What a different KAIAC girls volleyball season
Published: October 1, 2011
For years – heck, for decades – it was as much a rite of passage as tax deadlines in April and World Series played in October. Invariably, you’d find Seoul Foreign or Seoul American atop the Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference Division I girls volleyball standings, or vice versa.
Can’t find them up there these days? That’s because this isn’t your grandfather’s KAIAC Division I.
Two teams on the rise, Taejon Christian International and Yongsan International-Seoul, have turned the league’s premier division on its ear. Thrown the chessboard against the wall and assembled it anew.
Paced by hitter and serving specialist Sarah Waldrop, setter Joelle Kim and defensive whizzes Sarah Kim and Essie Pae, YIS-Seoul’s Guardians have forged a school-best 9-2 start, their only losses coming to TCIS and early in the season to two-time reigning Far East Division II Tournament champion Daegu American.
“YIS-S is definitely the team to beat. Great team!” said coach Lori Rogers after her Seoul American squad fell to the Guardians 25-13, 25-20, 25-15 on Saturday.
That was three days after the Falcons lost to TCIS for the first time since 1988-89. The Dragons have kept pace with the Guardians thanks to the all-around play of junior Alex Zickefoose and senior Becca Roberts, “definitely unbelievable athletes,” Dragons coach Ashleigh Houlton said.
These two teams clearly bear considerable watching. I would surmise that the KAIAC D-I Tournament at Seoul American might be one for the ages.
