PSR Juniors at Seaside "Pacific Open"

Seaside, Oregon "Pacific Open" beach tournament.

Matt West Selected to USA Volleyball Men's Junior National Team

Matt West (Space Needle Volleyball Foundation/Shorewood HS) was recently selected to USA Volleyball's 12-player Men's Junior National Team. Matt is one of two setters chosen to the squad that will represent the USA at the NORCECA Men’s Junior (under-21) Continental Championship on Aug. 16-21 in Gatineau, Quebec.

Congratulations Matt and good luck!

PSR HP Girls' Youth Team Selected

The Puget Sound Region recently selected the High Performance Girls' Youth Team for 2010 that will be competing this weekend (July 17-18) against a select group of Canadian girls' junior teams at Columbia Jr. High School in Fife, WA. The following is the list of team members recently selected at the conclusion of the PSR High Performance Camp (including their junior club):

Sadie	Beckenhauer	UPVBC
Toni	Brown-Bell	OPVBC
Kiana	Calles	SIVA
Alyssa	Deardorff	High Velocity
Katy	DeGroot	KJ
Linden	Firethorne	Northshore Jrs.
Rachel	Gill	PSVBA
Emily	Harris	KJ
Justine	Kelly-DeMello	WVBA
Shelby	Kyllo	SIVA
Peircen	Lundquist	Mill Creek
Justice	Magraw	Sudden Impact
Nicole	Pittelkau	Olympia
Jessica	Riddle	SIVA
Whitney	Riffle	Narrows
Karlee	Sampson	Capital Ice
Courtney	Schwan	KJ
Dannie	Stroud	Above the Net
Paige	Walker	Olympia

The following is the tournament schedule for the weekend:

Canada 1	Alym	ALL CAN vs PSR MATCHES WILL BE 5 GAMES GUARANTEED
Canada 2	Titus	ALL CAN vs CAN MATCHES WILL BE 3 GAMES GUARANTEED
Canada 3	Mark
Canada 4	Earl
PSR Red
PSR Blue
Saturday, July 17th
9:00 AM		CAN 1 vs PSR Red
11:00 AM		CAN 3 vs PSR Red
1:00 PM		CAN 1 vs CAN 3
2:15 PM		CAN 2 vs PSR Blue
4:15 PM		CAN 4 vs PSR Blue
6:15 PM		CAN 2 vs CAN 4
Sunday, July 18th
8:00 AM		CAN 1 vs PSR Blue
10:00 AM		CAN 3 vs PSR Blue
12:00 PM		CAN 1 vs CAN 4
1:15 PM		CAN 2 vs CAN 3
2:30 PM		CAN 4 vs PSR Red
4:30 PM		CAN 2 vs PSR Red

Girls' Junior National Championship Results

Reno, Nevada recently hosted the USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships. A total of 19 girls teams represented the Puget Sound Region among three divisions, across all age groups . Power Surge 13 Black finished tied for 5th place in the 13 American division for the only top-10 finish for a PSR team. Olympia 14 RoShamBo finished 11th in the 14 American division to cap a great 2010 club season. Below is a complete list of the girls results for PSR teams.

U18
KJVBC 18 Baden (Open) - 26th
UPVBC 18 (Open) - 30th
SIVBC 18 Tsunami (National) - 38th
ITVC 18 Asics (American) - 42nd

U17
ITVC 17 Asics (Open) - 29th
Lake Tapps 17 Orange (National) - 23rd
KJVBC 17 Baden (American) - 31st

U16
WVBA 16-Shannon (Open) - 31st
Above the Net 16's (National) - 43rd
UPVBC 16 (National) - 43rd

U15
WVBA 15-Mizuno (Open) - 27th
Narrows Purple 15 (National) - 39th
PSVBA 15 National (American) - 43rd

U14
WVBA 14-Mizuno (National) - 35th
UPVBC 14 (National) - 38th
Olympia 14 RoShamBo (American) - 11th

U13
PSVBA 13 National (National) - 26th
Power Surge 13 Black (American) - 5th

U12
UPVBC 12 (National) - 46th

Congratulations to all teams on earning their bid to the national championships and for representing the Puget Sound Region so well!

Matt West Trains With USA Men's National Team

Matt West (Space Needle Volleyball Foundation) was recently invited to train with the USA Volleyball men's national and A2 teams at the USA Volleyball training facility in Anaheim, CA.

Matt and his fellow club teammates are currently competing in the Boys' Junior National Championships in Austin, TX.

Congratulations to Matt and to the Space Needle Volleyball Foundation!

PSR Juniors Heading to Nationals!

