YAKIMA — At the end of their quarterfinal match against Lynden, the Tumwater Thunderbirds gathered on their end of the court, and coach Molly Cichosz spoke to the team.
That, in and of itself, isn’t unusual, as the Thunderbirds have done that after every match this season. But given that the T-Birds had just fallen in their state quarterfinal, this meeting has a little extra meaning.
“We talked about the things that we were proud of,” Cichosz said. “And we do think they had a lot of really good moments.”
There were plenty of positive moments for the T-Birds on Friday, but not enough to top the No. 2 Lynden Lions, whose only loss this season came against 4A Curtis. The Lions controlled the match nearly the entire way, sweeping Tumwater 25-18, 25-22, 25-15.
The Thunderbirds had a hard time dealing with the height of the Lions at the net, specifically 6’ 3” Ashley Shumate and Rian Stephan.
“We’re a shorter team, we’re not huge,” Cichosz said, before adding that while it was hard enough to generate a block against the Lions, lapses in discipline defensively only made it more difficult.
“We have a great defense, so as long as we’re disciplined, we’re usually okay,” Cichosz said. “There’s some key points that … if we would have been a bit more disciplined, I think we could have had a better outcome in some of those key moments.”
When the defense was clicking Friday, the T-Birds were able to put the ball away offensively, as they found success when they were able to stay in rhythm.
That was especially apparent in their first-round win over Shadle Park earlier in the day. In that game, Paige Henderson, Whitney Van Gorkom and Natalie Montoya-Kilmer combined for 27 kills, and Emily Robello dished out 35 assists.
They had less success against Lynden, as no T-Bird tallied more than six kills, and Robello had 17 assists.
“When we were in sync, we were doing great,” Cichosz said. “I think when things got chaotic, that’s when we struggled a little bit more.”
Despite the loss, the Thunderbirds can still finish as high as fifth-place at the tournament, but they’ll need to top No. 3 Ellensburg on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. to play their way into the fifth-place game.
