2009 Season History

2009 Teams

Pictures taken this entire year are now posted on our new photo website by CrossCourt Images

July 12-25, 2009 Northern Lights Europe Trip

From July 12-July 25 Northern Lights will be touring London, Croatia & Montenegro, playing various European Youth teams and participating in the Global Challenge in Pula Croatia.

A day-by-day journal written by the players can be found by clicking here.

• Day 1 – Arrive in London
• Day 2 – London
• Day 3 – London to Dubrovnik
• Day 4 – Dubrovnik to Montenegro
• Day 5 – Bar, Montenegro
• Day 6 – Bar, Kotor, Buddva – Montenegro
• Day 7 – Bar to Split
• Day 8 – Split to Pula, Croatia & Opening Ceremonies
• Day 9 – Pula, Croatia & 1st day of tournament
• Day 10 – Pula, Croatia & 2nd day of tournament
• Day 11 – Pula, Croatia & 3rd day of tournament
• Day 12 – Pula, Croatia & final day of tournament
• Day 13 – Venice

June 25-July 3 USJO Nationals in Miami Beach

Mizuno Northern Lights 17-1’s place 2nd in the
17 Open Division Championships.

Mizuno Northern Lights 16-1’s place 3rd in the
16 National Division Championships.

Northern Lights sent 7 teams to Miami Beach for USJO Nationals. We spent a total of 9 days at the Miami Beach Resort & Spa, and medaled in two divisions of the tournament.

A day-by-day journal of how the Northern Lights teams performed can be found by clicking here.

Northern Lights USAV All Tournament Selections

June 12-20 AAU National Championship Trip

Check out the YouTube Video’s of AAU’s

16-18’s Championships with 17-1 & 17-3’s

16-18’s Awards with 17-1, 17-3, 17-2 & 16-1’s

In the second week of the AAU National Championships Northern Lights placed 5 of its 12 teams in the Gold Championship Brackets and Medaled 4 of those teams! Congratulations to 16-1, 17-1, 17-2, & 17-3.

Mizuno Northern Lights 17-1’s win the
AAU National Championships 17 Open

Mizuno Northern Lights 17-3’s win the
AAU National Championships 17 Club

Mizuno Northern Lights 16-1’s place 3rd at the
AAU National Championships 16 Open

Mizuno Northern Lights 17-2’s place 3rd at the
AAU National Championships 17 Club

In the first week of the AAU National Championships Northern Lights placed 4 of its 9 teams in the Gold Championship Brackets! Congratulations to 15-1, 15-2, 14-1, 12-1.

Mizuno Northern Lights 15-1’s place 3rd at the
AAU National Championships 15 Open

Mizuno Northern Lights 14-1’s place 3rd at the
AAU National Championships 14 Open

14-1’s AAU Video

Click here to read a day-by-day journal from AAUs.

Northern Lights AAU All American Selections

May 31, 2009 – Northern Lights Year End Banquet

The 2009 Northern Lights Year End Banquet was a huge success with 660+ people attending. The 15-5’s winning team video was great, the scrapbook pages impressive and Adam had a wonderful message for us. Thanks to everyone who helped with the banquet and congratulations to Danica Mendivile for winning the 2009 Northern Lights Quilt.

We also would like to extend our congratulations to Madeline Haben who was voted by the coaches to receive the 2009 Maurice Batie Award of Excellence at the Banquet. The award was presented to Madeline by Ashley Suapaia, last year’s winner. Pictures of the banquet can be viewed by clicking here

You can view a couple of the banquet shows from this year by clicking here.

Northern Lights 151 wins NJC Tournament

Congratulations to the 15-1 team for winning the NJC Tournament in Chicago! This tournament is one of the top events held each year in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend.

Congratulations also to the 17-1 team for placing 2nd in the 18’s division of the NJC. They lost in the finals to Circle City 18’s.

Northern Lights 174 wins East Coast Championships

Congratulations to the 17-4 team for winning the 17’s Division of the East Coast Championships in Pittsburgh! This is a large 3 day tournament held on Memorial Day weekend each year with over 400 teams from the East Coast participating.

Northern Lights 132 wins Prep Volleyball Classic

Congratulations to the 13-2 team for winning the Prep Volleyball Classic in the Wisconsin Dells over Memorial Day weekend. This was a great way for the team to end their 2009 season! Alyssa Muelken and Deanna Lemke were also name Outstanding Player and Outstanding Coach.

Northern Lights wins all divisions of SMV Tournament

Congratulations to the 12-2 team for winning the SMV Tournament 12’s division. They defeated our own 11-1’s in the finals. So congratulations also to the 11-1’s for placing 2nd in the tournament. This was a great way for both of these teams to end their 2009 season!

