Forget about last year. This year’s Volleydogs have a fresh attitude, and a whole new team. With a core group of girls returning, and with the help of some incoming varsity players, the program can be turned around.

The Volleydogs have six returning varsity players, and eight newcomers. They were 6 – 11 last year, a down year, finishing fifth in KingCo after experiencing great success in the two years preceding, including a state tournament appearance. Last year was many of the girls’ first year on varsity, and that inexperience showed in their record. But with a whole season of experience gained by a good portion of the team they hope to surprise critics with a bounce-back year.

Led by captains Erica Jornlin, Carly Tsutakawa, and Alexandra Ndegwa, and five seniors in all, leadership should not be an issue this year. The captains have plenty of experience on varsity– they have been playing on the varsity squad since their sophomore years.

Noting that a good portion of the newcomers were underclassmen, Senior middle blocker Erica Jornlin weighed the teams future: “I think we’ll start slow, but pick up real fast.”

The season is just around the corner. The Volleydogs started off the season with a jamboree on September 3rd, and did well. They played Bothell, Eastlake, Ballard, and Juanita. They beat Juanita and Ballard, but lost to Bothell and Eastlake. Overall they went 2 – 2. The losses did not put a damper on the Volleydogs early optimism because they were in a jamboree, which is not as long as regular matches, and because they were playing against top-tier teams. Bothell won KingCo 4A last year, and is looking quite strong again this year. Even though Ballard and Juanita are not considered major threats to win the conference, the wins were a good boost to kick-start the season because they gave the Volleydogs a taste of victory. Overall, the Volleydogs left the jamboree with a sense of optimism.

“It was good because it left room for improvement,” said Jornlin.

Their first official game is on September 6th at home against West Seattle. The West Seattle game will also be Class of 2011 night, with the incoming freshman getting free admittance, and a pre-game barbeque hosted by the Garfield PTSA.

Although tryouts and practice began just a few weeks ago, the Volleydogs have been preparing for the season for a lot longer than that. Most girls on varsity play on club teams year round, and throughout the summer there have been weekly pickup games that, while relaxed, maintained focus. In addition, the Volleydogs attended the University of Washington Summer Team Camp. The summer camp was a great experience for the team.

“We played twelve hours a day, three days straight,” said Jornlin.

The University of Washington Summer Team camp has become nationally renowned with the recent success of the UW Volleyball team winning a national title in 2006, drawing teams from as far as Alaska.

The team camp was also a good experience because the Volleydogs stayed in dorms, and developed good team chemistry. Team chemistry is important because of the vast age differences throughout the varsity team. The age differences so far haven’t been an issue, and the Volleydogs have used the little time that they have had together to unite and get comfortable playing with each other.

The Volleydogs’ primary concern is to finish in the top eight in KingCo 4A, because if they do, they advance to districts, giving them an opportunity to fight for a state tournament berth. With the combination of all the hard work from the offseason and the continuing dedication from coaches Jack and Leslie Hamann, the Volleydogs are riding a fresh wind of optimism into the new season. Expect the pep band to be louder than ever this year, as the team should give them something to cheer about. This year should be a good one with a trio of captains who are no strangers to being on varsity, and a team that hopes to pick up where the Garfield Volleyball teams of the past have left off.