Volleyball...YEAAAAHHH!

We here in the Liebel household love volleyball. Love it. Check out Hayley. That is her with the big gold bow in her hair. She looks all sweet out there. She is anything but. While our little Bo is still pretty reserved and quiet, she turns into a Beast out on the court.

This is right after she's served the ball. This might be the clearest action shot I've gotten all season.

Allow me to explain. We have a nice little digital camera. It takes nice photos. As long as you are not in a gymnasium. Then, the color goes all wonky and if anyone so much as moves a hair, it blurs. Example ~ during warm-up: Therefore, I don't take any shots during the games. It would be a waste and I might miss some of the action.

So, there is a tradition that for every home volleyball game, the team gathers right after school at one of the girls homes and eats an early dinner. And they do homework. And hair. And play video games. And nap. And bond. We had all the girls (and manager) over before the Homecoming Game and Dano served up his best Mexican feast. They seemed to enjoy it...

Missy Laura, this one's for you! (I love you!) =D

So, Coach Kryger showed up straight from school. Oh yeah, it was Wacky Hair Day at school. (As if you couldn't tell.) Hayley, not wanting Kryger to feel so alone, ran upstairs and did her hair in the same style. Shear Genius, no? Okay, somebody please tell me they watched "Shear Genius." Anyone? Hello???

Every year for the home game during Homecoming Week, the team opts to wear a "throwback" uniform, complete with the less-than-flattering old style bloomers. Since the girls are truly more modest than that, they wear the bloomers over their spandex shorts. But they do come off for the game. This year, they wore these thick rugby-style shirts for the game, which seemed to be a little annoying, especially when the ball would just "thud" off of the shirt sleeve when hit. So, for this game, our #1 became #22.

I love this team! They've bonded like crazy and end up taking fun shots like this in the locker room before the game.

Along with the throwback uniforms and hair (side ponytails y'all!) their warm-up soundtrack is all 80's hits. Think Cindy Lauper...and can you guess what is playing in this photo? It doesn't matter what year we're in, all kids know how to respond when "YMCA" comes on. Love it!

The introductions..."She's a sophomore....#22....HAYLEYYYYY LEE-BULLLL!" Of course, this was after a gentle reminder from Hayley to the announcer that it is LEE-bull, not Lie-BELL! (Anyone that was at our wedding reception will appreciate the humor in that.) We ended up winning that night, hot long-sleeved jerseys and all!

This Tuesday at home, we played against the #1 team in our conference. I think they've only lost one game (and no matches) so it is always a tough go. They took the first two games (we play best 3 of 5) but our girls fought back hard in the third game and were victorious! Behold: Please forgive the crappy photo. Between the gymnasium lighting, the crowd going nuts and jumping on the bleachers, and me trying to hurry but hold still long enough to get the picture off, there was no way I was going to get a clear shot of the scoreboard. The proof is there though! We did lose the match in the 4th game, but the team played as one and we couldn't be more proud.

Last night, we played a team we lost to (3 games to 2) earlier in the season. It was a bit of a grudge match, going to 5 games again. Our girls had an amazing night, with our setter even breaking the school record for assists...GO PEYTON! This is some video (from my regular camera...hence, no audio) of Hayley hitting during warm-up.

The third times a charm!

So today, we head to the Mt. Baker Tournament. I believe there are 16 teams playing and it will be an all-day affair. (Dare I say I've missed the all-day Club tournaments???!) I'll let you know how we did later. Have a great weekend!