November 24, 2010
Bears in college -- The Olympian posted an article today on the ten former Bears playing at the next level.

November 14, 2010
Bears take 6th place trophy -- Olympia finished their season by bringing home sixth place in the State Tournament in Kennewick over the weekend.

The Bears secured a trophy on the first day by defeating both Snohomish and Skyview but then fell to Issaquah and Mead on Friday. Multiple stories have been posted about the tourney but I've linked the Olympian articles here and here.

Congrats to the Bears and special thanks to the seniors (pictured below) for your contributions to the program.

November 11, 2010
Check on Bears at State -- I won't be able to post changes to the site this weekend but the WIAA site was updated regularly last year. You should be able to see results there. Click 'refresh' or the F5 key to check for updates. Go Bears!

I do know we were 1-1 in the first two sets against Snohomish and the score is 18-12 in the third (thanks, Hailey!).

November 6, 2010
Bears win Districts! -- Olympia secured first seed from District 3 going into the State tourney next week.

The Bears first knocked off Stadium in three straight sets (25-21, 25-12, 25-19). Stadium started stong but were never really in it as the Bears offense proved too much for the Tigers. Dan McCormack has already posted some great photos from the match.

The win put Olympia in the final with the other favorite, Graham-Kapowsin, who won their match with Gig Harbor 3-1. GK won the first match in a 26-24 battle but soon found out what happens when you "poke the Bear". Oly dominated the second set 25-7. The Bears then took the next two sets to take the title (25-21, 25-21).

The Tribune has a nice article about the last match with a couple of pictures.

It was a good tourney for Narrows teams as all four District qualifiers will move on to State. Gig Harbor, Stadium, and Bellarmine Prep finished 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively.

State tourney brackets will be posted here on November 7th.

November 5, 2010
On to State! -- The Bears didn't drop a set today as they qualified for the State tournament.

They began the day by taking down Rogers 25-12, 25-19, 25-18. Olympia was tough at the service line, serving up 6 aces in the first set alone. All of the Narrows teams won their first matches with Stadium pulling off a big upset over Skyview, the number one seed from the GSHL.

Oly then defeated a tough Kentwood team 3-0.

Olympia will be seeded no worst than fourth place from District 3. The Bears will play again tomorrow at 10:00am against the winner of the Stadium v. Kent-Meridian match.

November 4, 2010
Bears players and coach earn Narrows honors -- Lauren Herseth was named co-MVP and Coach Creighton was named Coach of the Year in 4A Narrows league.

Annie Sing and Jennifer Liedes made first team all-league and Christie Colasurdo was named to the second team. Setters Alex Bassett and Michelle Christy earned honorable mentions.

See an Olympian article here and the complete results here.

Congrats, Bears!

November 2, 2010
District brackets updated -- The updated brackets for Districts have been posted.

October 31, 2010
First District opponent will be Rogers -- The Bears will face Rogers in the first round of the District tourney. The results of the SPSL tourney are here if you want to fill in the bracket on your own. The GSHL #1 and #2 teams are Skyview and Union.

October 30, 2010
Lions and Tigers and Bears. And Tides! -- Sorry, couldn't help that one.

The Bears didn't drop a set as they secured first seed for Narrows at Districts today by beating the Stadium Tiders and then the Gig Harbor Tides. Olympia will face the ninth seed from the South Puget Sound League on Friday at 1:45. See the District tourney schedule here and directions to Kentwood High here.

The Stadium match went 25-17, 25-20, and 25-23 with some good passing, which allowed Oly to run their offense. There was also some dominant defensive play. Michaela Berendt had three blocks in one point in the second match.

The second match was against Gig Harbor, which was set up by the Tides' 3-0 win over the Bellarmine Prep Lions in an earler match. Olympia started with a 5-0 run and the teams traded points until they put it away at 25-20 on a quick set to Jennifer Liedes.

Great passing ruled the second set as Olympia grabbed the momentum early and never let down, eventually winning 25-15.

Bellarmine took the third seed by beating Stadium in the runner-up match.

