March of the Kangs Continues

I honestly did not think we would be playing volleyball into November, but the girls have simply turned it up a notch in the post season in what has become a memorable year for the Kangs. Yesterday, it was a District match vs. the winner of the Metro B league, Chief Sealth High School. The match was held at West Seattle HS in the spare gym which means the back of the bleachers were full with folks looking down and it was standing room only along the side and end lines. It was like playing volleyball in the ThunderDome for all of you Mad Max fans. (It is very cool that anyone doing a Google search for 'volleyball' + 'mad max' will someday be directed to this blog; who knew?)

The Kangs came out and silenced the mostly pro Chief Sealth crowd (though as ALWAYS we were well represented by a large group of Kang parents) by easily taking the first two games. Whether it was cockiness or a letdown or stress from the venue, we turned flat and lost a close game 3, then collapsed totally to lose game 4 and have everything tied up at 2. The crowd was going wild as Match 1 from the other side had ended and everyone was over watching our match. In a switch, Maddie started Game 5 and the team jumped out to an early 7-3 lead only to see it slip away and change hands continuously until it was all tied at 13, Chief Sealth serving. We rallied to win the point and Maddie cycled in to take the serve. Maddie is money on serves with about a 98% success rate, and true to form, she floated a warbler over the net that was not handled well by Sealth, they put up a weak attack and we got the ball back in system. After a deflection fell weakly to the floor, the Kangs had pulled off the win and lived to play another day.

The match against defending State Champ and #3 ranked Seattle Prep was almost anticlimactic. We held our own, but no way do we compete with D1 caliber players and they easily coasted 3-0. BUT, we play on with a Saturday match against Mercer Island who fell to Holy Names last night in another thriller. We have never beaten Mercer Island but the team is playing well right now. If we can hit with authority, get our serves in and play solid defense, you never know. 1 PM Saturday.

Congrats also to our friend Jessica and her Liberty team who beat our friend Ellen and West Seattle to also join the parade on Saturday. Maddie, Lark (from MI) and Jessica remain the only ITVC Blue teammates playing in the 3A tournament. Good job you guys!

A few pics:

Maddie's serve from the bleachers in the ThunderDome at West Seattle:

Another set to the outside:

Match point in Game 5 and VICTORY: