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2009 SEASON NEWS AND RESULTS

Class of 2009 College Signings: BOTH Seniors on 18 Vortex have signed to play college volleyball in the fall of 2009

Erika Warren

Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY

Shorecrest High School, Libero

2009, 18 Vortex

2008, 18 Storm

2007, 16 Heat

Alena Ross

Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA

Hazen HS, Middle Blocker

2009, 18 Vortex

2008, 18 Storm

Season Results & News Headlines

JESSICA CAREY Qualifies for PSR HIGH PERFORMANCE  Camp

NW Juniors 16 Storm member and Marysville-Pilchuck HS Libero, Jessica Carey was selected to attend the Youth Age Group Camp (born 1992 or 1993).  The Youth age Camp was July 14-16.  Congratulations Jessica!

2009 NW Juniors End Of Season Wrap-up

Northwest Juniors hosted it's annual end of season awards picnic and celebration on Saturday, May 30th.  Team awards were given out for all teams.  We would like to congratulate all players for a wonderful season and the following people for receiving team awards:

2009 Regional Championship Tournament Re-cap

In the first few weeks of May, all of our teams will be competing in the Regional Championship Tournament.  The region posts results on their home page for your reference.  We have had some exceptional performances at Regionals this season and we are proud of the improvement our players have made over the course of the season.  It is a testament to the special coaches we have this year as well as the hard work that the players have put in on the court.  Here are some of the more exceptional performances:

• 16 Eclipse finished fifth overall in the U16 D1 Gold Division

• 16 Storm lost in the final of the Bronze Division of 16 D1 -- finishing 14th overall

• 16 Blizzard tied for third overall in the U16 D2 Gold Division

• 14 Storm lost in the final of the Bronze Division of 14D1 -- finishing 14th overall

• 14 Blizzard lost in the final of the Bronze Division of 14D2 -- finishing 14th in D2

• 12 Eclipse lost in the 12 Silver Final, finishing 12th overall

• 18 Vortex had an incredible playoff run... coming from 4th place in pool play and winning the SILVER DIVISION -- 13th overall in the U18's.  Nice Job!

Results: U16D1 | U16D2 | U15D1 | U15D2 |  U14D1 | U14D2 | U13 | U12 | U18 | U17

APRIL COACH & TEAMS OF THE MONTH ANNOUNCED Congratulations to team of the Month 18 Vortex.  Congratulations also to Robyn Williams, head coach of 12 Storm, who was voted by her fellow coaches as April's Coach of the Month.

2009 NW Juniors Yearbook Goes Green

Northwest Juniors Volleyball club has published the 2009 Yearbook -- and posted all pages to the yearbook page for all members to download and/or print out at their convenience.  By going green in 2009, we were able to produce the entire yearbook in color.  Advertisers have been rewarded with a posting on our website which will remain on our Yearbook Page through next season's yearbook.  Please go to the YEARBOOK PAGE in order to download your copy as well as checking out our advertisers.

We thank the advertisers that participated in this year's Yearbook and appreciate their contributions to our members:

Final Power League Standings Located on Tournaments Page

All 20 Northwest Juniors teams participated in the Final Weekend of Power League April  4th and 5th setting the final standings of region seeding leading into the Regional Championship tournaments.  We are proud of all of our teams and the improvement they have shown thus far over the course of the season.  We are especially proud of the top two teams in our club in the 16's and 14's (one each from Edmonds and the Eastside) as well as our 15 Thunder team as all five teams finished in what would be classified as "Division 1" -- the top half of their age group. 

We were especially strong in the U16's as one of only two clubs that placed two teams in the top 20 -- with 16 Eclipse finishing 9th overall and 16 Storm finishing 19th overall.  Both of our 16 National teams can be proud of their finishes.  In the 14's our 14 Eclipse team finished 18th overall and our 14 Storm team finished 24th overall.  In the 15's, our 15 Thunder team finished right on border -- right at #20 overall in the U15's.  This is a great accomplishment for our club as all of our National teams finished in Division 1 of the regional rankings.

Most Northwest Juniors Teams are now preparing for the Regional Championship Tournament.  Several have tournaments in the interim, including 16 Storm, who are headed off to Reno for the Far Westerns Qualifier April 24-26.  We wish all of our teams the best of luck as the season winds down and they prepare for outdoor junior beach tournaments and summer camps.

