book, not the 2013-2014 version. There are not a lot of changes but you can download a summary of those.

For those used to USAV (Club) or NCAA volleyball a great 15-page comparison of the rules differences is available.

But please remember what "hat" you have on during the game. If you hat does not read "Coach" or "Captain" please let the appropriate person tell the ref about any rules issues. ;)

Emerald Ridge Game Time Changed

The game times for the matches against Emerald Ridge HS next week have been changed. Varsity will play at 3:30pm and JV and C will play at 4:45pm (Note the change!). We apologize for any inconveniences this will cause.

Volunteers Needed

We need parents to volunteer to assist during the home games this year. We need line judges, scorekeeper, concessions and libero tracker. Direct links to the sign up pages are below.

Varsity	Jr. Varsity	C Team
Emerald Ridge Curtis Enumclaw Tahoma Kent Meridan Auburn (Senior Night)	Emerald Ridge Curtis Enumclaw Tahoma Kent Meridian Auburn (Senior Night)	Mount Rainier Curtis Enumclaw Tahoma Kent Meridian Auburn (Senior Night)

We also need parents and non-Varsity players to assist with the major tournament we run, the Kent Classic, on Saturday, September 21st.

Varsity Captains

Sr OH Sean Taylor, Jr OH Victoria Belko and Jr OH Lexi Lockhart have been named Varsity Captains for the 2013 Season.

"Pay-To_Play" Fee

The "Pay-To_Play" fee for Volleyball should be paid by Monday, September 2nd. It is $100 or $50 for those on reduced lunch. It must be paid or players will not be allowed to practice or play. It can be paid online or at the ASB treasurers office before or after school. In addition all players must have an ASB card.

Fall Sports Meeting

The Annual Fall Sports Meeting will be Wednesday, September 4th in the Kentlake Performing Arts Center (PAC) at 7pm. This will be followed by a Volleyball break-out session. It is very important that at least one parent for each player attend.

Rosters Released

The rosters for the 2013 Kentlake Varsity, Junior Varsity and Cardinal teams have been announced and are available on their respective pages.

Get a Jump on Tryouts

Pacific Coast Volleyball Academy is hosting a "pre-tryout warmup" at Green River Community College tonight at 7pm. This would be a good opportunity to get a little practice in before tryouts next week.

Tryouts

Tryouts for all three teams of the 2013 Kentlake Falcon Volleyball team are August 26th, 3-6pm and 27th from 3-5pm. Teams will be announced after the conclusion of tryouts on the 27th. The teams will then start practice on the 28th.

Pre-Season Paperwork

Anyone interested in trying out for volleyball this Fall should turn in all paperwork and physicals on August 13th or the 15th from 9-12 and 12-3pm. No one will be allowed to tryout without all paperwork being completed. Note: physicals are good for two years and all incoming Freshman or transfers must have a new physical. This means most Juniors need a new physical too (two years since their Freshman physical).

2013 Schedule Posted

The 2013 Schedule is now posted on the Schedule/Results page. It features a tough non-conference schedule against the best teams from the SPSL South along with playing each SPSL North team once. Up to two non-conference matches and one more tournament may be added.

Elementary/Middle School Volleyball Camp

Kids camp is this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 11th -13th!  $60 for all three days, register and pay at the door on Thursday. 3,4,5th graders are from 9am-12pm and 6,7,8th graders are from 12:30pm-3:30pm.

Email kentlakevolleyball@gmail.com with any questions.

See you Thursday!  Go Falcons!

Gold Medal Squared Camp

The Kentlake Gold Medal Squared Camp is this week from Monday to Thursday. It runs from 8:30 to 5:30 on Monday with a break for lunch. The Kentlake Athletic online payment is down for maintenance (until the end of August) so payment will have to be made in person if you have not already paid.

Pre-Season Meeting

Anyone interested in playing next year or attending summer camps or open gym, should stop by room 1100 on Tuesday, June 4th for a short informational meeting.

Tryouts Start August 26th

According to the WIAA website the first day for Volleyball practice (tryouts) this year will be August 26th. Please make sure you have all medical examinations (particularly Freshman and Juniors, sports physicals are only good for two years and all incoming Freshmen must have a new physical) and all paperwork complete before this date. Needless to say please schedule any vacations prior to this date. This will only give a few days of practice prior to the first day of school.

Gold Medal Squared Camp

The Kentlake Gold Medal Squared Camp will be June 24th to 27th at Kentlake. Cost is $250 for all four days or $150 for two days. You can register at http://www.goldmedalsquared.com/register/Parent?id=2408

Elementary and Middle School Camp

The Kentlake Elementary and Middle School Camp will be July 11th to 13th. Details to follow.