Saturday's 2B Volleyball: Vikings Sweep Their Way Into District Semis

MOSSYROCK — The Vikings held court in their home gymnasium here on Saturday as they breezed through the first day of the District IV 2B volleyball tournament.

Mossyrock defeated Toledo in the quarterfinals with scores of 25-8, 25-19, and 25-8 in the nightcap in order to secure a spot in the semifinals next week. Morgan Houghtelling led the Vikings charge with 23 assists and seven digs. Even more important, though, was her performance at the service stripe where she connected on 27 of 29 attempts with two aces. That serving effort included a run of 14 straight points in the first set to steal away what had previously been a close contest.

Mossyrock coach Alex Nelson emphasised how important that consistent serving effort was to her team’s success.

“When we struggled in that second set it was consecutive missed serves that were hurting us,” said Nelson. “We don’t need aces. If we just serve it in, as you saw with Morgan with three runs of sets in every single set, just serve it in. If you can do that, we’ve got great defense and great hitters.”

Nelson added an assessment of what makes Houghtelling’s serve so tough to handle.

“It’s a tough serve. It’s a float serve and it’s not in the air very long because it goes right over the height of the net,” explained Nelson. “And she’s placing it exactly where she’s being asked to place it so she has very good control on her serve so we could take advantage of someone on the other team who wasn’t maybe passing so well and that was to our advantage.”

Payton Torrey added 12 kills and nine digs in the Mossyrock win over Toledo while Faith Mulligan tallied 19 digs. Andee Nelson contributed seven kills while Hailey Brooks notched six kills and four aces.

In their first match of the day Mossyrock swept South Bend 25-6, 25-11 and 25-14.

Torrey helped keep the Vikings steady at the service stripe, connecting on 11 of 12 attempts with two aces while Houghtelling turned in 15 assists to go with one ace and just one error on eight serves. Andee Nelson notched 20 kills, while Mulligan dished a dozen assists and a half dozen kills. Shania Hadaller chipped in five assists in the sweep.

Nelson noted that her back line played inspired volleyball all day long, sacrificing their bodies on the court to keep the ball off the court. She mentioned one volley in particular when Faith Mulligan made good on a diving dig by a teammate in order to keep Toledo from mounting any sustained momentum.

“We talked about that in the room in there. We said, ‘Hey Faith, how did that feel? Was there a lot of pressure to pass that ball over the net?’” said Nelson. “And there is. We work hard for each other so if somebody’s going to work hard and get on the floor to make a play we want to follow that up and wind up winning those rallies.”

Earlier in the day Toledo defeated Ilwaco to earn their matchup with Mossyrock. Toledo will face Raymond in a loser-out game on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in South Bend.

Mossyrock will face Toutle Lake in the district semifinals on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Raymond.

Napavine Tops Raymond, Falls to Kalama

KALAMA — The Tigers were able to earn an opening round win against Raymond but lost in a quarterfinal match to Kalama in the District IV 2B volleyball tournament here on Saturday.

In the Tigers’ opening match, Napavine defeated Raymond with set scores of 25-23, 25-16, 20-25 and 26-24.

Jordan Wilson served 100 percent with five aces and nine assists and Madilyn Harrolle served 100 percent with three aces. Skyla Ettner served 100 percent with 11 kills and Jordyn Watson served 100 percent with two aces. Vannie Fagerness tallied 13 digs and Sydney Purvis added 12 digs and eight kills for the Tigers.

Kalama proved to be too much in the quarterfinal match, winning with set scores of 25-11, 25-12 and 25-7.

Wilson and Watson served 100 percent. Napavine coach Monica Dailey noted the great serve-receive and aggressive defense of Fagerness and Purvis. Purvis also collected five kills.

Dailey was impressed with Napavine after losing Haily Murray on Wednesday to an ankle injury.

“They were really focused against Raymond. That was a little bit of a struggle but I was really impressed and other players stepped up,” Dailey said. “It was a whole team effort to beat Raymond, it was a great team effort with great communication. We played three eighth graders today. They got quality playing time. Kalama runs a quick offense. We tried to stay focused, play hard and have fun. We just couldn’t keep up with their offense.”

Napavine will try to keep their season going on Wednesday, facing Ilwaco at 4 p.m. at Willapa Valley High School in Menlo.

Loggers Stay Alive With Win Against Life Christian

WESTPORT — Onalaska fell in their opening match to the host Wildcats but were able to bounce back and keep their season going with a win against Life Christian in the District IV volleyball tournament here on Saturday.

Ocosta swept Onalaska in the first match of the day. Eryn Duryea served 11 of 11 with 34 digs and five kills and Sophia Leal served 11 of 11 to go with 19 digs. Dakotah Fuller served 7 of 7, Morgan Hamilton served 5 of 5 and Raelee Holmes served 8 of 8. Keiley Fickett chipped in 12 digs for the Loggers.

“Our offense was our biggest issue,” Onalaska coach Terri Dalsted said. “Offensively, we had too many errors attacking the ball. We kept fighting, I was happy with them to keep persevering and playing hard despite the score.”

Onalaska won the consolation side of the bracket against Life Christian, 3-1. Duryea served 31 of 33 with 57 defensive digs and 20 kills. Leal served 24 of 24 with 34 digs and Carmen Cleveland-Barrera served 10 of 10 with six kills. Holmes served 13 of 13 and Hailey Nailon served 4 of 4. Hamilton tallied 16 digs and 10 kills, Hannah James contributed 10 digs and Fuller led the Loggers with eight blocks.

“We rallied back together and made some changes and came back out determined to get the win the second game and they able to do that,” Dalsted said. “They worked well as a team. They all had a common goal and just went after it.”

The Loggers face Willapa Valley on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Menlo in a loser out game.

Adna’s Season Ends in Districts

MENLO — Adna fell to the Pacific 2B League’s top seed and lost in a five set thriller to Northwest Christian (Lacey) in the consolation round to end the Pirates’ season here in the District IV 2B volleyball tournament.

Willapa Valley won in the opening match of the tournament with set scores of 25-16, 25-18 and 25-17. Adna’s Maddie Kleemeyer had two kills and Elisha Giese added five kills. The Pirates only missed three serves with four aces.

NWC needed five sets to defeat Adna in the consolation match, with set scores of 25-23, 17-25, 25-27, 26-24 and 15-10.

Adna coach Wendie Dotson said the team was never really in sync and was making errors that the Pirates weren’t able to correct quickly.

“This year was going to be a learning experience for us as far as court experience. Getting into the mental aspect, in districts, if you do something wrong, you start playing a little safer than you should,” Dotson said. “It was a great experience for these girls to be able to attend it and see what they can do going forward. They were a great bunch of girls to work with. They were positive throughout season and were a lot of fun to be around. Anna (Jones), we’ll miss our lone senior. She did a good job digging up balls.”

Adna ended the season 5-1 overall and 4-6 in Central 2B League games.