Garfield-Palouse Volleyball season ends with loss

PALOUSE — The Garfield-Palouse Vikings volleyball team ended their 2023 season by losing back-to-back district playoff games.

They started their playoffs with a match against the Liberty Christian Patriots.

The match was an away game for the Vikings, and took place on Monday, Oct. 30.

The game lasted four sets, with the Patriots taking three-of-four to advance to the district semifinal match.

Set scores saw the Vikings only win the third set: 17-25, 15-25, 26-24, 18-25.

In the game, Sam Pfaff led the way with eight kills. Clare Bowechop had seven kills and one ace for the Vikings.

Both Kyra Brantner and Elena Flansberg had 10 assists in the match.

The next match for the Vikings was a loser-out game against the Sunnyside Christian Knights.

The match was played in Sunnyside, and took place on Thursday, Nov. 2.

The Knights would sweep the Vikings in the game, ending the season for Garfield-Palouse.

Set scores in the match were all in favor of the Knights: 20-25, 19-25, 13-25.

Pfaff led the way with five kills, followed closely by Flansberg and Bowechop with four each. Hailey Beckner had one block in the match for the Vikings.

“We had an excellent season! I think my girls should be proud of what they accomplished and all their hard work. It didn’t end how we were hoping but they never gave up and fought hard all the way to the end,” said Vikings head coach Genna Bessey.