Tuesday's Prep Volleyball: Warriors Outlast Feisty Tigers

ROCHESTER – The crowd got their money’s worth and then some here Tuesday night as the Warriors needed five full sets and a pair of extra points to put Centralia away for good in their 2A Evergreen Conference volleyball duel.

The match was a true seesaw affair as the team’s claimed alternating sets while repeatedly finding themselves tied up and flailing around in extended rallies that sometimes seemed like they would have no end. Rochester took the first set 25-17 before falling 25-22 in the second frame. In the third set the Warriors won 25-20 before the Tigers rallied back to win the fourth frame 26-24. Then, in the final set, Rochester finally earned their league victory with a 16-14 win that was sealed when a scrambling Centralia dig hit the center divide net hanging from the ceiling of the gymnasium.

In the first set Centralia was able to stake out a 15-9 lead before Rochester called a timeout to regroup. The change of pace worked out for the Warriors as they went on an extended run and wound up winning 25-17. Jasmine Klatush held serve for 12 straight points during that run to help her team find winning vibration.

“Jasmine was our best server but she only had two aces,” said Rochester coach Wendy Hawes.

Still, the steady hand of Katlush, along with her 25 digs, were critical to the Warriors ability to withstand an inspired effort from a winless Centralia team.

“I didn’t really expect to go five matches. I expected to be three and done, but they really played hard,” said Klatush, who noted that her team had faced off with Centralia at a tournament earlier in the year.

Klatush added that she tries to slow things down in her mind when she’s on the service line and trying to keep a good thing going for her team.

“I don’t really like it when the game is on the line like that so I just took a deep breath when I was on the line and I was like, ‘You’ve got to get your serves in because I don’t like losing,’” Klatush explained. “I’d put in a hard serve, a floater, whatever it takes.”

Paige Winter added 16 kills for Rochester and Bethany Hawes turned in 26 assists, Coach Hawes noted that Lexie Jones-Sederberg contributed 14 kills while anchoring the Warriors defense with 28 digs.

The fourth set of the evening was the most entertaining with 11 ties and 17 lead changes overall before Centralia came out on top 26-24. Centralia held a slim early lead before seeing the game knotted up at 3-all and 5-all and then falling behind 11-5. After calling timeout the Tigers slowly mounted their comeback and tied the game up at 12, 13, 14, and 15 before finally reclaiming their lead at 16-15. While the Tigers never trailed again in the set the drama was not over as the tally wound up even again at 18, 20, 21, 23 and 24 before the dust finally settled in the Tigers favor.

“That’s how it’s been ever since Rochester joined our league, it’s just back and forth like that,” said Centralia coach Marti Smith.

Danika Jensen had a full stat sheet for Centralia with five kills, 21 digs and five aces to accent a perfect 20 for 20 serving night. Hannah Johnson also connected on all 17 of her serves while chipping in six kills. Kylie Sharp added 4 kills and 21 digs while landing all 20 of her serves and Jaelyn Friberg dished 22 assists and scooped 16 digs. Kennedy Strophy added nine kills.

With her team entering league play winless, Smith believes that the pressure to win may have weighed down her team in the clutch.

“You know that you want it so bad that sometimes you can start to play not to lose instead of playing to win,” said Smith. “Without being in their minds I don’t know but this one hurts a lot. In this league, there are no easy wins to be had.”

Still, Smith came away encouraged with the caliber of volleyball that her team was able to play during an extended evening of heated rivalry volleyball.

“One other thing that I will say is that I’m proud of these girls. I’m proud of the way they battled back after losing the first set, and then trailing in the second set, and by as much as 11 at one point later on. They really competed well tonight,” said Smith.

Rochester (1-2 league, 5-3) will host W.F. West on Thursday. Centralia (0-2 league, 0-7) will host Tumwater on Thursday.

W.F. West Outlasts Black Hills

W.F. West and Black Hills needed five sets to determine a winner, with the Bearcats prevailing 3-2 in an Evergreen 2A Conference volleyball match in Chehalis on Tuesday.

Black Hills won the first set, 25-23. W.F. West was able to win the next two sets with scores of 25-23 and 25-18. The Wolves evened the match with a 25-19 fourth set win.

W.F. West handled the pressure and took the fifth set 15-8 to earn the victory.

Paytton Crawford recorded 37 assists and Mak Moore added 18 kills. Haley Senderak hit 80 percent, Sophia DeTray had three solo blocks and Kailey Hoyt served 100 percent for the Bearcats.

“We played ready, that’s a word that resonated with me. Reflecting on the game, we prepared for them. We know their game, we know who their athletes are and we spent a lot of time making sure we were well prepared,” W.F. West coach Emily Mora said. “Going five sets isn’t ideal, but it was good for us to see the long game. It was good when the pressure was on, we went out and were hungry for the win. Everybody played really well.”

W.F. West (7-1, 2-1) travels to Rochester on Thursday for an EvCo match.

2B

Morton-White Pass Powers Past Toledo

MORTON — The T-Wolves made quick work of Toledo here on Tuesday in a 3-0 sweep in a Central 2B League volleyball match.

