zia volleyball

Standing L to R- Assistant Coach Stephanie Kohner, Megan, Nikki, Heather, Lisa, Rebekah, Elissa, Jenny, Assistant Coach Christy Beans
Seated L to R- Angie, Liz, Michelle, Mindy, Morgan

Strength, Unity and the Silver Medal

The Zia 18 Tsunami showed the strength of their moniker by washing over the competition en route to a 2nd place finish at the Arizona Regional tournament held May 1st at Cactus Shadows High School in Carefree. It was the highest finish for a Zia 18’s team in the club’s history.

We went in to the tournament as the #1 seed and every team gunning for us in a big way. The day started with the prospect of playing a 5-team pool and playing one more match then our competition in the lower pools. But perhaps the gods smiled upon us and a team pulled out and we began our day with the Zona 18-2’s team from Tucson. After battling some early nerves and sloppy play, we settled into our game plan. We ran away from them in game one 25-19 and then turned an early and steady lead into a 25-18 first round win.

In match two, we traded blows with the Club Cactus 18-2’s team. We came out on fire and served them off the court in the first game, 25-16. In game two, we played one of the best games of our season, with everything clicking. We won 25-12 and went into our cross-pool match against the very young and talented Gila Valley 17-1’s team.

I was worried about this match. They, like us, were very athletic and young. We battled them point for point in the first game, but we were a bit more experienced when it counted and we eked out a 25-21 win in game 1. Knowing they were ready for revenge, we got ourselves geeked up. Boy, did we ever. In the best game we played all season, we washed over them 25-7. We headed into bracket play 3-0, playing the best volleyball of our season.

We came up on the Az. Sky 18-2’s team in the Region semi finals. Again, with the match bigger by the moment, the Tsunami showed incredible poise and confidence. They smacked down the Sky team 25-14, 25-14 to set up the first region final of the season for Zia against…who else, Starling’s Northern Arizona 18’s.

We played them all season, and even won the last time we played. We were the two best teams in the division all season and unlike nearly all the other divisions in the Region, we were left standing at the end.

But on this day, we were not the best team. Starlings played brilliantly and efficiently and we had no answer for their middles who can turn and hit with the best girls in the state. We dropped the region title 18-25, 16-25, but not without a fight.

So as they draped silver medals over our necks and took our picture for the Region website, I thought of how absolutely special the day had been. The team never imploded, never gripped despite the pressure of the moment. They laughed together all day, fought hard and excelled all day. And as a coach, I can say without hesitation that if I have a team playing the best volleyball of it’s season and loses to a flat out better and more experienced team, I can sleep well that night.

I did.

We missed Megan’s humor and big swing and block on the right side. She was busy in a cancer charity event that lasted the entire night before regionals. She has kept this team smiling and laughing together the whole season and it has been an honor for me to coach her for a third time. She is unique and special, and the University of Santa Barbara is getting an amazing woman come September.

While I’ll never understand how she does it, Angie never wavered at the libero position. She was all over the court, getting impossible digs and playing smarter than any libero in our division. She was huge for us so many matches and her consistency is something every team looks for in the back row. Well done!

Morgan battled arm and shoulder injuries all year, but was still called upon to play any one of 3-4 positions during the season. Her defense was outstanding, her serves lethal and her infectious weirdness helped keep the team grounded all year. She will truly be missed.

Mindy was another all-purpose player, going outside, libero and D.S. when asked. Her personality was another of the calming influences all season, but her inspired play made her a leader by example. We hope she ’s back next year.

With her scholarship to Grand Canyon and the hundred other things going on in her life, we didn’t get to see Liz as much as we wanted. But she gave her all when called upon and even though asked me to not have her set, she did just that a few tournaments, a testament to her professionalism and team spirit. She fit right into the team’s warped sense of humor and helped with her outstanding athleticism in the back row many a match.

Lisa kept us in stitches with her constant cheating at practice, her wardrobe and over all goofiness that would have made Adam Sandler’s side ache. But she also produced a ton of blocks and kills in the middle, a position the Tsunami were very young at. With great passing skills, a deadly jumper and a natural top spin swing; Lisa has a bright future in this sport… we hope it’s with us.

Heather was intimidated at first, being the youngest player on the team, but we took her based on her work ethic, and it showed from day one. She was one of the two most improved players on the team and asked to stay after practice often and get after it defensively. She was quiet at first, but came out of her shell during Vegas and on. She probably didn’t get the playing time she hoped for, but put the team first as she waits her turn. We are very proud of her.

