Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Defending champs top Eagles, 3-0, in district semifinal
The Oakesdale Nighthawks celebrate their win Thursday night, Nov. 3, over the St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse Eagles in a girls 1B district semifinal.
Eagle junior Cami Larsen digs deep on a serve in Set 2.
Nighthawk junior Samantha Holling passes to a teammate in Set 2.
St. John-Endicott's Cami Larsen gets under a serve in Set 1.
Oakesdale senior Marilla Hockett saves a ball at the net.
St. John-Endicott's Addisen Becker, left, and Kenzie Stanley go up to try blocking a kill.
Nighthawk senior Gianna Anderson sets the ball in Set 3.
Eagle senior Addisen Becker passes to a teammate in the final set of the game.
Junior Payton Davis gets under the ball for Oakesdale.
OAKESDALE – The defending 1B girls volleyball state champion Nighthawks spiked a familiar opponent Thursday night, Nov. 3, downing league rival St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse in three sets.
Set scores were 25-10, 25-8 and 25-7.
"Tonight, they played really, really good volleyball. It was fun to watch them," Coach McKinzie Turner said of her team. "They were just playing their Nighthawk volleyball. They were aggressive defensively; they were aggressive offensively.
"It was just fun to watch them."
The win moves the state 1B top-ranked, undefeated Nighthawks (17-0) one step closer to a repeat state title.
"We punched our ticket to the state tournament," Turner said. "We're going to the SunDome."
But first the team of four seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and a freshman will have to get through the district title game Saturday, Nov. 5, at DeSales High School in Walla Walla.
The No. 1-seeded Nighthawks will play the winner of the Liberty Christian vs. Pomeroy game underway at the time this story was written.
Game time will be 2 p.m.
"Either one will be good competition," Turner said, noting her girls have yet to play Liberty Christian this season.
Meanwhile, the Eagles fall to the consolation rounds and will have to win two games Saturday to make it into the state tournament.
The St. John-Endicott girls will play the winner of the Colton vs. Prescott game at 10 a.m. Saturday at DeSales. The winner will have to play again for a chance to go to state.
Looking back on the game in Oakesdale, Coach Turner said her team is just coming together.
"This is what we've been working toward all season," she said. "It's been a journey this year and it's been fun to watch."
According to Turner, her team had a game play for St. John-Endicott and executed it well.
"We worked on trying to hit certain spots or trying to close our block," she said. "We tried to elevate our game. If you take care of the little things, the big things will come together.
Turner said all of the Nighthawks on the court deserved recognition for the semifinal win.
"We had amazing setting from Samantha (Holling) and Payton (Davis) tonight," she said. "We had amazing hitting from all six of our hitters. Brieyn Henley had some amazing hits; Jessie Reed same thing.
"Marilla (Hockett) had that amazing kill and a couple really good blocks. Payton Davis had one to the outside ... and she just crushed it.
"Gianna Anderson is just constant. She just crushed a couple of balls tonight."
She led the team with 12 kills in the game.
The coach said she could not say enough about how well the girls played in front of the home crowd.
Holling had 13 assists and Reed had 8 digs and 6 aces. Davis and Hocket each had 1 block.
Individual stats for the Eagles were not immediately available.
She also played down any pressure to repeat the state title.
"Obviously, there's some pressure to bring the trophy back home," she said. "But at the same time, they are so cool, calm and collected. They trust themselves; they trust each other."
Turner said her players don't let each other down.
"They just have this confident in themselves and their abilities," she said, noting she has a fun practice planned Friday for them to help keep the stress level at a minimum.
"We're going to do a fun practice," she said. "We're doing an ugly Christmas sweater practice just to have fun."
The Top 3 team in the district advance to the state tournament in the Yakima Valley SunDome on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 10-11.
Seeding, game times and brackets will be posted after district play concludes this weekend statewide.
The SunDome will also host the girls 2B and 1A state championships.
Colfax and Liberty (Spangle) have already earned state berths in the 2B division.
Upper Columbia Academy, also in Spangle, was eliminated earlier this evening by Lind-Ritzville/Sprague, 3-1. So, the Broncos will take the No. 3 Northeast 2B berth into state.
Colfax and Liberty were vying for the district title at the time this story was written.
Roger Harnack is the co-owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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