Eagles, Tigercats, Wildcats book 1-2-3 at SunDome run

A five-game battle between two Whitman County neighbors ended the SunDome volleyball show late Saturday night with the SJE Eagles taking their first state title. The battle ended with the Eagles finally carving out and edge in the fifth game in the last match of the night.

Tied 2-2 in the game count, the Eagles cracked an early lead in the fifth game decider and won the 1B trophy with a 15-10 finish. They took it after the Tigercats, the defending champs, had posted a 2-1 lead and came close bagging the trophy in game four.

Coach Megan Doering said she urged her Eagles to go back to a hitting game to get over the top against the Tigercats. The SJE hitters, she felt, were trying to drop too many tips in a duel with the `cats who were also dropping tips.

One thing that worked for the Eagles in that last game was a series of hits by Gretchen Van Lith who put them down in a cross court mode.

Kelly Van Lith, the Eagles top hitter, had 25 kills in the title saga, and Gretchen Van Lith had 16.

Coach Doering also said Alli Winters put down a couple of shots in the corners which she felt helped offset the Tigercats back court power.

Another big stat coming out of the battle was 57 digs booked by Tricia Luft against the T-cats.

SJE and the Tigercats played six times through the season. The lone win for the Tigercats in the series was booked at the Viking Classic tournament in Palouse early in the season.

Last matchup before the state showdown was in the SE title game when the Eagles took the SE title on the way to Yakima.

Doering said she felt the Eagles went into the title game with a strong launch out of their semi-final round with Colton. The Wildcats, who rattled SJE in the first round of SE play at Colfax two weeks ago, faced SJE four times over the season.

St. John/Endicott rolled into the second day of the tourney after dispatching Crescent of Joyce and Trout Lake/Glenwood in solid three- game wins in the first two rounds.

The Eagles will graduate seven seniors off this year’s title team.

Tourney stats for the Eagles included Kelsey Simon, 72 assists 23 aces and 49 digs; Lindsey Miller, 16 kills, 14 blocks, and 53-54 serving; Tricia Luft, 116 digs, 8 aces; Katie Jensema, 29 assists, 60 digs; Kelly Van Lith, 90 digs, 55 kills, 10 blocks, 9 aces; Gretchen Van Lith, 31 kills, 7 blocks, 9 aces; Alli Winters, 24 kills.

LaCrosse/Washtucna Coach Sandy Martin and the Tigercats returned to Yakima after winning the first state trophy ever for the combo’s girls last year. Martin lost two starters to graduation off last year’s team, but the Tigercats were rolling at this end of the season with a mix of veterans and newcomers on the team.

“I really didn’t realize the scores were that close until I started looking at the books,” Coach Martin commented on the five-game title enduro with SJE.

The Tigercats again used a defensive game mixed with some pinpoint hitting to counter SJE’s size and power.

After SJE took the first game, the Tigercats forced the Eagles past the 25-mark in the second game and took it 28-26. They then cruised to a solid 25-23 win in game three to be one game away from keeping the state globe.

Senior Gladys Martinez finished out her V-net career with another super match in the back court. Coach Martin noted the Tigercats needed the back court skills to counter the power hitting from the taller SJE club.

Chelsea McKay also finished out her net career in the game with some exacting shots past the SJE front blocks.

Della Fleming rattled the SJE blockers with her tip game which dumped the ball over the Eagles’ front wall and bounced points a few yards back of the net.

Coach Martin noted Fleming’s tip specialty and McKay’s hit precision have worked well against opponents for two years.

Kirsten Stubbs, the other T-cat senior again turned in a steady performance

LaCrosse/Washtucna went into the title game after putting down a durable Almira-Coule-Hartline team in the semi-final.

The Warriors were down 0-2 early in the semi with LW cruising to a 25-16 win in came two. ACH then came to life in game three and pulled out a 25-22 win over the T-cats.

“They did that to the team they played in previous round, and I warned our players to look out. Sure enough, they came back on us.” Martin said. .

The T-cats booked a strong start Friday with two three-games wins. They took out Lopez in a power start Friday, and repeated the performance against Thorp to advance to the semi round against the Warriors.

Overall for the tourney, Martinez had 40 digs, 75 assists and a 46-48 serving mark, McKay had 50-plus kills, 9 stuffs and 47-49 off the line. Fleming booked 20 digs, 35 kills and a perfect 66-66 serving. Stubbs put up 50 assists and hit 64-65 off the line with 6 aces.

Coach Martin will lose four players to graduation off of this years team: Martinez, McKay, Stubbs and Fleming.

Colton takes number three

Colton’s Wildcats, making a trip to the state net show for the first time in 23 years, bagged the third place trophy to finish out the run for the Whitman teams in the 1B tournament. Coach Heidi Hawley credited her Wildcats with bagging number-three after battling through eight games.

Colton landed in the grind slot of the tourney schedule which required semi-final losers to turn right around and battle again for the third place honor. That matched Colton against the ACH Warriors, a team which demonstrated their comeback powers in three other matches.

“I think it just came down to which team would make the most errors,” Coach Hawley said.

“We just proved to be a little more durable, and we passed by ball well.”

The Warriors, who battled LW over four games in their semi loss, hit a series of serves into the net. Colton then put their serves into play.

“We just picked up a lot of points that way, and we needed them,” Hawley said.

In the semi round, Coach Hawley noted the Wildcats again had trouble coping with SJE’s Kelly Van Lith, the MVP for SE 1B teams.

“We wanted to get the hands up in front of her, but she is so good that it’s tough to do,” Hawley noted.

Colton earlier attempted to double block Van Lith, but backed off on that tactic when they lost ground on the other parts of the court, Hawley said. .

Colton started their tourney run Friday with a three game crush over Northsound Christian and then battled Wilson Creek for five games to get into the semi-final round.

The Wildcats will graduate just two seniors, Kelsey Moser and Megan Grassl. Moser hit 21 kills and three blocks in the last two games at the dome. Grassl, who was swing player between jayvee and varsity, put down shots in the last game to wrap her career.

Junior Mollie Kramer had 55 digs in the run, and Mikayla Nygreen, also a junior, had 53 assists. McKenzie Heaslet, also a junior, put up 25 blocks with 16 in the last two games.

ST. JOHN volleyball players record a team photo with the 1B championship trophy at the end of the SunDome show. In front, from the left, are Coach Megan Doering, Kelly Van Litrh, Katie Jensema, Dusti Bafus, and Carmen Lust. In back, are Emily Kucklick, Ciara White, Alli Winters, Kelsey Simon, Michelle Means, Tricia Luft, Lindsey Miller, Gretchen Van Lith, Haley Reiber, Assistant Coach Kendrin Maj, Kaylea Newton, and Lucy Lautenschlater.

LACROSSE/WASHTUCNA players accepted the second place trophy after their five-game battle in the championship game. In front are seniors Della Fleming, Kirsten Stubbs, Gladys Martinez, and Chelsea McKay. In back are Manager Alice Harder, Coach Sandy Martin, Logan Harder, Annie Fleming, Jessica Hardy, Taylor Burke, Shayla Sisk and Assistant Coach Carolyn Martin.

COLTON Wildcats bagged the third place trophy in the final consolation round. In front, from the left are Dakota Patchen (manager), RayLynn Smith, Payton Meyer, Megan Grassl, Kelsey Moser, Paige Vincent, Grace Druffel. In back, from the left, are Coach Heidi Hawley, Meghan Heitstuman, Kaden Dahmen, Kaitlin Druffel, Mollie Kramer, McKenzie Heaslet, Mikayla Nygreen, Haley Moser, and Assistant Coach Tashanna Nollmeyer.