Nikki was our freakin’ warrior. She was a freakin’ hammer in the middle for us and whenever we needed a freakin’ big play, she freakin’ came through. Her incredible passion and competitive freakin’ spirit on the court helped her lead by example. She is an outside playing middle, but freakin’ look out when she goes left. No one will freakin’ stop her…

Bekah has come so far; it’s a fairy tale. She has been with Zia for years, but this year became the stability factor for us, setting nearly every match and playing with confidence and acquired skill. She will go to Missouri to play NAIA volleyball, and with her goes Zia’s best setter. Her hard work at learning her position these past years paid off and she will leave quite a void in our future. Best of luck Bekah.

Jenny was one of our two sophomore outside hitters for us, in an 18’s division. I remember about 3 weeks into practice at the beginning of the season, I asked her to just hit the ball, I mean wail on it. She did from that moment on and every chance she’s had since. She has a unique court vision and makes the most of every opportunity she has on the court. Her future is very bright.

Michelle was out other sophomore outside hitter and was counted on often to help carry the offensive burden. Being such a pure athlete, she responded and was clutch for us so many matches. She balanced softball during the season and continued all year to improve both offensively and defensively. She will be an All-Region performer next season for Ironwood, I ’d bet a starbucks on it…

Elissa was our home girl from Wickenburg, our 6-3 white bread home girl. Yeah, right. She came in a bit shy and introverted. That lasted about 8 minutes into the season. Her warped sense of humor kept us in stitches and her game got her a full ride to Yavapai College in Prescott. One of the nicest moments of the season was when the Coach from Yavapai accepted my invite to check Elissa out at one of our practices. When she left, the girls asked Elissa when the coach had said and when she told the girls she was offered a full ride, the gym broke into cheers and tears. That moment maybe defined this Tsunami as much as any other.

Finally, I couldn’t have asked for two better assistants then Stephanie and Christy. They brought a ton of insight to the team and myself and kept us in shape the entire season. They were tough when they had to be and laughed louder then any of us at times. They made the season such a special one for the team and me.

Thanks to all you Parents who let us coach, let the team play and had a great time the whole season. Every season has a few bumps in it, but this year’s bumps were anthills on a freeway as far as I was concerned. Thanks so much.

Till next season…

The Tsunami rode into Reno over April 16-18th, competing in the Far Western Qualifier, and came away a better and smarter team as they ready themselves for Regionals in just two weeks.

We were seeded 30th in the tournament. Why, I have no idea, but in talking to other Arizona team coaches, the seeding was very arbitrary.

The team scurried onto the court at 9:17 a.m. on Friday and had to forfeit game one to the Carson-Tahoe 18-1’s team, 0-25. With no warm up of any kind, we came out and took care of business, beating the home towners 25-14 and 15-9 to win our first match.

We took on the Texas Tornados Tasha 18-1’s team next. We handed them game one, 20-25 with a ton of service errors and sloppy play. And in tournaments past, this would have been a match we would have collapsed on. But credit to the girls, they gritted their teeth and came back. They won 25-22 and 15-13 in an incredibly close call. We were 2-0 on our first day at a National Qualifier.

The last game of the day was against the number 1 seeds in our pool, the Arizona Attack 18-1’s, who currently occupy the #9 seed in the Arizona 18’s Open division. This would be a good test to see how we stood up against the best teams in Arizona.

For the first game, we gave them all they could handle. We lost 25-27, but we were clearly with them point for point. Game two, we lost our edge and got bounced 18-25; overall, an excellent day. The girls celebrated by….taking a nap. That 5:15 airport call came awfully early to most of them.

With a snowstorm waking us as we made our way to the Convention Center where we were the 4th seed in our 2nd day pool. We played the Force 18-2’s team, and the girls were on a roll. We beat them 25-16 and 25-21 and had visions of maybe getting to the gold division of this National Qualifier just 7 weeks after finishing in the basement at Vegas.

We took on the pools number 1 seed, the Club Dyno Black 18-1’s. They were a good team, very good. Again, showing no fear, and exhibiting a newfound confidence the waves countered them punch for punch. In a heart breaker that cannot foretell the emotion and effort that went into it, we lost 23-25, 23-25.

With the wind a bit out of our sails, we came out and played flat against the KJ Silver 18-2’s team. We lost to them 17-25 and 19-25, seeing our chances at the gold division slip away. We would play the next morning in the silver division.

Sunday morning, under clearer skies, we played the San Gabriel BSN 18-2’s team from So Cal. We again gave a great effort, but came up short. Our qualifier ended with a 20-25, 19-25 loss.

It’s tough to get dejected though. We finished 3-3, tied for 20th out of 64 18-Club teams after getting a ridiculous 30th seed. We played some great teams and learned a lot…about the game and about each other. Regionals are the only thing left for this group. They were a spectacle to start the season, and have become spectacular.
Stay tuned…

Finally…!

The Tsunami rode into Glendale Community College Saturday in their last region showdown before The Far Western Qualifier and left with the answers they’ve been searching for all season!