MARCH COACH & TEAM OF THE MONTH ANNOUNCED Voted on at our March coaches' meeting, we would like to congratulate the Team of the Month 14 Cyclone and to Coach of the Month, Simone Woodhouse of 18 Vortex!  Great work!

14 CYCLONE EXCELS AT SPRING CLASSIC 14 Cyclone took first in their  division again this past weekend at the Spring Classic.  According to head coach Lindsey, the second day started out slow but they picked it up and went completely undefeated into second pool and tournament bracket!!  Standouts were Catherine Michael for outstanding defense, Allison Lange, Ashley Shardelman and Hannah Gruber for excellent serving.  Middles Dana and Marisa for running quick’s this tournament and had a ton of kills and Maria Malfronte for setting them up perfectly over and over again!  Noel Lyngholm played excellent offense as an outside hitting cut shots against Sabotage!  Great weekend Cyclone!!!

JANUARY COACH & TEAMS OF THE MONTH ANNOUNCED Congratulations to Co-Teams of the Month 14 Eclipse and 16 Blizzard.  Congratulations also to Emily Price, assistant coach of 16 Blizzard, who was voted by her fellow coaches as January's Coach of the Month.

U11 LEAGUE INFORMATION

U11 League will run from February to May, 2009.  We are currently accepting registrations for the league [more information].  We will have our first league practice on Monday, February 2nd at Tillicum MS [DIRECTIONS] from 5:30  to 7:30 PM and welcome any new boys or girls 11 years old and younger to join us.  We are hoping to sign up at least 24 players in our league this year.  League practices are Sundays and Mondays.  See our practice page for a complete schedule.

If you have any questions after reading the informational flyer, please e-mail our club director at tony@volleyballnw.com

Northwest Juniors sent 8 teams off to the Yakima Junior Jamboree  January 31st weekend for the Northwest's first inter-regional tournament of the season.  Jamboree is one of the oldest inter-regional tournaments in the Northwest, celebrating it's 31st year of existence.  Teams traveling included 13 Heat, 13 Thunder, 14 Blizzard, 14 Inferno, 14 Cyclone, 16 Blizzard, 16 Avalanche & 16 Tornado.  Teams played all over the Yakima Valley over the course of this two day event.  Results are posted here [results].  Coaches were asked to give some information on their weekend, and 16 Blizzard, who took third place in Division 1 of the 16 Challenge, and had a breakout weekend, had this to say:
       "This weekend was amazing and the coaches are VERY proud of the girls. They played so great as a team and we FINALLY found the rotations that work the best for us. This weekend, we saw a lot of growth by many of our players, Marlee Cole, our ONLY setter and a captain, got punched in the face and got back up working hard.  Whitney Perkins (OH) captain, really showed leadership on the court leading the team with a great over all hitting average.  Paige Hardesty, our third captain, owned the net with her block and kept in the offense as well finding holes all over the court.  Leah Stauffer and Mimi Price scored long strings of points, leading the team with their powerful serves and multiple aces, while our Liberos and Defenders picked up 'the trash' in order to keep our offense strong.
       The first day, we placed 2nd in our pool which placed us 4th in our pool on Sunday, only able to move up.  We swept everyone on Sunday and took 1st in pool AA! Heading into bracket play, we won our first match, but lost the second.  We ended up in 3rd place in Division 1A!!"

16 Eclipse concludes Power League weekend winning Flight 2 -- 9th overall

The 16 Eclipse team had another spectacular weekend.  After winning the MLK Invitational, they followed it up with a great showing at the Region's Power League Tournament.  They entered the weekend with a pretty high seed (#15) and the #2 seed in their pool.  They defeated Bainbridge 16's and Club Wahine Black in pool and their one opportunity to move up, and capture the #10 seed, came on the last match of Saturday morning pool play against the Capital 16's (who went on to finish 2nd overall in Power League).  They lost that match and remained the #15 seed.  2nd round of pool Saturday had them as the #1 seed in their pool -- and an opportunity to "defend" their seed against NWJrs 16 Avalanche, and Ridge Valley 16's.  They won both matches and kept the 15 seed going into Sunday. 