The third set was a battle as GH took an early lead and held until the Bears tied it up at 20-20. Lauren Herseth put the match away at 25-22 with a coffin corner kill from the outside.

October 29, 2010
Question answered: Olympia will face Stadium -- The Kitsap Sun updated their site today to reflect the fact that Stadium surprised the Central Kitsap Cougars on Thursday night. The win will end CK's season while Stadium earns the chance to play our Bears on Saturday at noon. See below for more on Saturday's schedule.

October 28, 2010
Narrows tourney set -- If you hadn't already heard, the Bears will play at noon and again at 2:00pm on Saturday at Mt. Tahoma High School.

The noon match will be against the winner of the CK v Stadium match. While the match was played tonight, I have no idea who won. The News Tribune has Stadium as the winner and the Kitsap Sun has CK coming out on top. The 2:00 match will be against either Gig Harbor or Bellarmine. Bellarmine beat Stadium tonight in the other loser-out match.

The Bears already have a spot in the District tournament, which will be held at Kentwood High School on November 5th and 6th.

October 25, 2010
Bears wrap up Narrows title on Senior Night -- The night kicked off with a celebration for the Bears' seniors and ended with a celebration of a third straight league title. The Bears captured the title with a win over the Gig Harbor Tides (3-1).

Oly won game one then dropped the second set 20-25. They then took the momentum in a close game three before putting the Tides away 25-15.

Seniors Lauren Herseth and Jennifer Liedes led the offense with 13 kills each fed by Alex Bassett's 34 assists. Senior Olivia Rethwell was a power at the net with 5 blocks and Michaela Berendt added 4 blocks. Senior Annie Sing finished the regular season with another solid performance in the back court with 29 digs. Congrats and thanks to seniors Michelle Christy, Amber Tran, and manager Konane Bay for a great regular season.

Bellarmine wrapped up third place by defeating South Kitsap 3-0 and Central Kitsap beat Shelton for fourth. The score to the Mt. Tahoma versus Stadium match has not been posted.

Olympia and Gig Harbor both earned spots in the District Tournament and byes in the first round of the Narrows Tournament, which begins on Thursday. They will play two games on Saturday to decide final seeding for Districts. Location will be announced soon.

Props go to the JV team for last weekend's second place finish in the Black Hills tourney.

October 20, 2010
Bears control scrappy Cougs -- Oly remained unbeaten in league play by defeating the Central Kitsap Cougars.

CK showed some tenacity on defense and returned a number of balls that would have hit the floor with other teams. The Bear's offense kept sending big hits back, which kept the Cougs on their heels the entire night. Oly won the match in three sets (25-22, 25-15, 25-8).

Lauren Herseth had a huge night chalking up 17 kills in just three sets. Alex Bassett came up big with 32 assists and 9 digs. Annie Sing added 19 digs at libero with 5 aces.

The win sets up what is a league championship match as the Bears face Gig Harbor on Monday at 7:00pm at home.

Gig Harbor topped Mt. Tahoma 3-0 tonight. Bellarmine and Stadium were also winners over Shelton and South Kitsap.

October 18, 2010
Bears beat Bellarmine -- Oly topped the 8th ranked Bellarmine Prep Lions in a closely contested five set battle.

Oly jumped out to a 2-0 lead and seemed to have the match in hand but the Lions showed they still had life when they pulled out the third set 28-26. BP then forced a fifth set and had the score knotted at 10-10 when Christie Colasurdo took control with two kills and a back-breaking block. The Bears took the set 15-11.

Gig Harbor also remained unbeaten by taking down Stadium 3-0. Central Kitsap also beat Mt. Tahoma in three and South Kitsap downed Shelton 3-0.

October 15, 2010
Drop blue for green -- After successful fundraising campaigns for the Thurstons County Food Bank by the C Team and the OHS Sports Medicine program by the JV Team, the varsity team will take up the torch for lymphoma research.

Varsity players and staff are asking everyone to wear lime green for the Monday match against Bellarmine Prep. Lime green and purple are the colors for lymphoma awareness.

Lime green t-shirts will be sold at the game and there will be a serving contest between the second and third sets.

