YAKIMA — Rainier’s run for a state championship came to an end on Thursday morning, as the Mountaineers fell in three sets to the Lind-Ritzville-Sprague Broncos 25-19, 25-11, 25-10.
Rainier was in the game early, going blow for blow with the fifth-seeded Broncos. The Broncos began slowly pulling away, however, going on a 7-1 run in the middle of the set to take a 14-10 lead. The Mountaineers hung around, but never got closer.
Things went south quickly from there, as the Broncos scored the first six points of the second set en route to opening up a 13-4 lead. They cruised from there, going up 2-0 with a 25-11 win.
Set three was similar, as the Broncos scored seven of the first ten points of the set and opened up a 19-8 lead.
Rainier has already secured its best finish in school history, and the Mountaineers will get the chance to secure a top-three finish at 2 p.m., when they’ll face No. 3 Colfax in the third-place game.