Congratulations to the 14-3 team for winning the SMV Tournament 14’s division. They defeated our own 12-1’s in the 14’s finals. So congratulations also to the 12-1’s for placing 2nd in the 14’s division of the tournament. The 13-2 team placed 3rd.

Congratulations to the 16-3 team for winning the SMV Tournament 16’s division. They defeated our own 15-2’sin the finals. So once again congratulations also to the 15-2’s for placing 2nd in the 16’s division of the tournament. The 16-5 team placed 3rd, and the 15-4 team won the Silver Division.

Congratulations to the 17-3 team for winning the SMV Tournament 18’s division.

Northern Lights wins Rochester Cup

For the past 6 years, Northern Lights 16’s teams have won the 16’s Division of the Rochester Cup. This year we congratulate the 16-3 team for continuing the tradition! They defeated Lakeville North 15-1 in the finals.

In the 14’s age division it was an all Northern Lights Final. Congratulations to the 14-1 team for winning the Rochester Cup. At the same time we also say congratulations to the 13-1 team for placing 2nd in the event, losing to the 14-1 team in the Finals.

Northern Lights Team Results for May Tournaments

April 17-26 – NL Wins 2 age divisions at the Northern Lights Qualifier, places 2nd in one division, 3rd in 2 divisions.

Northern Lights teams had another succesful tournament. 12 of the 27 teams were in the Gold Brackets/Pools!

Congratulations to the 12-1 team for winning the Northern Lights Qualifier 12’s division. They defeated Front Range in the finals.

Congratulations to the 15-1 team for winning the Northern Lights Qualifier 15 Open Division. They defeated a very good A5 151 team in the finals in 3 great games.

Congratulations to the 16-2 team for placing 2nd in the Northern Lights Qualifier 16 Club Division. They lost a very close match to Lincoln Laser 161 in the Finals.

Congratulations to the 17-1 team for placing 3rd in the Northern Lights Qualifier 17 Open Division. They defeated Laguna Beach in the 3rd place match.

Congratulations to the 17-2 team for placing 3rd in the Northern Lights Qualifier 17 Club Division. They defeated River City Jrs 171 in the 3rd place match.

April 11th – NL Wins all 3 age divisions at the Regional Championships and Qualifies 5 more teams.

Northern Lights was a dominant force at the North Country Regional Qualifying Championships. The club entered teams in the 15’s, 16’s, & 17’s age divisions, and won all 3 of them and also took 3rd in two of them. All Northern Lights teams who attempted to Qualify did so, bringing the total to 7 teams Qualified for USJO Nationals.

Congratulations to the 15-2 team for placing 1st in the 15’s and gaining a bid to the USJO Championship National Division. They defeated MN Select 15-1 in the finals. Does this qualify them for a beach view hotel room?

Congratulations to the 16-1 team for placing 1st in the 16’s and gaining a bid to the USJO Championship National Division. They defeated M1 161 in the finals.

Congratulations to the 16-2 team for placing 3rd in the 16’s and gaining a bid to the USJO Championship American Division. They defeated MN Select 16-1 in the 3rd place match.

Congratulations to the 17-3 team for placing 1st in the 17’s and gaining a bid to the USJO Championships National Division. They defeated M1 172 in the finals.

Congratulations to the 17-2 team for placing 3rd in the 17’s and gaining a bid to the USJO Championships American Division. They defeated Southern MN Jrs 171 in the 3rd place game.

The 17-2 team and 17-3 team played each other in the Semi Finals, and had a great match which the 173 team won. Northern Lights is extremely proud of both teams and level of the match they played against each other.

Northern Lights previously qualified its 171 & 151 teams in the Open Divisions and therefore were not permitted to play in the Regional event.

NL 18-1 travels to Italy

The Northern Lights 18-1 team will be traveling and competing in Italy from April 5-14 with BringitUSA. They will be spending the first few days sightseeing in Rome, Florence, and Venice. After that they will be competing in a high level tournament in Pordenone Italy with Junior teams from around the world. The team’s written journals and pictures can be seen by clicking here.

NL Finishes 5th & 7th at Big South Qualifier, 2 teams in the Gold

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 17-3 team for placing 5th in the 17 Club Division of the Big South Qualifier. The 17-3’s had a great tournament in a 122 team field!

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 16-1 team for placing 7th in the 16 Open Division of the Big South Qualifier. This was probably one of the toughest 16 Open Divisions seen at any of the qualifiers, and to finish 7th was exceptional.

