Northwest Juniors Volleyball Club

2009 Season News:  Press-release from Puget Sound Region-USAV

PSR Tryout Dates Set:
The Junior Advisory Board met August 19th and set the tryout dates for the upcoming season. WIAA changed their schedule and to avoid conflicts with high school programs, the region has set the following dates for tryouts:

• U14 & under - First day of tryouts is Saturday, Nov 15

• U15 & older - First day of tryouts is Monday, Dec 1. 

We have also decided to drop the Letter of Commitment due to the expanded time for tryouts. Language will be added to the Girls Division Handbook that players cannot be forced into a commitment at the time of the tryout.

For NW Juniors, we will now begin to secure gyms and will announce our tryout dates in mid September for all locations.

Post-season Results

• 15 Thunder: YJOV National Championships, Dallas Texas
  • Team Finished Tied for 27th Overall (out of 48 teams)
  • First round was 6 teams pools, finished 4th overall in that pool, and moved to Division 2.
  • Second Round was 3 team pool and crossover, they won all three matches and moved to Flight 2.
  • Lost first round of playoffs, and finished 27th Overall. Tournament Record: 4-5
  • A GREAT FINISH TO A WONDERFUL SEASON, CONGRATULATIONS 15 THUNDER!!! PHOTOS
• 16 Storm, Volleyball Festival Reno
  • Confederate Division: Finish 131 Overall (181 Teams).  5-7 Final Record.
• 16 Ice, Volleyball Festival Reno
  • Camelot Division Champions: Finish 141 Overall (181 Teams).  4-7 Final Record.
• 15 Heat, Volleyball Festival Reno
  • Century Division: Finish 72 Overall (113 Teams).  6-5 Final Record.
• 15 Tornado, Volleyball Festival Reno
  • Confederate Division: Finish 99 Overall (113 Teams). 2-9 Final Record.
• 14 Storm, Volleyball Festival Reno
  • Camaraderie Division: Finish 83 Overall (140 Teams).  7-5 Final Record.

15 Thunder Earns Bid To Nationals!

Perfection... That is one word that can be used to describe the 15 Thunder's play on Sunday, April 6th as they swept through undefeated at the U15 PRIME TIME tournament at Bellevue Community College.  15 Thunder did not drop a single set throughout the day, and put an exclamation point on their day with a 25-16, 25-15 victory over WVBA 15 Black in the Final. 

The format called for double elimination play as the region's top 8 U15 teams assembled for the right to go to Dallas with the Region's National Division bid.  They entered the day as the #4 seed (based on Power League play) and started with a convincing win over #5 Lake Tapps 15's (25-14, 25-14), then immediately had to play the #1 seed WVBA.  After some initial nerves, they emerged with a 28-26, 25-20 win over WVBA, earning themselves a two-round break and a match-up with #3 Capitol Ice in the winner's Final.  A close first set (25-21) led to 15 Thunder  putting it in overdrive and cruising to a second set win (25-16) and a date with destiny.  As the consolation bracket sorted itself out  -- WVBA defeated #2 Puget Sound and Capitol Ice for a second shot at 15 Thunder -- the 15 Thunder team stayed relaxed and kept their spirits up.  WVBA was on a roll, and Thunder was ready.

The final was a work of art.  Both sets went virtually the same way -- both teams traded big blocks, big digs, and big swings as the first half of the set was neck and neck until around 12 points -- then 15 Thunder got into a rhythm and put the set away.  The highlight of the stretch run in set number 2 was Sarah Hanna pounding a ball at the 6 foot line down the line, around the WVBA blocker.  That swing punctuated a long run for 15 Thunder and took the wind out of the WVBA team's sails.  There were many heroes on the Thunder team --and everyone did something to contribute to the team's winning a bid.  It was truly an exciting day of volleyball.  We are all proud of you 15 Thunder!

USAV HIGH PERFORMANCE PROGRAM PLUCKS TWO MORE FROM NWJRS

Jordan Bush

17 Thunder

Sarah Hanna

15 Thunder

Several NW Juniors Players Qualify for PSR HIGH PERFORMANCE  Camp

Seven NW Juniors players have been invited to the Puget Sound Region High Performance Camp to be conducted this summer at Fife High School (up from 3 athletes in 2007).  Misty Siochi (14 Storm) was selected to attend the Select Age Group Camp (born 1994 or later); Kelsie Dorpat (16 Ice) and Ariel Dewey, Sarah Hanna, Emily Liger, Malisa Marasigan, Rachel Roeder (all from 15 Thunder)  were selected to attend the Youth Age Group Camp (born 1992 or 1993).  The Youth age Camp will be July 8-10 and the Select age Camp will be July 11-13.  Congratulations to all of these fine athletes.  Some of these athletes are pictured below.

