Tournament time

Alaina played her midseason tournament last weekend in Lawrence. In Kansas, the boys take a week off in the middle of the season for a three-day tournament, followed by the girls the next week. Alaina's team came in second out of eight teams, which is the school's best showing in many years. It should be noted that the tournament field was pretty weak, but, hey, so is the American League Central and Tigers fans aren't complaining about that.
Her team beat a KC area school the first night (led 18-0 to start the game) and a team from suburban Wichita in the semis (led 11-0). They played the host school in the finals, which featured a 6-5 center who is being recruited by the Big 12. She was sort of thin and Alaina bodied her up and pushed her farther from the basket then she likes (think Bill Laimbeer and Kevin McHale). She only scored two points (two free throws) and threw an elbow at Alaina because she was getting frustrated. Alaina scored 11 points but her team lost 35-33. Alaina averaged 12 points and 8.7 boards for three games and made the all-tournament team. Her cousins from Kansas City and their spouses came down to watch her two of the nights, which was fun.
Tom spent his free time in Lawrence meeting with J-school faculty and students at the University of Kansas. It's reassuring to know that so many students still want to get into print journalism. Several of the faculty are former Knight-Ridder people who were familiar with dad.
Laura, meanwhile, played her second club volleyball tournament. Her team's first was pretty tough because most of the girls had never played in one and were nervous. They didn't win a game the whole tournament. The second one went better. They won a pair of games and were competitive in just about every other match. They have several girls who are decent and a handful who are dreadful. Unlike baseball, you can't hide somebody in right field in volleyball. With such a small court, the ball always seems to find the worst player. You know the team is improving because they are getting better at all the little cheers you do in volleyball after you score.