TOLEDO — In both of its last two games, Pe Ell won the first set before losing the second set.
That’s been a trend for the Trojans, who made the district tournament despite struggling in that set.
“We are notorious for letting the second set slip away from us,” Pe Ell coach Jill Engel said.
Pe Ell struggled again in that set against Firm Foundation in an elimination game on Tuesday, trailing five late in the set.
The Trojans rallied back on Tuesday, however, scoring 10 of the final 12 points of the set to take a commanding lead, and they completed the sweep one set later to avoid elimination.
“That was nice that we kind of broke our streak,” Engel said with a laugh.
The second set was the closest in what Engel said was a “weird game.”
The Trojans took care of business in the first set, but the Eagles took control early in the second set.
While Pe Ell was trying to bring its energy and enthusiasm up on the court, the crowd was oddly quiet for long stretches of time.
“I feel like the crowd almost followed our pace,” Engel said. “We were a little sleepy today.”
Down 20-15, the Trojans went on a 4-0 run to force an Eagle timeout, and they pushed the run to 7-0 to take a 22-20 lead.
Pe Ell picked up its intensity as the set went on, gaining momentum with each point.
“I think they started to talk to each other a little bit more,” Engel said. “They woke up and realized that Firm could beat us. That we needed to get ourselves motivated and get ourselves moving here.”
While they did complete the sweep, Engel acknowledged that the Trojans will have to elevate their game if they hope to return to the state tournament for the first time since 2012.
Pe Ell will face the loser of the Columbia Adventist-Taholah semifinal on Friday in Raymond, and the winner will earn a state tournament berth and a trip to the district third-place game.
The Trojans (12-8) didn’t face Taholah in the regular season, but they did face Columbia Adventist twice. The Kodiaks took the first matchup on Oct. 1 in three, and they won the second on Oct. 24 in four.
“Whoever it will be, we are really gonna have to dig deep and pull some things together,” Engel said. “I like to think that we got this one out of our system. Hopefully we can shake it and move forward.”
