Sound fall 35-37 to Heart of America Havoc to Finish Their 2013 Premier Volleyball League Campaign

The Sound Premier Volleyball team fell to the Heart of America Havoc in heartbreaking fashion early Tuesday morning 0-3 after rallying to take the third set to 35-37 in spectacular fashion.  Their Premier Volleyball League season finished with a 13th place finish in the Premier Volleyball League Championship Tournament.

Sara Bendorf plowed through the first row of seats to make a save.  Angie Alvord and Katie Silliman punished every overfeed.  Leilani Ramsey dug like she was trying to get to China and Marlayna Geary flew through the air putting together a collection of crucial kills and saves.  Lindsey Denman, Deviny Mo and Emily Jepsen provided sparks off the bench and Ashley Allen displayed her versatility by playing on the right side when her team needed her to and still be able to switch gears and take over the setting responsibilities when required.  Despite the fantastic efforts required to fend off more than 10 match point opportunities for the Havoc,the Sound Premier saw their season end before 6:15am Pacific time on Tuesday morning.

The team provided some of the most entertaining play of the tournament through the course of the weekend, despite many of their players getting their first taste of professional volleyball.  After three days of competition, they were still able to set aside their aches, pains and frustrations to come together and fight the battle they faced all the while building a foundation of experience for future competitions.   

Through the course of the competition, the Sound Premier Team continued to be ambassadors of the game of volleyball in the same manor they had all season in their own community.  They conducted themselves with class and dignity, wore their uniforms with pride and put their best efforts forward in the face of adversity.  They embodied all of the traits they promised to teach the junior players of the Puget Sound Region and set the expectation high for the future athletes to participate in the program. 

As the team enters the off season, conversations can already be heard about how they can improve for next year.  Next year the competition will be in Pheonix, Arizona and the Sound Premier Team will be working to return to the National Championship tournament with a team stronger for the experience gained this season.

Thanks to all of the fans who came to the showcase matches and supported our season ticket efforts.  Thanks to all of the kiddos that came out to see what professional volleyball was all about.  Thanks to our sponsors who helped make this dream a reality and thanks to the Puget Sound Region for planting the seeds for professional volleyball.  The Sound Premier Volleyball Team is excited about being an active part of helping those seeds grow.  See you all again soon.

Sound Premier Qualify for the Bronze Bracket of the Premier Volleyball League Championship After Two Close Losses.

The performances of the Sound Premier Volleyball Team have steadily improved throughout the Premier Volleyball League Championship tournament and today they treated fans to two exciting matches against the Pioneer Mayhem and Team Great Lakes.  The Sound came out on the losing end of both matches, but performed at their highest level so far.

The team struggled through an 8am match against the #4 seed Pioneer Mayhem losing 0-3 with two close set loses in set two and three.  Sara bendorf had no problem waking up for the early match.  She put up 10 kills and Lindsey Denman contributed six more.  Angie Alvord scored eight points in the early morning match with four kills, two blocks and two aces.  The Mayhem went on to qualify for the Gold bracket and will be among the four best teams in the tournament.

Sound Premier came out strong against Team Great Lakes winning the first set 30-28.  Angie Alvord scored 14 points for the Sound on a team leading eight kills, four blocks and two aces.  The Sound nearly pulled off the upset, but the fast tempo offense of Great Lakes was just a touch too strong.  Katie Silliman, Whitney Buck, Emily Jepsen and Jessica Vanzant all had a hand in three blocks.  The team tallied five total aces.

Next up for the Sound is an 8am Eastern time match against the Heart of America Havoc on court 4.  The match will be streamed live through usavlive.org.

PVL Gold Bracket Qualifiers
Iowa Ice
Pioneer Mayhem
Florida Wave
Dream Team North California


PVL Silver Bracket Qualifiers
Hoosier Exterminators
Team Great Lakes
Team North Texas
Badger Blizzards

PVL Bronze Bracket Qualifiers
Puget Sound Premier
Heart of America
Arizona Sizzle
Team Evergreen
Great Plains Tornados





Follow all of the Results Here

Congratulations to the Iowa Ice for the upset of the tournament against defending champion and number one seed Hoosier Exterminators.

