Vandals fourth at State
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
The answer to the question, "What's next?" was too obvious for Klickitat coach Jaecee Hoctor. "Finish higher," said the third year volleyball coach, moments after the Vandals were presented the trophy for fourth place in the State 1B volleyball tournament.
The Vandals were one of two Klickitat county teams that came home with smiles on their faces. The other, Trout Lake-Glenwood didn't win a trophy, but they were solid throughout the tournament, only losing to eventual champion, St. John-Endicott and a heartbreak loss in five games to Wilson Creek. The Wilson Creek loss kept the Mustang-Eagles out of the trophy match against Klickitat.
Three Rivers Christian
Klickitat started strong on Friday morning's opener against Three Rivers Christian, winning 25-14. But the Eagles had some fire power and led most of the way in game two.
Klickitat's fortunes would depend on some scoring help for Samantha Brewer who dominated when she was in the front line, but opponents would often close the gap with the big hitter in the back row. They had crafty Zoe Lindner looking to hit open spots, but they needed someone to put the other team on their heels.
As game two wound down, they got that help when Martisha Woodall scored a kill to give the Vandals a 28-27 lead, their since early in the game. Chelci Curtis quickly served up an ace for the 29-27 win. Woodall would come up with many more hard shots during the tournament, quite a contrast to last year when her role was to keep the ball alive.
The Eagles continued their strong play into the third game and this time, they were able to pull away from Klickitat winning most of the final points. Brewer stopped a run with a block and served an ace to close to 23-20, but Three Rivers Christian stayed alive with a 25-21 win.
The tank was empty, however, and Klickitat turned up the heat to run away with game four and the match, 25-8.
Almira/Coulee-Hartline
A Friday afternoon match against Almira/Coulee-Hartline was played on center court in the Yakima SunDome with the winner making it to the semi-finals and guaranteed a trophy. The Warriors were a spirited group with a couple of decent hitters, but they were inconsistent in their attack, just as likely to hit a soft return as a hard one.
Klickitat's attacking offense appeared to be more than the Warriors could handle. But, small errors began to plague the Vandals and the first game was a hard-fought 25-23 win, sealed with a Brewer kill.
Woodall continued to hit well, but the Vandals continued to struggle with serves and the Warriors took game two 25-22.
Klickitat seemed to right their ship in game three, tearing off to a 7-1 lead. The Warriors were able to battle back, but Woodall was strong down the stretch with three consecutive kills followed by a Zoe Lindner tip to open court for the 25-18 win.
While they lacked some fire power, the Warriors had plenty of spirit and refused to go away. They ran away with game four 25-16 behind great net play from Nikki Osborne.
Fatigue began to have its effect in game five as the Vandals weren't jumping as high and shots were finding the net. Six of the fifteen Warrior points were due to Vandal hitting errors. In the end, it was the Warriors who advanced with a 15-12 win. Osborne had four kills, including the final point and Klickitat was left feeling like they let one get away.
Had the Vandals pulled out the win, it would have set up a repeat of last year's semi-final match against Lacrosse-Washtucna. But the Vandals still had a shot at their goal of a top four finish and unlike last year, they would be well-rested and ready for the trophy run.
Thorp
Coach Hoctor challenged her entire team to "play as if they were seniors" on Saturday. A tall order for the two ninth graders and a sophomore who were among the starters, but they were up to the challenge. The first opponent, Thorp, provided little resistance. The Tigers were lethargic in the opening game, a 25-9 run-away for Klickitat. Thorp made the next games respectable, losing 25-19, but were hammered 25-10 in game three. The win put Klickitat in the match for either the fourth or seventh place trophy.
Wilson Creek
Wilson Creek, less than fresh off the match against TLG, would be pressed to find the energy to take on the other district 5 team, Klickitat. It would be another war, this one going to Klickitat 25-21, 15-25, 26-24, 25-23.
