Sports
DRIVING THE POINT HOME. The Ballard Beavers hope to register more kills in 2007 and make it past the first round of the KingCo playoffs. Dean Wong photo.
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Girls volleyball
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Team hopes for state
By Dean Wong
With six seniors leading the way, the Ballard Beavers hope to qualify for state in girls volleyball this year and prove they belong with the top teams in KingCo.
"In order to do that, we need to work hard and stay together. It's a fast paced competitive game," said Head Coach Tami Reese.
Ballard made the playoffs last fall and did not get past the first round.
"I think we will be better than last year, we have some strong players. We have a lot of returning seniors and experience coming back," said co-captain Risha Schildkraut. The other co-captains are Katie Miller and Molly Moore. The other seniors, are Maggie Black, Julia Canty and Mallory Lemafa.
The seniors have been teammates for three years.
"We are like a family. We get along and know how to fight and compete," said Schildkraut.
Reese attended Ballard High in the 1980s and was a volleyball player under Al Lowe, who is now her assistant. She learned the game from Lowe, who is also the head coach of the softball team.
During the day, Reese is a physical education and health teacher at Ballard .
"I love Ballard, I grew up here and teach here. My mother lives here, it's like home," said Reese.
Players bring the same passion to compete for Ballard that Reese had as a player.
"Everyone is playing intense in practice and is stepping it up, playing all out in drills and trying to figure out what works best for us as a team," said Moore.
Woodinville is the top volleyball team in KingCo and with their best players back, is the team to beat.
Ballard is in the mix with the rest of the league. "We will be right up there with the good teams. We are right there with them, this is our year to prove that," said Reese.
Reese is expecting big things from her Beavers and wants to share that with the community. "We would like a lot of fans. It's going to be a fun year," she said.
Ballard takes on Mt. Si on Sept. 6, 5:15/6:45 p.m. on the road. The Beavers play at Newport on Sept. 14, 3:45/5:15 p.m. and Liberty at Ballard on Sept. 18, 6/7:30 p.m. The times are junior varsity/varsity. |