A total of 20 juniors teams representing the Puget Sound Region of USA Volleyball will be competing at the Junior National Championships in the coming weeks. The Girls' Junior National Championships will take place in Reno, Nevada, while the boys will be competing in Austin, Texas. The following is a list of the 19 girls teams and 1 boys team currently making final preparations to make a run at a national title in their respective age groups and divisions:

Girls' Junior National Championships -

U18
KJVBC 18 Baden (Open)
UPVBC 18 (Open)
SIVBC 18 Tsunami (National)
ITVC 18 Asics (American)

U17
ITVC 17 Asics (Open)
Lake Tapps 17 Orange (National)
KJVBC 17 Baden (American)

U16
WVBA 16-Shannon (Open)
Above the Net 16's (National)
UPVBC 16 (National)

U15
WVBA 15-Mizuno (Open)
Narrows Purple 15 (National)
PSVBA 15 National (American)

U14
WVBA 14-Mizuno (National)
UPVBC 14 (National)
Olympia 14 RoShamBo (American)

U13
PSVBA 13 National (National)
Power Surge 13 Black (American)

U12
UPVBC 12 (National)


Boys' Junior National Championships -

Space Needle Volleyball Foundation

Best wishes to all teams for safe travels and great success!

ECC Boys Tournament Results

Courtesy of Kathleen Logan

Working under WVBA’s sponsorship and inspiration, Cascade Volleyball Club co-hosted the fourth annual ECC Boys' Tournament. Five teams competed in a two-day event held Memorial Day weekend on the beautiful campus of the University of Washington.

New to boy’s ECC this year was Spokane Fusion. Coach Roland Madany has been building their grassroots program with a variety of out-of-the-box creative strategies. Coach Madany has been working for the past few years with younger guys, training with and against junior girls in Spokane, and as the players matured moving into mixed generational events. They pulled together a travel team from a mix of their U15 and U18 teams to attend this tournament. Although they found the competition stiff, Spokane showed an impressive ability to stay in the moment, adjust, and push their opponents further and further each set.

The Cascade team faced a season of constant challenges and absorbed several punches that would have finished other teams. They worked multiple fund raising strategies from January to May to keep financially afloat. They procured the facilities, equipment and provided the backbone for every Puget Sound Region junior boys' event this season. In April Cascade U18 was finally able to cement a roster of 6 and ensure the continuation of boys’ ECC 2010. A coaching change just two weeks ago was the last curve ball; however, veteran ace Cascade Boys’ Director Gene Lim stepped into his old role of coach and ace closer. New setter, new coach, two practices? Go Cascade! Playing the sport they loved, facing good competition, and upping their game was exactly the finale to their season that they hoped and work so hard for.

Apex Ninjas of BC play fast, powerful and epic matches living up to their ninja warrior billing. The match against Space Needle in the loser’s bracket to determine who would earn the right to return for the championship match-up was the most exciting of the tournament. Time and time again fans uttered “I can’t believe he got that!”, “Did you see how high he gets?”, or “OMG!”. They pushed Space Needle to three before falling 25-19, 22-25 15-13

As the banner carriers of Puget Sound boys’ volleyball to the larger stage, Space Needle used this small but challenging field to tune up for their run at Nationals. Fighting up from the loser’s bracket, after losing to Focus Xplosion, they regrouped and were able to fend off Apex.

Focus, from Canada, was the first team to welcome the Cascade boys’ volleyball team when we traveled to BC, and the first team to accept our invitation to come to play here in Seattle. They have always embraced the motto of "Play Hard and Have Fun". The core of their team has played together since 5^th grade and now all will be moving on to play at the university level in Canada. Xplosion decided to top it off together with one last trip to the ECC party. Two players even elected to miss graduation ceremonies in favor of the tournament. This was their fourth year at ECC was their final chance to come away with the title. They did not drop a set until the championship round and came away with the win and the coveted sweatshirts which were sorely needed given their taste in fashion! Congrats guys and good luck as you pursue your futures and the next level of volleyball.

For complete results, visit the official tournament web page.

Tournament Champions: Focus Xplosion

All Tournament Team:
Matthew West, Space Needle Volleyball Foundation (MVP)
Max Elkin, Space Needle Volleyball Foundation
Philip Ngo, Focus Xplosion
Stuart Richey, Focus Xplosion
Tom Logan, Cascade
Brandon Ngai, Apex Ninjas
Jackson Pappin, Cascade
Dustin Szeto, Apex Ninjas
Stephen Ng, Apex Ninjas

2010 ECC Boys All-Tournament Team

Once again, thanks to WVBA for their support of boys' volleyball and their sponsorship of this event. Many thanks to the Cascade parents for their manpower hours planning and working this event. Also, a special thanks goes to the boys' ECC committee of Verna Reynolds, Linda Coburn, Kathleen Logan and BJ Weitl.