October 14, 2010
Bears serve South Kitsap -- The Bears toppled South Kitsap 3-0 (25-4, 25-12, 25-12). Oly was dominant at the service line and made it tough for SK to run an effective offense.

Annie Sing ran off a streak of 16 serves with several aces in the first set before SK could find an answer. Lauren Herseth and Christie Colasurdo each had 8 kills and Ericka Waldner added 5 kills and 3 blocks.

The next match is Monday night against league rival Bellarmine Prep, who beat Mt. Tahoma tonight. Come out and support the team!

In other league matches, Stadium beat Shelton 3-1 and Gig Harbor was at Central Kitsap. The results of the match have been posted but the Tacoma Tribune site has CK as the victor and the Kitsap Sun has Gig Harbor coming out on top by the same score. Perhaps we need a tiebreaker? Update: Gig Harbor beat CK 3-1.

October 13, 2010
Bears claim Highclimbers -- Oly was a winner in Shelton, beating the Highclimbers 3-0 (25-17, 25-10, 25-5).

Lauren Herseth had 9 kills, 13 digs, and 2 service aces. Tiana McIntosh also had a good night at outside with 6 kills, 10 digs, and 3 aces.

The results of the Stadium/CK match have also been posted with CK coming out on top 3-2. Gig Harbor beat Bellarmine 3-1 with one set going to GH, 33-31. South Kitsap was also a winner at Mt. Tahoma.

October 8, 2010
All-Olympia final in Cap City -- Oly started the day extremely well considering several starters were out doing SATs this morning. The Bears were the only team out of the 16-team field to move out of pool play without dropping a set.

They met 2A power Selah in the first round of bracket play and came out on top 2-0. They then faced Gig Harbor, eventually winning 2-1 in what may have had the point of the tournament at match point. The GH middle put the hard down the middle for an apparent kill but the ball was dug up on a dive by Jen Liedes. The ball went just high enough for another pancake by Oly and Jen fisted the ball over while still laying on the court. GH couldn't return the ball giving the Bears the win. It should be a great match when the Tides come to Oly on 10-25 in the league finale.

The Bear win set up an all-Olympia final against Capital who pretty much blew out Kentwood in the semi. The Bears had a few chances to put the Cougs away in spite of some calls that had the Oly crowd screaming "Home cookin'!" Capital eventually put away the tiebreaker set on a decisive kill by Kristyn Ross. Oly played exceptionally well against a team that is sure to go deep in the post season.

The Olympian has already posted a gallery from the tourney and an article here.

Congrats to the Cougars and to the Bears. Can't wait until next year!

October 7, 2010
Photos from Stadium match -- One of the great things about playing Stadium is that the match is usually photographed by one of the better sports photographers in the area, Dan McCormack. He's posted a number of great shots of both the Varsity and JV matches at http://elfelm.zenfolio.com/.

October 6, 2010
Tigers tumble in Tacoma -- The Bears beat the Stadium Tigers tonight on their home court (25-19, 25-14, 25-13). All fourteen players saw some court time during the match. Christy Colasurdo had 11 kills and 6 digs, Lauren Herseth had 6 kills and 4 digs, Megan Goodman had 5 kills and a block, and libero Annie Sing had 19 digs.

In other Narrows play, Bellarmine took down Central Kitsap 3-0 and Gig Harbor beat South Kitsap 3-0. If anyone hears what happened at Shelton between the Highclimbers and Mt. Tahoma please let me know and I'll get it posted.

October 4, 2010
Oly takes Mt. Tahoma -- The Bears kicked off league play with a win over Mt. Tahoma in three straight sets (25-8, 25-8, 25-9). Michelle Christy and Alex Bassett had 16 and 17 assists, respectively, while Christie Colasurdo notched 10 kills.

Bellarmine Prep also started with a win over Stadium, 3-0, though Stadium put up a fight by pushing two sets to 25-23. Central Kitsap topped South Kitsap, 3-1, and Gig Harbor beat Shelton 3-1.

October 2, 2010
Good day to be a Bear -- The JV and C teams faired well at the Fife tournament.

C Team put away a number of teams before knocking off Enumclaw 2-0 in the final.

