Sting 18 Black player Amanda Rosenberg (Pewaukee H.S.) has verbally committed to the University of Wisconsin Parkside in Kenosha, WI. Parkside is an NCAA DII institution competing in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). Congratulations, Amanda!

College Fun Facts:
A few short years upon opening it's doors UWP landed a grant of hundreds of thousands of dollars for a program called "Project Sanguine." It was a study to find the effects of U.S. Naval communications on the cells of Slime Mold. There has been an un-confirmed rumor that hysterical laughter could be heard from the office of one of the researchers as he kept screaming, "SUCKERS!" The follow up rumor that he was doing it while rolling around in piles of grant money has also not yet been confirmed.

Volleyball is a sport where great individual and/or team emotional displays of joy are commonly seen. Close, hard fought games and matches bring out the best celebrations. Emotions are higher and more intense when the outcome of each game rides on the last few points. To get the big ace, dig, kill or block for a deciding point allows a player or team the opportunity to release more of that pumped up adrenaline in various forms of emotional outbursts.

The Badger Tour Finale for Sting 17 White was a roller coaster of emotions. Every game of each match after the first match loss to Sting 17 Black, the eventual overall Tour winner (Congratulations to 17 Black on a great team victory) was hard fought and very close. Three of the four matches went to three games and the fourth was a disappointing loss in two very close games (25-23 and 27-25). 17 White could have won that match and the Silver Championship had a few breaks gone their way at the end of those last two games.

As a spectator of volleyball I love to watch these close games where both teams are fighting hard for every point. An outburst of emotion is almost guaranteed when close games are finally won. 17 White provided everyone with some great celebratory moments following their close wins at the Badger Tour Finale. I enjoyed pre-focusing my camera on a spot on the court (usually at the middle of the 10 foot line.) anticipating the celebration following an especially big point. Once the volleyball hit the floor I would release the camera's shutter and would hope that I would be fortunate enough to capture some of the emotion that was sure to be exhibited.

"Celebrate" is a photograph, which depicts the thrill of victory 17 White experienced during their close wins at the Badger Tour Finale. As you can see this team knows how to celebrate.

The 2008 Badger Tour Finale was held last weekend at the Wisconsin Dells Center for all divisions. 15 and under saw competition on Saturday while the 16's and 17/18's divisioin were in action on Sunday. When it was all said and done Milwaukee Sting walked away with two champions, one runner-up and 3 other teams landing in the top 5. In the 13's division Milwaukee Sting 12 Gold had a great run into the Tour Finale championship match where they came away with second place. In the 14's division Milwaukee Sting 13 Gold completed and un-defeated run throughout the tour winning the championship. Not to be out-done, Milwaukee Sting 17 Black put together a teriffic tournament and finished the day in first place after what was probably the most entertaining finals match of the tournament with a tight three set victory in the 17/18's division.

Of our other top finishers; Milwaukee Sting 12 Black finished 3rd in the 12's division and Milwaukee Sting 13 Black finished 4th in the 14's division. In the 15's division Milwaukee Sting 15 White finished 4th. Everybody did a fine job of representing Milwuakee Sting and all should be proud. Congratulations, everyone.

Division	Team	Day 1 Seed	Day 2 Seed	Day 3 Seed	Final
17's / 18's	Sting 17 Black	8th	3rd	3rd	1st
17's / 18's	Sting 17 White	21st	16th	19th	10th
16's	Sting 16 Black	1st	2nd	9th	9th
16's	Sting 16 White	19th	14th	6th	10th
16's	Sting 15 Black	11th	5th	2nd	7th
15's	Sting 15 White	1st	3rd	2nd	4th
15's	Sting 14 Black	12th	5th	9th	12th
14's	Sting 14 White	2nd	11th	6th	7th
14's	Sting 13 Gold	4th	1st	1st	1st
14's	Sting 13 Black	14th	5th	4th	4th
13's	Sting 13 White	7th	5th	2nd	7th
13's	Sting 12 Gold	9th	11th	10th	2nd
12's	Sting 12 Black	2nd	6th	4th	3rd
12's	Sting 11 Gold	9th	8th	8th	7th

Andrea Felton (New Berlin Eisenhower H.S.) of Sting 18 Black has verbally committed to Ball State University. Ball state is located in Muncie, IN and is well known for it's volleyball (mens and womens) reputation across the country. Congratulations, Andrea!