NL Places 4 teams in the Gold at the Show Me Qualifier

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 14-1 team for placing 3rd in the 14 Open Division of the Show Me Qualifier. The 14-1’s won their final match clinching 3rd place and Bronze medals.

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 15-2 team for placing 3rd in the 15 Club Division of the Show Me Qualifier. The 15-2’s claimed 3rd place and Bronze medals after narrowly missing out on the finals in a close 2 point game.

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 15-3 team for placing 5th in the 18 Club Division of the Show Me Qualifier. It was unfortunate that the 15-3 team had to play our 15-2 team in the Gold Bracket, but at least both teams made it to the Gold!

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 18-2 team for placing 9th in the Gold Bracket of the 18 Club Division of the Show Me Qualifier.

Finishes for all the Northern Lights teams who attended the Show Me Qualifier were:

NL wins 2 divisions of the Colorado Crossroads National Qualifier and Qualifies 2 teams for Open Nationals

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 17-1 team for winning the 17 Open Division of the Colorado Crossroads Qualifier. The 17-1’s went undefeated in the tournament and played KC Exteme in the finals. The 17-1 team Qualified for the 17 Open Division of the USJO Championships to be held in Miami this summer.

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 15-1 team for winning the 15 Open Division of the Colorado Crossroads Qualifier. The 15-1’s played MAVS in the finals. The 15-1 team Qualified for the 15 Open Division of the USJO Championships to be held in Miami this summer.

The 17-2 team also had a successful tournament finishing 9th in the Gold Bracket of the 17 Club Division.

NL wins 2 divisions of the Omaha President’s Day Tournament

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 17-1 team for winning the 17 Open Division of the Omaha President’s Day tournament. The 17-1’s went undefeated in the tournament and played KC Exteme in the finals.

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 15-1 team for winning the 15 Open Division of the Omaha President’s Day tournament. The 15-1’s played MN Select in the finals.

Northern Lights placed 11 of it’s 20 teams into the Gold Brackets of the tournament. This was an excellent showing for all Northern Lights teams!

Northern Lights 12-1’s & 13-2’s win President’s Day Tournament

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 12-1 team for winning the 12’s age division and to the 13-2’s for winning the 13’s age division of the 2 day NCR President’s Day Tournament. The 12-1’s went undefeated in the tournament. Congratulations also to the 12-2 team which finished 4th at the tournament and the 13-3’s and 14-3’s which finished 3rd in the tournament.

NL wins 6 divisions of the January Thaw Tournament

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 17-1 team for winning the 18’s Division of the January Thaw.

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 15-1 team for winning the 16’s Division of the January Thaw.

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 15-2 team for winning the 15’s Division of the January Thaw.

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 14-1 team for winning the 14’s Division of the January Thaw.

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 13-1 team for winning the 13’s Division of the January Thaw.

Congratulations to the Northern Lights 12-1 team for winning the 14’s Division of the January Thaw.

Northern Lights placed 17 of it’s 27 teams into the Gold Brackets of the tournament. This was an excellent showing for all Northern Lights teams!

Nov 11, 2008 Pioneer Press All State Teams

Congratulations to the 7 Northern Lights players who were named to the Pioneer Press All State teams, and the 8 players who were honorable mention. Congratulations also to Ashley Wittman who was named the Pioneer Press Player of the Year.

Nov 9, 2008 Tryouts a Success!

Congratulations to the 174 players selected for Northern Lights 15’s-18’s teams. We are looking forward to an exciting season. The level of play was so high at this tryout we even added an additional 17’s team! The club will now have 27 teams ranging from 11’s -18’s this year.

Nov 8, 2008 NL All Tournament Selections

Congratulations to the 6 Northern Lights players who were named to the Minnesota State High School League All Tournament teams.

Nov 5, 2008 NL All State Players

Congratulations to the 7 Northern Lights players who were named to the Minnesota Coaches Association All State Teams.

Nov 4, 2008 Metro Player of the Year – Ashley Wittman

Congratulations Ashley for being selected the 2008 Metro Player of the Year!

Nov 4, 2008 All Metro Players

Northern Lights would like to extend our congratulations to the 8 Northern Lights Players who were selected to the Star Tribune All Metro Teams.

Northern Lights would like to congratulate the 28 players from the club who qualified for the Minnesota High School State Tournament.

November 1, 2008 —-11’s-14’s Tryouts completed

Congratulations to the 100 new players ages 10-14 selected for the Northern Lights 2009 teams. The first practice for the 11’s-14’s will be on Monday November 3rd, check the schedules link on the left side of this page for exact times.