Sound Premier Qualify for Second Round of the Championship Bracket at the Premier Volleyball League Championship

The Sound Premier Volleyball Team recovered from a difficult first day at the Premier Volleyball League National Championship to earn a spot in the second round of championship bracket pool play.  The team won against the Western Empire squad to start the day 3-1 and lost a wild match to the Badger Blizzard 1-3 which was enough to finish fourth in pool one and advance to the next round.

The Sound Premier offense finally found its tempo against Western Empire with four players scoring double digit kill totals.  Jessica Vanzant paced the offense with 14 kills.  Sara Bendorf had 12 and Katie Silliman and Marlayna Geary both tallied 10 kills.  Angie Alvord came up with nine kills three blocks and four aces.

After earning their first win of the tournament, the Sound played a wild match against the Badger Blizzard who are having a fantastic first season in the Premier Volleyball League.  Badger won the first set, before the Sound Premier service game heated up and allowed them to win the second match easily.  Through the match the Sound tallied 14 aces, led by four aces by Whitney Buck and three by Alvord.  Geary had eight kills and Silliman had three blocks.  Emily Jepsen provided a spark off the bench with four kills and for the second day of the tournament every player on the Sound Premier Team saw playing time.

The Sound will face the Pioneer Mayhem at 8am Eastern time Monday morning in the first match of the three team pool.  At 1pm Eastern time, the Sound will play against Team Great Lakes.  The winner of the three team pool will be assured a finish in the top four of the tournament. 

Click here to see the results and schedules for the entire Premier Volleyball League Tournament.

Sound Premier Volleyball Team Falls Twice on Tough First Day of Volleyball at the Premier Volleyball Leauge National Championship Tournament.

#11 Sara Bendorf led all hitters at the 1st day of the PVL Championship.
Image Courtesy of Dig That Shot Photography

The Sound Premier Volleyball Team started their first match of the Premier Volleyball League Tournament at 5am Pacific time, which was 8am local time in Louisville, KY.  Not only did they face a tough time difference, but they also faced the number one team in the tournament, defending champions The Hoosier Exterminators.  The Sound fell in straight sets to the Exterminators and lost by the same score later in the morning to the Northern California Dream Team.

Outside hitter Sara Bendorf led all hitters for the Sound with 11 kills.  She also tallied two blocks for a team leading total of 13 points scored on the day.  Captain Katie Silliman had five kills in the middle to go with her team leading 6 blocks.  Angie Alvord also had a good day in the middle with seven kills, two blocks and an ace.  Outside hitter Marlayna Geary contributed eight kills and opposite Jessica Vanzant scored seven points on four kills and three blocks.

Leilani Ramsey anchored the Sound defense through the course of the day and was the foundation of their rapidly improving serve receive.  Whitney Buck and Ashley Allen shared time at setter through the two matches as head coach Bill Neville searched for winning combinations.  All 12 players on the Sound Premier roster say playing time on day one of the tournament.

The Sound will continue to pool play starting at 8:30am Pacific time on Sunday May 26 against the Western Empire team.  They will play their final match of the initial five team pool at 1:30pm Pacific time on Sunday.  The top four teams of the pool will be seeded into the second round of the championship tournament which will be played on Monday May 27.  The bottom team will be seeded into the consolation bracket.

PVL Update

Pool 1
The #1 seed Hoosier Exterminators are undefeated after the first day of the tournament.  They postedvictories over the Sound Premier Team and the Badger Blizzards.  They will likely face the North California Dream Team for the Pool One top spot on Sunday.  Pool 1 Standings

Pool 2
Team North Texas leads Pool two with a two win zero loss record.  Arizona, Great Plains and Great Lakes are all in the hunt to finish at the top of that pool.  Team Evergreen is 0-2 and nervously hoping that outside hitter Meghan Ganzer will be able to play in the rest of the tournament after rolling her ankle on Saturday.  Pool 2 Standings

Pool 3
The Pioneer Mayhem arrived on the PVL scene and declared themselves contenders with wins over the Iowa Ice and Team New England.  Iowa Ice pulled the upset of the day with a five set win over the #3 seeded Florida Wave.  The Heart of America Havoc suffered through a tough first day of the tournament with a pair of losses.  Pool 3 Standings

Live Streaming of the PVL Championship
Click Here for Live Streaming of the 2013 Premier Volleyball League Championship
Court 3 Sunday May 26 vs Western Empire  8:30am Pacific TimeCourt 4 Sunday May 26 vs Badger Blizzard  1:30pm Pacific Time