After officiating our first match, we played the pesky Falcon 18’s from Fountain Hills who are, like us, a very young 18’s team. We topped them in game one 25-23 and lost game two at 20. But the team rallied behind some big middle play and aggressive setting and won game three 15-8.

Game two was a payback of sorts. The Yavapai Juniors 18-Black team, which had so thoroughly pounded us a few weeks back, stood in our way of a chance at number 1 Starlings 18’s. While we didn’t look ahead, we again showed an enthusiasm and aggressiveness combined that spilled onto the court. Down early, we roared back to tie the score in game one at 21, but 4 costly and silly mistakes put us in the hole going into game 2, 21-25.
Game two, the momentum shifted. We stormed out of the box and our aggressiveness began to wear them down. We won game two 25-15 and game three 15-6, giving them a dose of what they had handed to us a few weeks back. This left Starlings in our path.

As I told the team, you don’t get a chance to play for #1 all that often in life. We’d had several chances in the season, but had never broken through.
We had designed a defense to help contain the Starlings middle, and at first, the team didn’t employ it. A time out, and some incredible defensive efforts later, we kept our composure and took game one from them 25-23.
Game two, they came out blazing. But unlike tournaments past, we held our ground. They pounded a kill, we’d pound a kill. They’d stuff us at the net, we’d stuff them! They uncharacteristically let some balls drop and with some incredible defense, we ran away with them down the stretch and won 25-19.
With that win, the Zia Tsunami are the #1 team in 18 Club going into Regionals. We won the “regular season” if you will, with the playoffs coming May 1. We’ll spend this weekend in Reno playing in the Far Western Qualifier.

Tsunami Trickles out of South Mountain

The Tsunami went into the 5th Region tournament of the season and despite battling through many factors out of their control, somehow managed to stay in Division 1.

Going into the tournament, the Tsunami was without 4 of our athletes due to Spring Break commitments. The girls that hung in all day, all eight of them, played and worked hard, and despite our finish, could definitely hang their heads high. With one team missing, the 6 team became a 5-team pool and with 4 fewer players, we were forced to play one more match then usual with every player playing every match.

We started with the Verde Valley Vertical, a team we had beaten twice before. We came out flat and lost 20-25 but rebounded to win game two at 18. Game three; usually our strongest suit was a bust. We fell behind early and could never get over the hump. We fell to 0-1 with an 11-15 defeat.

Match two featured a new team to us, the Az. Thunder 17-1’s team. We got into a groove early with some great passing, some terrific decisions in the setting department and some outstanding swings by our middles and outsides, we stole their thunder and won going away, 25-18, 25-8.

Match three saw us carry the momentum against a strong Yavapai Juniors 18-Black team, beating them 25-19 in game one.

Then inexplicably, the wheels came off.

To get into specifics would be pointless. You can say we were tired playing 4 matches in 5 hours with 8 players, you can say we were hungry since we never had a chance to eat the entire morning, and you could say that we were clearly outplayed by better teams on that day.

What we say is there are NO EXCUSES!!!

Whatever the case, we fell to Yavapai 13-25 and 2-15 in an embarrassing loss, then dropped our 4th straight match to the very talented Northern Arizona Starlings team, 17-25, and 15-25.

IN a case of good things come to those who work hard, our 1-3 record on the day still translated into a third place finish, as Thunder and Verde Valley both finished with the same record. But because of our games and points, we remain in Division 1.

Again, the Girls played and worked hard which is all we could ask for that day, and are even more focused on the amount of work ahead of us. We have some serious practices ahead and the team seems to be ready for the challenge.

Till then…

The Tsunami came into the March 6th tournament at Mesa Community College with a bit of spring fever, a little unfocused and lot to prove. But credit them with getting focused and taking care of business.

In our first match, we played the Eclipse 18’s, a team we lost to in our first Region tournament way back on January 10th. They are the only Region team, other than the Starlings Northern Arizona, that we have lost to. We came together as a group quickly and pounded them 25-16, 25-17.

We came out really flat against the Yavapai 18-Black team from Prescott. Trailing 14-23 and on life support, the Tsumani put together a wave and pulled to within 23-24 but lost the first game at 23.

Game 2, they came out using their run in the first game to gather momentum, and using some terrific serving to even the match with a 25-19 win. Game three, we went out early, again using some good serving, and took the match from our friends from the north, 15-9.

So that set up yet another showdown with the Northern Arizona Starlings 18’s, our third tournament in a row playing them for the top spot in the Region.

We dug a big hole early with some silly mistakes and service errors. Down 3-11 and 17-7, the Starlings are too good a team and they put us away 17-25. Game two, we came out swinging and running a faster offense. We stood toe to toe with them, but their new acquisitions proved to be the difference. The coaching staff is headed back to the drawing board as they beat us for the third time this season despite a gallant Tsunami effort, 20-25.

