VB Finals Day In Manila: Day 3

Today was the final day of the Dan Landry Volleyball Tournament!  The girls got an early start today, playing their first game at 9am!  They were matched up against the #3 seed, SMCL.  "We made remarkable improvement from the last time we played," said Coach Sarah Crossfield.  The Lady Knights started the first set out strong and found themselves in the lead at 20 points.  SMCL was able to close out the first set by forcing 3 hitting errors.  In the second set the Knights once again found themselves in the lead for the majority of the set, but again they were not able to close it out.  SMCL advanced to the semi-finals, defeating the Lady Knights 25-21, 25-20 and 25-13.

5th Place Game:  Faith Academy vs. International Community School

For their final game of the tournament the Lady Knights faced Faith Academy in the 5th place consolation game.  The Knights found themselves with a 22-17 lead in the first set, but their unforced errors were too much for them to overcome.  A strong comeback from Faith Academy gave them a 25-23 first set win.  Faith Academy kept their momentum going in the second set and held on to win it 25-18.  In the 3rd set the Lady Knights fought back in the end making Faith have to work hard for each point.  Faith won the third set 25-18.  Coach Crossfield felt her girls ended the match on a high note, "Instead of giving up we chose to fight and give our all.  I am proud of the way we handled the situation and I think that this tournament was a great learning and growing opportunity for our girls."

Way to represent International Community School (Singapore) girls!  Knight Nation is proud of each and everyone of you!

Go KNIGHTS

Volleyball Manila Tournament: Day Two

This morning we had the opportunity to go out on a feeding with K.I.M.  Though our group was large and didn't get the chance to actually serve the food we were able to walk around the area and talk with some of the villagers and little kids.

We played 2 matches today, the first being against Faith Academy.  It was similar to ICS games, where parents and students were in attendance cheering them on.  With both men's and women's teams playing at the same time it became noisy, but in a very good way!  We lost the first set 21-25 and then won the 2nd set 25-21.  Both sets were super close and high energy.  It was great to see the girls play with such a high intensity!

After the match ended, Faith joined together with us and handed out small gifts to our girls.  They also took time to share with our team that no matter where we come from and where we are we have the opportunity to share God's word to other people.

ICS Junior Ana Brunk at the net.

In our second match of the day we took on Brent who has won the Dan Landry Tournament before.  We lost in straight sets 15-25, and 9-25.

Coach Sarah Crossfield sharing some encouraging words during a timeout.

In our third and final match of the day we played another local school, and lost 6-25, and 7-25.  We had our ups and downs today, but we were able to play against some really strong volleyball teams.

Lady Knights looking for the kill at the net.

We are looking to another great day of volleyball tomorrow as we now head into 3 set match play for the final day!

Go Knights,

Coach Sarah Crossfield

Volleyball Team's First Day At The Dan Landry Tournament

The Varsity Girls Volleyball team is currently playing at a VB tourney at Faith Academy in Manila.  Here is an update from Coach Crossfield!

Just wanted to let you know what's been happening over here.  We had a study hall (though many girls could not do some of their homework due to internet connection problems).  We played 2 matches today.  The way the pool play was set up is a little different than most tournaments.  We only play 2 sets, win by 1 both today and tomorrow.  Then in bracket play on Saturday it will return to 3 of 5.  We started off playing KIUA (an international school from Japan).  We lost both sets 12 - 25, 20 - 25.  We started off a little tired but definitely got into it in the 2nd set.  Early on in the 2nd set Milda served 3 aces & had 3 kills, Taylor had 4 kills, and Taran had 2 kills that gave us some momentum.  KIUA had some good players that when they got to the front row towards the end of the game we couldn't stop them.

Our 2nd match we played against SMCL (a local Filipino team).  We lost 17 - 25, 19 - 25.  They were definitely a scrappy team and picked up everything that we spiked or returned to them.  We learned a lot today and are looking forward to playing again tomorrow!  

Aside from volleyball we have the opportunity to go out on a feeding tomorrow morning as a team and I am excited to share that experience with you all tomorrow.  Thank you for your prayers!!  Please continue to pray that the girls can continue to bond as a team :)

Go Knights!

Taylor Matthews Signs College Letter of Intent to Play College Basketball

Senior guard Taylor Matthews became the first female in International Community School history to sign a letter of intent to participate in College Athletics.  Taylor will attend Judson University in the Fall of 2014, and plans to major in Exercise Science.

Taylor signed her letter intent in front of her family, teachers and team.  You can check out the video below to watch Taylor's very proud moment!  GO KNIGHTS!!

Taylor with her family (Doug, Drew, Melissa, and Sadie)

Judson Alumni, John and Margie Kennedy proudly share in this moment with Taylor and her family.

Proud coaches, Alicia Bandy and Kara Stucky with Taylor and her parents.