GARFIELD GIRLS SHOW BOTHELL A THING OR TWO
-Robert Crow, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
October 3, 2003

For the first time in three years, Bothell volleyball fans need to look under the loss column in the conference standings.

Wednesday night, Garfield defeated the Cougars 17-25, 28-26, 25-15, 25-23 at Bothell, snapping the Cougars' 33-game KingCo winning streak. The loss was the Cougars' first in the league since a 2000 loss to Woodinville.

"Our kids were thrilled," said Garfield coach Leslie Hamann. "Everybody knew about the Bothell mystique. We'd never won a game against them."

For Garfield, it was a night of firsts against the reigning KingCo volleyball dynasty.

"They had never even called a timeout against us," Hamann recalled. "We were ecstatic when they had to do that in the second game. Step 2 was winning that game, and then winning the match."

Over the past six seasons, Bothell has gone 75-3 in conference play. "The hallmark of every Bothell team is fabulous defense," Hamann said. "I've always said we would love to play defense like Bothell does. And, for the first time ever, last night our defense was as good as theirs."

If its defense can stay that good, Garfield could join Bothell as the conference's elite teams. The Bulldogs, sitting atop KingCo with a 3-0 league record, have won road games at Bothell and Ballard -- arguably the toughest places to win this season.

For the Bulldogs to be considered among the league's elite is remarkable, considering where the program was when Hamann took over four years ago. In her first two years, none of the Seattle KingCo schools beat the Eastside schools.

"Times have changed," Hamann said. "We keep getting better and better every year. It's gone from where our kids thought we would lose to where we now expect to win every match.

"People aren't going to look past us anymore."