The team continues to improve each and every week. The bar has been raised at practices and their intensity will become better, as will their execution. Sometimes we as coaches forget how young this 18’s team is, but we’ll hear no excuses.
Till next time…

The February 21st Region show down had us as the #2 seed in the state behind the Starling’s Northern Arizona team that has won the division the past few years. But we needed to use our Vegas momentum to help get to them in the day ’s final match.

In our first match, we played the Tri-Valley 18’s team from Florence. We were asleep in game one, making way too many errors and it seemed all that momentum was lost already. But we rallied from the first game 19-25 loss and trumped them in game two behind some clutch serving and great defense 25-16. Finally awake, we flexed our muscle and broke them down in the deciding set 15-6.

In our second match against the Verde Valley Vertical, we again came out slow and unprepared. They out hustled and out hit us in every area and won game one 18-25. Again, behind some clutch serving, we took them out in game two 25-21 and rode our solid play into the third set win, 15-10.

The Starlings had done their part, and we stood across the net from each other for the second straight region tournament. In game one, the Tsunami fought hard, but got checked 17-25. Game two was the turning point as the girls played like they had in Las Vegas. They passed, served hard, ran plays and just overall outplayed the Starlings as we evened the score, 25-14. Game three saw us take a slight lead, only to see it slip away. It was a dogfight from then on, and as was the case in the tournament before, they did just enough to get a 13-15 win in game three.

We stay seeded number two, but the distance between all of the top teams is dwindling fast. We’ll need to work hard and stay sharp to avoid moving down next tournament and to have another crack at our friends from the north …

Till next time….

Your Tsunami proved their worth on the court at the Las Vegas Invitational over Valentine’s Day weekend, but finished at the bottom of the pack despite playing their best ball of the young season.

In our opening pool, the waves stood in against powerhouse Orange County 18-Nike team. We then played the Golden Bear 18-gold team from the Bay area of Northern California and in both matches, didn’t show what we were capable of. In the final pool match of the day, we routed the Aloha Wahine 18’s 25-12, 25-20 to earn Zia’s first win of any team on the first day of the Vegas Inv. in club history.

That night, we took in “Miracle” in the hote’s Cineplex and the girls rally cry was heard down the strip. We ate at a Chevy’s on Valentines night. Don’t ever say the girls don’t sacrifice for their sport…

The second day, we started out with a win over he Rhode Island Blast 18’s team, 25-18, 25-16. We then came up against the Dolphin VBC 18’s from Louisiana and Club Impact 18-Chuck team from Orange County. In both cases, we lost the match, but played perhaps our best volleyball of the season. A fact lost on the Tsunami somewhat, but as a coaching staff, we were pleased. After, it was a night of roller coasters at New York, New York, the fountains of the Bellagio, and the M&M factory.

Monday morning, we played what would be our final match against the Portland VBC purple team from Oregon. Game one, we compounded errors with bad decisions. In game two however, we again played the best game of our young season. While we still lost, our progress was evident and we hoped to use our momentum into next week’s region tournament.

Till then…..

Region Tournament #1

From the Get Go-

The Zia Tsunami took their first swim into hostile waters Saturday with our first Region tournament at Palo Verde High School in Tucson.
Going in as the third seed, and not knowing what to expect from our side of the net OR the other, we plowed into the surf and took the challengers as they came.

After sitting the first match of our seven-team pool, we came up against a new club, Tri-valley. The season started inauspiciously with 25-20 loss. But the wave regrouped and we came back behind some aggressive serving and some great play by our outsides to win the match, taking set two 25-29 and the finale 15-8.

We played right away and ran into the Eclipse 18’s. We lost game one again at 22 but came back strong in set two with a resounding 25-17 thumping. But set three featured some sloppy and non-aggressive play across the board, and the Tsunami splashed down 9-15.

We then played right away, our third match in a row, against the host Zona 18-2 team. Trying to erase a nasty habit to start the season by getting out of the blocks slower than Pavarotti sprinting the anchor leg of the 400 m. after sucking down a KFC family pack, we played tough and in the end, were the team that executed down the stretch. We eked out a 28-26 victory. In game two, at the urging of three tired coaches and the slew of Parents that made the 2 ½ hour trek, the team came out and looked for the sweep.

We promptly fell behind 0-5 and 2-7. After an exceptionally placed time out, the Tsunami became just that. Like a wall of water, we came crashing down on Zona. We ran off 23 of the next 30 points in the match behind some inspired defense, some stellar back row attacking and an overall sense of urgency.

So true to our seed, the Tsunami is headed into the top bracket of the 18’s Club division for our next tournament.

The nice thing was how so complete a team victory it was. Every player was called upon at different times to bring something to the court, and in every instance, they responded.

Congratulations Tsunami…..