In the Forks pod of the 2B District 4 playoffs, Adna made the long trip North on Saturday to make short work of North Beach and Forks in straight sets to advance to the district semifinals for the second consecutive year.
Finishing as the third seed in the Central 2B League, the Pirates had to travel all the way to up the Olympic Peninsula to Twilight Town, and promptly swept North Beach in the first round, 25-8, 25-7, 25-6, before sweeping the 2B Pacific League runner-up Forks, 25-16, 25-12, 25-5.
Playing down a starter against both squads, the Pirates needed a bit of adjustment period, but settled in quickly against North Beach in their first game.
“We were aggressive at the net and on the service line with 19 ace serves,” Pirates coach Wendie Dotson said. “It is a long trip to Forks and I was really proud of the way the girls came ready to play.”
Brooklyn Loose had 23 assists, two kills, and three aces in the win to lead the way, and Kendall Humphrey and Danika Hallom added a combined 20 kills in the win.
Adna didn’t miss a beat in its quarterfinal match with the host Spartans either, with Humphrey scorching 13 kills and five aces past the Forks defense, and Loose again doing most of the dishing with 20 assists. Natalie Humphrey had a combined 22 digs across the six sets played Saturday.
“Our goal again was to serve tough and play a quick game against Forks,” Dotson said. “Our girls did an outstanding job in all aspects of their game play. Sometimes it’s tough with a new lineup to get into a rhythm against a strong team, but the girls did that and played well.”
As it stands Saturday night, the Pirates will play Kalama in Raymond on Wednesday in the district semis, but because only Central 2B teams made the semifinals (Kalama, Adna, Toutle Lake, and Napavine), the games might be moved to a more central location.
Toledo, meanwhile, had its season end after the long drive in a straight-sets loss to Forks in the first round (25-19, 25-17, 25-22) and a five-set loss to North Beach in the consolation bracket (25-13, 25-12, 14-25, 22-25, 15-11).
The Riverhawks switched up their play style for the postseason, running a 5-1 with Bethany Bowen as the setter, and had some success in their final games of the season as the Central 2B’s eighth seed.
Bowen had 22 assists across both games and seven aces, earning praise from her coach Kelli Larson for moving the ball around well.
Lyndzie Filla had 21 digs and eight aces across all games, Stefani Arceo-Hansen added 10 digs and 11 aces, and Jordynne Hensley had six kills.
Though it was an up-and-down season for the Riverhawks, first-year coach Larson said that the group grew throughout the year and she’s excited about the future of the team.
“They were a fun bunch of kids,” she said. “No matter what was going on, they were always up and positive, for the most part. I was really asking them to do things technically a certain way, we worked a whole lot on changing their fundamental skills across the board, we didn’t get as far as I’d like to get, but we’re going to continue on with that with camp and club and summer league and I’m excited about what we can do.”