Kelsie Dorpat

16 Ice

Ariel Dewey

15 Thunder

Emily Liger

15 Thunder

Malisa Marasigan

15 Thunder

Rachel Roeder

15 Thunder

NW Juniors Club Award Winners

Northwest Juniors VBC recently held our annual awards barbecue and winners were announced in several categories, including Team MVP, Team Most Improved, as well as "Best Of" for different categories and age groups.  Winners are listed below:

Team	MVP	Most Improved
13 Tempest	Jordan Browning	Maria Dunavant
13 Twister	Nina Baek	Allison Jones
13 Thunder	Kelsey Skordal	Leanne Scott
14 Blizzard	Hope Frazier	Isabella Holroyd
14 Tornado	Celine Breton	Kayla Young
14 Cyclone	Haley Connors	Mati Evans
14 Eclipse	Alicia Gabrielson	Natasha Sabin
14 Storm	Luisa Chew	Addie Sandstrom
15 Lightning	Leah Watson	Jasmine Rathore
15 Tornado	Kelsey Donlan	Jenna McDevitt
15 Tempest	Jessica Ross	Tiffany Robinson
15 Heat	Taylor Brooks	Sammy Minnig
15 Thunder	Kaitlyn Molloy	Allison Peterson
16 Blizzard	Shayla Kriewald	Dani Jonak
16 Avalanche	Paige Dahlberg	Taylor Wood
16 Ice	Nora Pulaski	Ysabella Licciardi
16 Inferno	Kristine Kenney	Raj Dhaliwal
16 Cyclone	Alona Chernish	Brigette Butler
16 Storm	Lauren Larralde	Aarika Rasmussen
17 Vortex	McKaley Brewer	Sharlaya Thomas
17 Heat	Megan Nelson	Hannah Halpern
17 Thunder	Jordan Bush	Natalie Michajla
18 Storm	Danielle Rehm	Savannah Fletcher

 Club Director Awards

	17/18 National	17/18 Regional	16/15 National	16/15 Regional	U14	U13
Setter	Jordan Bush 17 Thunder	Davina Fuiava 17 Vortex	Ariel Dewey 15 Thunder	Taylor Brooks 15 Heat	Malorie Mahler 14 Eclipse	Megan Webber 13 Thunder
Hitter	Danielle Rehm 18 Storm	McKaley Brewer 17 Vortex	Rachel Roeder 15 Thunder	Samantha Williams 15 Lightning	Sarah McDonald 14 Cyclone	Nina Baek 13 Twister
Blocker	Natalie Michajla 17 Thunder	Amy Studerus 17 Heat	Chrissy Dickinson 16 Storm	Laura Merle 16 Cyclone	Misty Siochi 14 Storm	Jacquie Burkhardt 13 Twister
Defender	Caitlin Sylvester 18 Storm	Mara Eberth 17 Heat	Lauren Larralde 16 Storm	Tiva Akau 15 Heat	Alicia Gabrielson 14 Eclipse	Carolyn Fordyce 13 Thunder

Coach of the Year: Deana Thompson, 14 Storm

Assistant of the Year: Cy Klein, 16 Inferno

NW Juniors Teams Excel at Emerald City Classic

Northwest Juniors National teams had a great weekend in Seattle participating in the Emerald City Classic this past Memorial Day Weekend.  Four teams finished in their respective age group's Gold or Silver Bracket and all teams had successes.  Starting with the U18 Club Division, our 18 Storm team had another breakout weekend (on the heels of a phenomenal finish in the U18 Gold Division at Regionals) in going 5-3 over the weekend and finishing tied for 3rd in the Gold Division.  The 17 Thunder team also had a great 18 Club tournament -- also going 5-3 over the weekend and on the final day defeating WVBA 18 Red & Rimrock 18 Edge before succumbing to Vernon Venom (Canada) in a close match in the Silver Division Final.  In the 16 Open Division, Northwest Juniors was represented by two teams -- 16 Storm and 15 Thunder -- both with different results.  15 Thunder entered the tournament as the #24 overall seed and finished in the 16 Gold Division as the 5th place team; while 16 Storm came in as the #40 seed and moved up two spots to #38.  The 15 Thunder team showed that even as a U15 team, they are still one of the best teams in the area at U16/15 Age group -- it is no surprise that they were the only U15 team in the 16 Open Gold Division.  In the 16 Club division, the 16 Ice team saw varying successes finishing in the Bronze Division (29th out of 40 teams).  In the 14 Club Division, our 14 Storm team had a great tournament also -- going 6-3 for the weekend including two Monday victories before losing in the 14 Silver Division Final.  Congratulations to all of our teams and they all look sharp with a month to go in the season.  All are looking great for their final tournament of the year.