Nighthawks, Pirates lead SE pack into net playoffs

Tekoa/Oakesdale and Pomeroy wrapped up the SE campaign with wins Tuesday to bag the top two slots in the district playoff which will crank up next Wednesday in the Colfax gym. The two leaders get a bye in the first round while the next four finishers pair off in the first round.

SE NET STANDINGS

Tekoa/Oakesdale 14-1

Pomeroy 12-2

Colton 10-4

St. John/Endicott 8-6

Garfield Palouse 6-8

LaCrosse Washtucna 3-11

Rosalia 3-11

Touchet 1-13

Winners in the first round will go up against the two leaders in the second round Wednesday.

First round matches next Wednesday will put third-place Colton up against sixth-place LaCrosse/Washtucna. The Tigercats made the field with a four-game win at Rosalia. The two clubs tied in the standings, but LW won both face-to-face matches.

SJE and Garfield/Palouse will face off in the other first round match as number four and number five. That winner will go up against Pomeroy.

TEKOA/OAKESDALE finished on top Tuesday with a 13-1 mark after defeating Touchet in three games at Oakesdale, 25-12 25-16 25-12. The lone league loss for the ‘hawks came in the first round when they were dropped by Pomeroy at Oakesdale. They revenged that loss in the second round.

Tuesday at Oakesdale, Kaela Dewan put up 31 assists and hit five aces. Cassy Mendoza logged 16 kills, and Alex Overton had four blocks.

Taylor Jasperson booked eight assists for the Indians, and Josie Sewell had four kills.

Thursday, the Nighthawks stopped the Tigercats in three games at Washtucna, 25-15 25-14 and 25-7 with Mendoza hitting 13 kills.

POMEROY Tuesday stopped the Eagles in three games, 25-23 26-24 and 25-20. Kindsey Bott booked 10 kills against the Eagles and Melissa Bartlow had eight kills and 14 assists. Haylee Koller hit four aces.

The Eagles battled in the first two games, erasing an eight-point gap before coming back to within three points. In the second game, the Pirates had a nine-point lead and needed just one point to nail it, but the Eagles came all the way back to 24-24 before bowing in the extra point.

Gretchen Van Lith had 10 kills and Carmen Lust had 16 assists for the Eagles in the Pomeroy match. Sami Bailey hit four aces.

Pomeroy stopped Touchet in three games at Touchet in the Thursday round with Bott hitting 15 kills, and Maddie Grimm hitting five aces. Sydni Gormsen had 17 assists.

COLTON finished with a solid third-place finish Tuesday at Palouse with a win over the Vikings, 25-19 25-18 and 25-15. Mollie Kramer hit four aces and two blocks at the Vikings, and Mikayla Nygreen hit six kills. Kaitlin Druffel had seven digs.

Cassie Thompson had six kills for the Vikings and Emily Witthuhn had three blocks. Kaycie Adair had two aces.

Thursday on their home court, the Wildcats downed the Eagles in three, 25-19 25-23 and 25-17, with Kramer hitting nine kills and Hayley Moser putting up 13 assists. Druffel had 10 digs.

LaCROSSE/WASHTUCNA, which topped Rosalia at Washtucna in the first round, earned the last SE playoff ticket Tuesday by topping the Spartans 25-20 25-23 22-25 and 25-22. Logan Harder hit 11 kills against the Spartans and 18 digs. Annie Fleming had 16 assists. Taylor Burke had five aces.

Briann Maley hit 10 kills and 10 digs for the Spartans.

Rosalia Thursday posted a big win when they dropped Garfield/Palouse in a five-game battle in the Spartan gym. They posted a 15-11 in the fifth game to claim it and remain in contention.

Maley and Mackenzie Reddish each had 14 kills in the win, and Lucy Irish put up 15 assists.

Holly Leendertsen hit 12 kills in the Viking loss, and Kaycie Adair put up 19 digs.

Line for the Spartan win was 21-25 25-23 25-17 20-25 15-11. Rosalia will finish out the season tonight by hosting Liberty in a non-league match.