Sunday found them at the Kitsap Pavilion with the top 16 teams in the tournament.  The top 8 teams were in Flight 1, seeds 9-16 were in Flight 2.  As #15, they were the #4 seed in their pool.  With solid victories over Sudden Impact 16 Thunder (2-1) & WVBA 15 Mizuno (2-0), they secured first place in pool and entered playoffs with a full head of steam.  First match of playoffs matched them up against Rain City 16's with the winner guaranteed a spot in Flight 1 the next league  -- and they won 2-0.  The Final matched them up against Olympia 16-1 (who entered the weekend as the #2 seed).  They won that match as well, finishing the weekend as the #9 seed.  In doing so, they displayed tough serving, great defense, superior passing, and incredible transition work.  Sammie Minnig, from Marysville-Pilchuck HS was voted the team MVP for the weekend for her outstanding performance, but there were several players that stepped up and had a great weekend.  Their reward is playing in Flight 1 next Power League among the top 8 teams in the region!

In other news, 16 Storm rebounded from a difficult roller-coaster ride Saturday (they started the day at 28, moved up to 22 after a 2nd place finish round 1, and finished the day back at #27) and dominated Flight 4 on Sunday.  They went undefeated Sunday, beating Lake VBC, ITVC 16 Blue, & Saturday Warriors 16 Savage in Pool Play.  They then went on to defeat Edge 16's first round and Lake VBC a second time in the Flight 4 Final.  For their efforts, 16 Storm won all sets Sunday, and finished the day at #25, Flight 4 Champions, and get to move up and play in Flight 3 next Power League on February 7th.

Complete Power League results are locate on the Tournament Page.

16 Eclipse Captures MLK U16 Championship

In a rare occurrence that came down to overall points, NW Juniors 16 Eclipse edged out KJ 16 Baden as the overall champion of the 2009 MLK Invitational Tournament, held this Saturday and Sunday at Juanita High School.  Billed as an exhibition tournament -- with no bracket play, and all teams playing 15 sets -- 16 Eclipse tied KJ 16 Baden in set record (15-0) and match record (5-0), but edged them out in overall points scored (+159 to +148) to emerge as the Champs.  Along the way, Eclipse swept Lake Tapps 16-1, Webfoot 16 Silver, and the Edge 16's on Saturday, while KJ swept NW Juniors 16 Storm, Narrows Purple, and Webfoot 15's on Saturday.  KJ entered Sunday play with the slimmest of margins (+84 to +73) -- then 16 Eclipse got to work... hammering Narrows Purple and Eisenhower Spikers, and ending with the 11 point margin of victory over KJ 16 Baden.  Both teams were rewarded for their fine play over the weekend, emerging as the only two teams with spotless records -- third place went to Webfoot 15 Gold (10-5 sets, 4-1 matches, +88 point margin) -- but the official champion of this year's tournament was NW Juniors 16 Eclipse.  Congratulations ladies for your fine performance!

NW Juniors U14 Teams find Success at Power League...

The Region's Power League Tournament was held last weekend (Jan 17-18) and seven of our teams participated.  Three of our teams moved up from their original seeds and the biggest coup for the club is that two of our teams are now in the top 20 of the U14 Power League.  The biggest surprise and largest jump in seeding went to the 14 Eclipse Team in Edmonds.  They capitalized on their Consolation Division Victory in the January 11th U14 tournament and showed great improvement by jumping from their original seed (#33) all the way up to #18 overall.  They had a great weekend -- finishing second in first pool Saturday and first in second pool (moving up to #24).  Sunday found them in Flight 3 (17-24) and saw them capture their pool and lose in the finals to finish the weekend as the #18 team.  With their efforts and their participation in the Flight 3 Finals, they will move up to Flight 2 for the next Power League installment on February 8th.  Also in the top 20 is the 14 Storm team, who made it into Flight 2, but had a tough Sunday, finishing 15th overall.  Other Finishes: 14 Inferno jumped from #55 up to #32; 14 Cyclone Jumped from #45 to #40; 14 Blizzard finished #46; 13 Heat finished #52; 13 Thunder finished #55.