The JV's struggled with consistency during pool play but pushed through to the finals before falling 1-2 in the championship match against a strong Graham-Kapowsin team.

Way to go Bears!

October 1, 2010
Bears take Rams in three -- The Bears took down the Rogers Rams in three straight tonight (25-11, 25-15, 25-19). Rogers had a few streaks but didn't have an answer for Oly's balance and depth.

Lauren Herseth had 8 kills, 3 aces and 12 digs and Christie Colasurdo added 7 kills and 2 aces. Michelle Christy and Alex Bassett combined for 25 assists.

September 29, 2010
Emerald Ridge falls -- The Emerald Ridge Jaguars came to Olympia with upset on their minds but were stymied by the Bear's 3-1.

Oly again showed some strong defense and tough serving to compliment their attack at the net. The match marked the return of Michelle Christy who shared time at the setter position with Alex Bassett.

The Bears will face another South Puget Sound League contenter as Rogers comes to town on Friday. The match is earlier than normal to accomodate the football game. JV and C will play at 3:30 and Varsity will start at 5:15.

League play promises to be interesting as Gig Harbor topped undefeated Central Kitsap on Tuesday night. Bellarmine also showed some power taking down Curtis 3-1.

September 27, 2010
Third place finish in Kent Classic -- Oly took third place in the Kent Classic according to the tournament blog. The Tacoma News Tribune posted a story focused on how the Bears faired in the tourney.

September 23, 2010
Bears take down Tumwater -- The Bears returned to form on Thursday night, taking down perennial 2A power Tumwater on their home court (25-16, 25-10, 25-19).

Annie Sing was all over the backcourt with 17 digs and a great night from the service line. Alex Basset had 29 assists and 10 digs of her own. Jennifer Liedes had 10 kills and Lauren Herseth notched 8 kills, 11 digs, and 4 aces.

September 19, 2010
Cougars beat Bears -- The Golden Orb travelling trophy will make its way across town to the Capital trophy case for the first time in ten years. The Cougs offense and stingy defense proved too much for the Bears. Read more in the Olympian.

September 13, 2010
Bears top Curtis and Timberline -- I am running a bit late on the updates from last week. Such are the problems with sharing a computer with a high-schooler with a lot of homework.

The Bears had their hands full last week, too--battling Curtis on their home court and Timberline on OHS turf.

Curtis displayed some good defense and strong outside hitting but couldn't hold off Oly--dropping to the Bears in five tough sets.

Oly had to show some heart against Curtis. The Bears jumped out to an early lead by winning the first set 25-18--ending the set with consecutive blocks by Christie Colasurdo and Michaela Bernendt. Curtis then opened a 20-11 lead in the second set before the Bears regainedthe momentum to tie at 24-24. Oly ended up dropping the set 26-24 and then fell in the third 20-25. The Bears won the fourth to force a game five thriller. Oly came out on top 16-14. Annie Sing showed some defense of her own with a new school record 43 digs during the match.

The 3A Timberline Wolves came to Oly with upset on their mind but were denied in four (25-23, 25-19, 24-26, 25-22). Christie Colasurdo and Lauren Herseth combined for 31 kills and Jen Liedes added 10 kills with a perfect 19-for-19 from the service line.

If you are interested, I found some great pictures from last season posted here.

September 7, 2010
Bears begin busy opening week by downing Wolves -- The Bears kicked off the season with a non-league match tonight against 2A Black Hills. The Wolves put up a fight but the Bears' tough serving and potent offense prevailed 25-15, 25-12, 25-14.

JV and C teams also came out on top. The Bears have two more matches this week, facing off against Curtis HS on Thursday and then Timberline on Friday.

August 25, 2010
Initial Rosters are Set -- The coaches sorted through another year of tryouts and the initial teams have been set. See your 2010 Olympia Bear Volleyball rosters.

August 17, 2010
Olympia Bear Volleyball Newsletter posted -- The 2010 Summer Newsletter is now available. It contains valuable information for both players and parents.

The printable 2010 schedule is also available.

Congrats to the ten OHS volleyball alums now playing at the collegiate level.

See all the 2009 highlights.