Pe Ell was unable to ride the momentum of capturing its first win of the season the night before, falling in straight sets (25-10, 25-14, 25-14) to Mossyrock in the first round of the 1B District IV tournament in Oakville Tuesday night.
The Trojans end the season 1-11 and were coming off a sweep of Oakville the previous night during a play-in match. Unfortunately that gave them a matchup against league champion Mossyrock (13-1).
“We couldn’t do our passes, due to our energy even coming off that win last night,” Pe Ell coach Hollie Briggs said.
Payton Torrey led the Vikings with a game-high eight kills, while Hailey Brooks added six kills and Paige Houghtelling and Emily Edgar each notched four. Caelyn Marshall tallied a game-high 19 assists and seven aces as the Vikings recorded 25 total aces on the night in a superb showcase of serving.
“All the way around we played strong, especially at the end of games,” Mossyrock coach Alex Nelson said. We struggled starting strong but came back each set… Pe Ell has improved over the course of the season.”
The Vikings will now move to the semifinal round where they will face the winner of Wishkah and Firm Foundation Christian School at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Oakville High School.
Pe Ell was led by Kennedy Kephart’s 21-of-22 setting with four assists. Payton Peterson played setter for the first time and committed zero errors, while Allie Engle led with a team-high three kills and Sadie Howard and Taylor Briggs each served a perfect 100%.
“Overall, the girls grew as a team and overcame a lot of challenges along the way,” Briggs said. “I’m proud of them for sticking through the whole year and growing and getting better.”