Four Brewer kills put Klickitat up 5-1 in game one. A couple of net serves allowed the Devils to close the gap and the game would remain tight to the end. Brewer and Woodall combined for 13 kills that scored and just three that were out or into the net. In the final stages of the game, it was for Wilson Creek miscues that gave Klickitat a 25-21 win.
Game two started on an ominous note when the Vandals' top server, Lindner, drilled the first shot into the net. The senior would make up for it with a good variety of hard and soft shots for points, but most of the bullets were coming from the Devils' trio of hitters, Brynna Stevens, Ksenja Fredere, and Holly Wilson. Brewer's first point didn't go down until Wilson Creek had a lead of 5-2. Wilson had a hot streak with three kills and a block to stretch the lead. Then it was Fredere scoring two of the final four points, the others coming off Klickitat errors for the 25-15 win.
Lindner started game three with two aces, but Fredere answered with two aces for Wilson Creek and they began to build a lead. Tia Spino kept Klickitat in contact with a couple of kills and an ace that made it 13-12 in favor of Wilson Creek. Fredere put the Devils up 24-22 on a pair of kills, but a Stevens shot for the winner found only net. Klickitat's rotation put Brewer at the net and she quickly got Klickitat back on top and the winner came on a Brewer block for the 26-24 score.
The final game was also a thriller and a showcase for Brewer. Lindner opened up a 4-0 lead at serve, with Brewer knocking down all four points. Wilson Creek couldn't keep their serve through the first half of the game, having their first four serves blistered by Brewer. In the meantime, Ashley Meeks served for four more points and Cassie Clack added two more to put the Vandal lead at 15-5. Stevens began to close ground with four points aided by kills from Fredere on soft Klickitat returns. The Devils continued to chip away at the lead and Klickitat scored on four more Brewer kills to make it 21-16. As Brewer moved to the back row, the score narrowed to 23-21. Stevens was back on the line and served up an ace. Then the Stevens-Fredere combination scored to tie the game at 23. A second attempt by Fredere went wide and Lindner served the match point. Wilson Creek's pass was off mark and the attemped set fell to the floor, giving Klickitat the win. Brewer finished the game with 13 kills.
Woodall, who was part of all three Hoctor teams to trophy at State was all smiles. "This is much better than last year," said the sophomore. "This is great."
Explaining her reason for going to the hard shots in the final game, instead of the finesse tips she is known for, Lindner explained "coach (Hoctor) reminded me that I was tipping too much and had to mix it up. I just remembered it at the end."
The Vandals' ability to keep focused in the face of the Wilson Creek come-back was a big step for the team that would sometimes lose its cool and have errors breed errors. It didn't happen on Saturday.
"We never got down," said Brewer. "We worked on that. Even when they (Wilson Creek) came back, we were confident."
The Vandals were seventh in 2007, sixth in 2008 and now fourth. Hoctor seems determined to march the team straight to the top and 2010 would be a good year to do it, as player of the year, Brewer will be a senior.
Attitude the key to good showing by TLG at State
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
It takes more than physical tools to excel in sports. The mental game is at least as important. It is a fact that Trout Lake-Glenwood has faced for some time in volleyball. A solid performance at the State 1B volleyball tournament is the latest sign that TLG might be over that hump.
TLG earned their way to State by focusing on teamwork and being strong mentally. It helped the girls defeat Klickitat at the district tournament in spite of being dominated by the Vandals during three regular season matches. They would have to dig down again at State to keep from heading home questioning their ability
A trophy would have been nice for the seniors, Dana Kavanagh and Julia LaVallie, but most of all they wanted to play well in their first trip to State as a combined team. They did play well, finishing 1-2 and just a couple points shy of a trophy match.
King's Way Christian
TLG came out hitting against King's Way Christian on Friday morning. Liz Vogt dominated the net with right and left-handed kills. She even faked the right hand slam and dinked a left handed shot past a leaping opponent, not an easy move. Game one went 25-20 for TLG.