MWP won with set scores of 25-17, 25-19 and 25-17.

Taylor Nilius had seven kills and four aces and Carly King added 18 assists and five aces. Katie Salguero tallied seven kills and Jacie Dunlap and Delanie Hannah each recorded four kills for MWP.

MWP (5-3, 2-2) hosts Onalaska on Thursday in White Pass while Toledo (3-5, 1-3) hosts Toutle Lake in a C2BL match on Thursday.

Onalaska Takes Down Adna

ONALASKA — The Lady Loggers took care of business at home here on Tuesday, with Onalaska earning a 3-1 win over Adna in a Central 2B League volleyball match.

Onalaska won the first two sets, 25-19 and 25-14. Adna was able to extend the match with a 25-21 third set win, but Onalaska righted the ship with a 25-18 fourth set win.

Olivia Mitten had 15 kills and was 10 of 12 digging and Carmen Cleveland-Barrera recorded five kills and six blocks.

Dakotah Fuller tallied three kills, four blocks and eight aces and Keiley Fickett was 8 of 8 serving with four aces. Kaylyna Deck tallied 11 assists, 10 digs and was 16 of 16 serving for the Lady Loggers.

“I feel like we need to work on keeping our intensity throughout the night. We’ve got to find a way to stay motivated and enthused like Adna,” Onalaska coach Terri Dalsted said. “They showed intensity all night long. That’s something our team needs to learn how to do.”

Onalaska (4-3, 3-0) travels to Randle to face MWP on Thursday while Adna (0-7, 0-3) hosts Wahkiakum on Thursday in a C2BL match.

Toutle Lake Sweeps Napavine

TOUTLE — Napavine couldn’t generate much offense against Toutle Lake as the Ducks won 3-0 in a Central 2B League volleyball match here on Tuesday.

Toutle Lake won the first two sets 25-16 and 25-18. It was a marathon third set, but Toutle Lake earned the sweep 33-31.

Ada Williams, Sydney Purvis, Haily Murray and Olivia Alegria each served 100 percent. Rae Sisson had 15 digs, Purvis tallied 14 digs and Alegria added 11 digs for the Tigers.

Napavine coach Monica Dailey wasn’t happy with the Tigers’ performance, with Napavine leading 17-11 in the third set.

“They kept us on our heels all night. They were flawless, passed everything right to target and their hitters were on tonight,” Dailey said. “We couldn’t stop them. We couldn’t get an offense running at all. We got a lot of digs tonight but couldn’t get an offense running for some reason.”

Napavine (7-1, 3-1) hosts Kalama on Thursday in a C2BL match.

Pe Ell Sweeps Chief Leschi

TACOMA — Pe Ell took the long road to Tacoma and left happy, sweeping Chief Leschi 3-0 in a Pacific 2B League volleyball match on Tuesday.

Pe Ell won with set scores of 25-15, 25-19 and 25-14.

Pe Ell coach Karie Cleveland was proud of the team, citing the Trojan’s serving as well as good defense and passing in a team win.

Pe Ell (2-5, 1-1) hosts North Beach on Thursday in a P2BL match.

Mossyrock Breezes Past Wahkiakum

CATHLAMET — The Vikings bounced back with authority here on Tuesday, defeating Wahkiakum 3-0 in a Central 2B League volleyball match.

Mossyrock won with set scores of 25-17, 25-20 and 25-13.

Faith Mulligan was 9 of 10 serving with 16 digs, Amy Fitzhugh served 18 of 19 and Heather Edgar served 15 of 16 with four aces and nine digs.

Andee Nelson had 13 digs and seven kills, Shania Hadaller recorded three kills and 21 assists and Emily Edgar and Morgan Houghtelling each added four kills for the Vikings.

“We had a really consistent night. We wanted to go into the game and not have so many momentum swings and we did a great job of that,” Mossyrock coach Alex Nelson said. “We did a great job of keeping control of momentum. If they got a couple of serves in, we broke it. We were aggressive with our swings. Consistency, that was the key tonight.”

Mossyrock (5-3, 3-1) travels to Rainier on Thursday in a C2BL game.

1B

Oakville Run off the Road by Elks

AMANDA PARK – A nice drive up the Olympic Peninsula was spoiled for Oakville on Tuesday night when they dropped three straight sets here to Lake Quinault in 1B Coastal District volleyball action. The Elks chewed up and spit out the Acorns by scores of 25-15, 25-20, and 25-9 along the way.

“We had some struggles with our defense tonight and Quinault has a good team,” said Oakville coach Jessica Spitzer. “We just struggled to put the ball away.”

Shelby Petty led Oakville’s offense, collecting 10 points on 14 serves (one ace), along with two kills and three digs. Mya Ortivez added five points on seven serves (one ace), with two kills and four digs.

Joanna Kukhar added an ace for Oakville but Spitzer believes she showed more improvement than the stat card may have indicated.

“She made some serious attempts at really bringing back the ball,” said Spitzer.

Oakville (5-2) will host Wishkah Valley for a league match on Thursday.