Wolves have a tougher road to state in 2009
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Goldendale secured second place in the SCAC west with victories over Highland and Naches Valley last week. The Timberwolves hosted Columbia-Burbank in the first round of the SCAC playoffs on Tuesday night. Final rounds of the tournament will be played at Highland High School in Cowiche on Saturday.
The Timberwolves have grown accustomed to playing at State, winning the SCAC title in three of the last five years, and bringing home trophies in five of the last six years at State. It won't be so easy for this year's squad, who showed some vulnerability when they lost league matches to Granger and Zillah. It will take their best effort, just to make it to State this year, as only the top three teams will advance from the SCAC tournament. But the Timerwolves have tradition and experience on their side. Seven members of this year's team were at State last year and they will get a welcomed boost when another State veteran, Ashley Barrett returns to the line-up this week.
Highland
Lexi Cameron had a great night against Highland, firing hard shots for 11 kills and logging three blocks. Even when she misfired, the Goldendale sophomore got the ball to drop for points. Matching Cameron with kills was Sadie Shattuck. Alex Counts contributed five kills and Haley Hoffman was credited with 29 assists in the 25-9, 25-13, 25-16 sweep.
Naches Valley
The match against Naches wouldn't be so easy. It turned into a repeat of the first meeting, which Goldendale won in five sets. This match, played at Naches, was another nail biter with Goldendale winning 21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 26-24, 15-12. The win grew from great defense, as was the case in the first match. Cameron came up with 29 digs, MoniQue Scherf had 26, and Tayler Bradley was credited with 19 digs. Shattuck knocked down 23 kills and had five big blocks. Hoffman was a perfect 29-29 on serve and had 51 assists. Others who were perfect at the line were Asia Vanhorn (8-8), Scherf (13-13), and Cameron (14-14).
The Timberwolves finished the regular season with a pair of non-league matches against 2B rivals, Riverside Christian and LaSalle. Goldendale defeated the Crusaders 25-21, 25-18, 19-25, 23-25, 15-8, but came out on the short end of the score against LaSalle, 25-18, 25-21, 22-25, 25-27, 15-7.
Bickleton sets milestone qualifying boys cross country team for State
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Records fell as the Bickleton Pirates stepped up big time to qualify the boys' cross country team for the State meet in Pasco, Saturday.
The Pirates' three freshman runners all set personal records at the Spokane Valley qualifier. Taylor Brown was first among all freshman and 20th overall, knocking 49 seconds off his best time. Fellow freshmen Justin Roberts and Joshua Cummings also turned it up a notch, wiping out previous personal records by 54 seconds and 1:08, respectively. Sophomore, Nic Venema came across in 22:36, 11 places behind Cummings. The team will be led by Junior Hernandez, who ran a 17:40 to finish fourth.
The Pirates' also qualified Christina Wilson, who continued her climb toward the elite group of 1B runners. Wilson was just 19 seconds behind Riverside Christian's April Soelberg, good enough for ninth place and second among area girls. Wilson's rapid rise included another best time in the first mile, reflecting her attitude of competing with the pace-setters. Also competing for the Pirate girls was Jessica Cumming, who finished with a 31:05.
The Pirates begin racing at Sun Willows in Pasco, with the girls' race at 10 a.m. and the boys' at 11:30 a.m.
Gorge League tournament Saturday in Goldendale
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Seeding for the Gorge League 1B tournament might come down to tie-breaker number draw, conducted at the start of the season, as the battle for first place played out on Tuesday between Klickitat and TLG. Third and fourth will also likely be decided by draw, which will put Bickleton in the third slot and Sunnyside Christian fourth.
The Gorge League tournament will be played in Goldendale, Saturday with the first match at 10 a.m. A TLG win on Tuesday would have created a first place tie and result in TLG being the number one seed. Regardless of the seeding, two teams will go to State and it will take two tournament wins to be one of those two teams.
Klickitat won the first match against TLG, but the Mustang-Eagles pushed the Vandals in a non-league match last week. TLG won the opening set in convincing fashion with a 25-16 score and had Klickitat scrapping to avoid going down 2-0 in the second set, eventually won by the Vandals 25-23.
"We struggled at times with passing and getting our hits," said Vandal coach Jaecee Hoctor.
Everything was clicking for Klickitat in the third set, a 25-14 win, but TLG showed their resilience by winning the fourth 25-19. Klickitat was ahead all the way in the final game for the 15-8 win which gave them the match. Samantha Brewer finished with 30 kills and Ashley Meeks had 21 assists and five service aces.
The Vandals had an easier time with Sunnyside Christian on Thursday, winning 25-15, 25-15, 25-17. Martisha Woodall and Zoe Lindner had four aces each and Brewer knocked down 19 kills. Chelci Curtis was 11-12 on serves. The Vandals host Bickleton for the final league match on Thursday.
The Pirates tried to go even up with TLG on Friday, but inconsistency plagued them and TLG won in four sets 25-20, 20-25, 25-18, 25-14.
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