The Knights tried to exploit a weakness in the Mustang-Eagles defense in game two, forcing TLG to scramble to cover, thus throwing their attack into turmoil. King's Way rode that game plan and were able to tie the game at 22 until Vogt came up with a big block for a point and followed-up with a kill. The final point was due to a Knight error and TLG won 25-22.
The same pattern continued in game three with TLG still struggling with serve-receive. The errors were too much to overcome and the Knights managed a 25-20 win.
Perhaps recovering from first game jitters, TLG suddenly remembered how to handle hard serves and they ran off 10 straight points behind three kills from Veronica Glenn, a couple from Kavanagh, a kill by Dakota Jones and an ace from Val Vogt. TLG's final six points were another Glenn kill, an ace by Glenn, a kill and block by Liz Vogt and two aces by Chelsea Cox for a 25-8 win.
Cox, Jones and Val Vogt are three freshmen in the TLG line-up that is otherwise all seniors and juniors. They quickly became seasoned veterans and played strong games for the entire tournament and were key elements in TLG's success.
St. John-Endicott
The Eagles of St. John-Endicott came at TLG with a fist full of seniors and some size and hitting ability. State was not a new experience for the Eagles and they quickly had a 2-0 lead in games on TLG with wins of 25-11 and 25-10.
Game three looked like more of the same as the Eagles opened 10-5. But TLG called upon their new-found mental approach and settled into a competitive match. Following back to back aces by Glenn, the score was 22-18 for the Eagles. The gap closed to two points when Cox and Liz Vogt scored kills to make it 22-20, but an overset was smashed home to stop the run. Liz Vogt had two more kills to tie it at 23, but a net serve and Eagle kill gave St. John-Endicott the 25-23.
TLG lost more than the match, as Julia LaVallie suffered torn ligaments in her right wrist, diving for a ball. She was a cheerleader for the final match.
Wilson Creek
Coach Angie Cox told her team to keep positive and she would call out "key words" during the next match, triggering their mental preparations.
"Our girls learned more about what it takes to win at this level," said Coach Cox before Saturday's match, one she was confident the girls could win.
Wilson Creek came out strong and their boisterous supporters seemed to have the Mustang-Eagles reeling. The hard shots were going one way and TLG was getting too many calls for lifts and double hits in the early going.
As the game wound down, TLG began to roll. A pair of aces by Jones helped close to 21-18. The Devils finally won the game 25-21, but TLG's confidence was apparent.
TLG took the crowd out of the match with a 7-3 lead in game two. Liz Vogt began to dominate the net as passing and setting improved. Krissy Yarnell entered the game to put some size up against the Devils' big hitters when Vogt rotated to the back.
Blocks by Yarnell and Vogt began to have an effect on Wilson Creek hitters. Fewer big shots were taken by the Devils and more shots were off mark.
The teams traded points down the stretch. Vogt frustrated the Devils with three straight blocks and TLG scored on a kill by Jones, an ace by Tasha Johnson and a final block by Yarnell for the 25-17 win, a true team effort.
Game three was tied at 21 when the Devil's Holly Wilson stepped up with key kills for a 25-21 Wilson Creek win.
The Devils seemed to hit a wall in the fourth game after the score was tied at 10. Cox stepped to the serve line and ran off 15 straight points, including two aces. Liz Vogt had seven kills and Kavanagh had two kills during the streak. Vogt was awesome in the game, having two kills, a block, a dig and a set on a single point.
The Devils, too showed mental toughness, as they let the 25-10 loss go out of mind and played TLG point for point in game five. It was anyone's match at 13-13 before the Devils got the 15-14 edge on a kill and won it on an ace.
TLG felt good about their effort. Liz Vogt attributed their support for each other in helping them through the down times. In a word, they played like a team, something that at times has kept them from reaching their potential. They left the SunDome eager to return with their sights a little higher.
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