College Fun Facts:

The Yankee Candle sale has been extended until Wednesday, March 5th. There will be a plastic container placed in the storage area at WCTC. Players can also turn orders in to either myself or Sue Warnke (15-3 parent) on Saturday & Sunday up at the Dells Center during the Badger Tour.

When Lions 17-1 beat Rockford 17 Extreme at 8:30 on Sunday evening of the President's Day Weekend Spectacular, Sting 17 White found itself in a three way tie for second place in its pool. On the line for the eventual second place finisher was a trip to the Gold Bracket on the final day of the tournament.

The tie breaking rules favored 17 White and thus they earned a bye in the first round of the three team playoff for second place. The first game to 25 points was won by Rockford 17 Extreme over SPVB 17 Runbirds. Rockford pulled away at the end of the game to win after having relinquished their large early lead to a determined SPVB team.

17 White would now face Rockford, a team they had beaten in pool play, in their game to 25 with the winner earning a trip to the Gold Bracket. Nichole, 17 White's head coach, had said earlier in the evening after a disappointing 3 game match loss to Lions 17-1 that her team had not yet figured out how to put away a team once they had them on the ropes. She was hoping at that time that they would get another opportunity soon to close out a team.

In their playoff game, 17 White jumped out to a commanding lead at 15-6 using aggressive serving and good overall play to build the lead. However, as so often happens in volleyball, Rockford got the momentum back on their side of the net and used it to take a small lead three quarters of the way through the game. The lead see sawed back and forth until the game was tied at 24 on a Rockford kill shot following an overpass.

17 White took the lead for good at 25-24 when Rockford was called for an over the net violation. Game point, second place in the pool and a trip to the Gold Bracket came on the next volley on a strong 17 White block.

When the game was over at 10 pm there was only one other match still in progress in the Wisconsin Dells Center dome. However, 17 White didn't mind nearly closing the dome for the night because they had joyfully found a way to close out a good team while going for the gold.

We know most if not all coaches have discussed this with their teams but just as a reminder for everyone; there will be no practices on Saturday for all Sting teams who aren't competing. The Sting staff will be deeply involved in a secret high-level meeting of the minds to mull over world peace, the cost of oil, and why un-healthy food always smells so darn good. Yes, we know the rumors all say we eat, drink and breathe volleyball here at Milwaukee Sting but we like to think we are more rounded than that.

The second play date of the Badger Tour came and went last weekend and as usual there was some shuffling around. Our big jump this time around belongs to Sting 16 White who climbed 8 spots up the chart from 14th all the way to 6th. Congratulations, 16 White! We have 14 Sting teams participating in the Badger Tour and of that 14 teams, 10 of them are in the Gold bracket for the final date. Great job to everyone.

Division	Team	Day 1 Seed	Day 2 Seed	Day 3 Seed
17's / 18's	Sting 17 Black	8th	3rd	3rd
17's / 18's	Sting 17 White	21st	16th	19th
16's	Sting 16 Black	1st	2nd	9th
16's	Sting 16 White	19th	14th	6th
16's	Sting 15 Black	11th	5th	2nd
15's	Sting 15 White	1st	3rd	2nd
15's	Sting 14 Black	12th	5th	9th
14's	Sting 14 White	2nd	11th	6th
14's	Sting 13 Gold	4th	1st	1st
14's	Sting 13 Black	14th	5th	4th
13's	Sting 13 White	7th	5th	2nd
13's	Sting 12 Gold	9th	11th	10th
12's	Sting 12 Black	2nd	6th	4th
12's	Sting 11 Gold	9th	8th	8th

We have two members of Sting 18 Black making decisions about their futures. One will head to neighboring Iowa, the other is heading to the deep south. Meghan Harrison is going to become a Ragin' Cajun in the fall of 2008. The University of Louisiana, Lafayette is home of the Ragin' Cajuns, members of the Sun Belt conference. Tina Zielinski has also made her decision to continue playing volleyball in the fall of 2008. Tina will become a Crusader at Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa.

College Fun Facts: