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| Updated December 07, 2005 :: Home |
Zillah's
Trip to State Is Short, but Still Worth It for Leopards By ROGER UNDERWOOD YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Their stay in the Class 1A state volleyball tournament wasn’t as long as they’d have liked, but the Zillah Leopards’ disappointment was tempered by where they’d come from. “We made it, right?” coach Erin Aumavae asked Friday, minutes after Zillah’s season had ended via a 3-0 consolation-round loss to White Pass in the SunDome. “I don’t think anybody expected us to make it to get this far. And that’s what I’m going to remind the girls in the locker room.” To be sure, Zillah’s season had been a highly-positive one, even if the Leopards were eliminated from state in their first two matches. Their first defeat was dealt by No. 1-ranked Coupeville, which has advanced to the semifinals, 24-26, 25-16, 25-15, 25-15. White Pass followed with a 25-18, 25-18, 25-13 victory. Then again, Zillah was happy to be here. Very happy. The Leopards had failed to make state last season, and this year had gone 5-5 in SCAC play before securing their district’s fourth and final berth in the tournament. “We were led by two really good seniors,” Aumavae said, referring to all-conference selections Holly Robertson, a 5-foot-6 setter, and Chelsea Delvo, a 5-8 outside hitter. For the two matches, Robertson had 21 assists, 19 digs, two kills and was 19-for-19 serving with one ace. Delvo totaled 13 kills, 10 digs, one block and was 17-for-17 serving with three aces. And with everyone else due back, Aumavae was confident that her program had established a strong foundation. “Definitely,” she said. “You hate to lose, but at least we had things that we accomplished and can be proud of. And we have things we can look forward to with the experience our younger players got.” Including Tiffany Uasike, a 5-8 sophomore middle blocker who, in her two state matches, had 12 digs, six kills, two blocks and was 12-for-13 serving with three aces. There were also Joelle Patterson, a 5-9 freshman outside hitter, who had 19 digs, two blocks, two kills and was 15-for-18 serving with one ace; Lacey Wentz, a 5-6 junior setter who had eight digs, 14 assists and was 26-for-30 serving with two aces; Kristy Flores, a 5-3 junior defensive specialist who had 15 digs and was 20-for-24 serving with five aces; 5-5 junior defender Chelsea Quigley who had eight digs and 5-8 junior outside hitter Amanda Hill who had one dig. “Both teams we played were very good,” Aumavae said. “We saw White Pass earlier this season and they’ve really improved. Again, you hate to lose, but at least we can say we got here.” And they got here with a very young team.
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