High School Volleyball: Jamboree

The official start to High School Volleyball kicked off yesterday afternoon with the 3A and 4A Jamboree which was held this year at Juanita High. I love Juanita High for 2 reasons: 5 minutes from the house and it's enormous. Four courts with plenty of room so you get no stray balls flying into the court. While the games were fun, the big story of the night was Club Volleyball Dad making his LINE JUDGE debut, flags and all. Maddie had a teammate tell her "Wow, your dad is really into it!" I'm pretty sure I looked darn competent out there and there were no controversial calls that left me looking like an idiot. The most difficult part was tempering my enthusiasm when the Kangs scored.

OK, back to the games! Maddie started on the right side and dad was very proud to see her out there with all the 16 and 17 year olds and she completely held her own. Lost the first match to a strong Mercer Island team but rebounded nicely against Bellevue with a solid win. Lost tough matches to Juanita and Redmond (4A) but then had a solid win against Roosevelt (4A). Finished up with a loss against Woodinville (4A) where we fell behind early, tied it up at 18 but then wilted under a strong service run. So, 2-4 with a couple of the losses against 4A teams. We need some work on passing and strongside hitting, but I thought the girls played with spirit. It may be an up and down year, but this has been a downtrodden program that a new coach is trying to build and I think she's doing a good job.

Opening day at Mercer Island tomorrow, Skyline at home in the new gym on Friday, helping out at the JV Jamboree on Saturday, and games Monday and Wednesday next week. I'm exhausted already. Special thanks to Woodinville Volleyball Mom who came up and introduced herself at the Jamboree. So glad you enjoy following the blog; I wish we could have spoken a bit longer! Go Woodinville!