From the very first set of the game, it was clear that Toledo and Morton-White Pass were in for a tight game.
The Timberwolves took the first set in extra points, and they ended up pulling out the 30-28, 19-25, 25-11, 22-25, 15-12 win.
“They were trying to make me have a heart attack tonight,” Morton-White Pass coach Jamie Brazil said with a laugh.”
Two different players rolled their ankles in Tuesday’s practice, forcing the T-Wolves to adjust their rotation on Wednesday. They struggled with it at times, but Brazil said it “felt good to overcome that.”
Sophia Weber led the way with 16 digs and 15 assists, and she was perfect serving. Karah Fairhart also didn’t miss from the line, and she added seven kills.
Ryeline Wiedenmann has 13 digs and 10 kills, while Brooklyn Montoure added nine kills. Malia Armstrong and Crystal Dygert combined for 24 kills.
Ellie Fallon led Toledo with 16 digs and 12 kills, and Abby Umbriaco also finished with 12 kills. Taysia Miller led the defense with 13 digs, and Brenna Carver had nine. Sidney Kruger finished with 34 assists, and Lexi Young added six kills.
“We made too many errors at crucial points,” Toledo coach Kelli Larson said.
With the win, Morton-White Pass will be the No. 6 seed in the upcoming district tournament. The Riverhawks are still in as the No. 7 seed, but they’ll need to win two pigtail games in a row to make it to the district quarterfinals.
The Timberwolves, on the other hand, will just have to beat Toutle Lake, a team they’ve seen twice already this year.
Toutle Lake got the better of MWP in both of those matchups, sweeping them both times, but Brazil is confident that the growth that she’s seen will carry over into the pigtail match.
“The girls are pumped and they’re ready to put the work in and get the ‘W,’” Brazil said. “I feel like we’ve kind of grown together and we’ve improved on a lot of the things we needed to improve on … We’re gonna be ready to rock.”
The winner between Toutle Lake and Morton-White Pass will advance to a district quarterfinal against Forks, the P2BL champion. The pigtail and quarterfinal is set for Saturday afternoon at Forks.
Toledo will be closer to home, as it will take on Chief Leschi in its first pigtail match. The winner of that will face Onalaska, and the winner of that will advance to a quarterfinal against Adna. All three of those games are set for Saturday at Adna.
