1A favorites will meet in the semifinals
after easily dispatching Friday opponents
 
By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Sue Doering had known for weeks that, if her Colfax volleyball team didn't win its regional, it would face an immediate -- and immense -- roadblock in the Class 1A state tournament.

She just didn't know the Bulldogs would simply sail right over it, their feet hardly touching the ground.

The tournament bracket posted on the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's Web site had warned of the dangers. The No. 2 team from Colfax's Northwest regional would have to open against the No. 3 team from the Northwest regional -- which, based on that tournament's format, figured to be either No. 2-ranked King's or No. 5 Lynden Christian, bother perennial powers. In either case, a monster of a first-round foe.

"I was nervous. I was super nervous," the coach of the two-time defending state champion Bulldogs said about approaching that first-round match against what turned out to be Lynden Christian.

"And then we had a bad practice on Wednesday. We just weren't loose. Maybe that was good, but I was tense, and I have been ever since."

But these are the Colfax girls, for whom the SunDome is like a home away from home. In addition to their back-to-back volleyball titles, Colfax has also left the SunDome with the last three girls basketball championships.

And they performed like that same juggernaut on Friday, trouncing the Lyncs in straight games, 25-10, 25-17, 25-20.

As usual, the Bulldogs simply stretched their game. Lauren Mellor, whose jump serve had been off for weeks, was a near-perfect 19-for-20, to go with her 14 kills and five stuff blocks. Sophomore Erin Scholz smashed a season-high 12 kills. Megan Teade was nearly unstoppable at the net with seven kills and eight blocks. Their performances more than offset the 15 combined kills by Lyncs Brianne Ryan and Tanya Schouten.

"It really surprised me," Doering said of the ease of that first-round match, which was tempered by a shoulder injury suffered in the second game by junior outside hitter Sadie Lazzarini, one of the team's biggest (at an athletic 5-foot-10) offensive weapons. Lazzarini was back on the court for the quarterfinals, but was scarcely needed in the 25-17, 25-5, 25-15 drubbing of Cedar Park Christian, moving the Bulldogs into what figures to be a titanic semifinal showdown with King's.

The Knights had no trouble cruising into the semis. Kailey Trautmann and Bianca Rowland combined for 20 kills in an easy sweep (8, 13, 8) of La Center, then combined for 29 -- with the high-flying Rowland slamming 17 of those -- in a sweep (19, 19, 19) of Castle Rock. Freshman setter Anna Cesari racked up 27 assists in the latter match as King's lived up to its ranking.

"You want to be able to execute, to play your game, at your speed -- and I think, for the most part, we have," King's coach Steve Bain said. "We'll see what happens now. I think it will be a good semifinal."

The other semifinal will be a showdown between two Northeast League rivals, top-ranked Lakeside and the only team to beat it in league play, Chewelah.

The fourth-ranked Cougars had a relatively easy path to the semis. With Kelsey Schalock's nine digs and Jenny Polm's four blocks leading the defense, and with setter Maddie Kernan (23 assists) setting up Schalock (12 kills) on the outside, the Cougars trounced Southwest District champion Montesano 25-12, 25-14, 25-11. Then, with Schalock getting 12 kills and Jordan Monasmith 11, they dispatched Castle Rock -- fresh from its straight-games scuttling of Zillah
-- in routine fashion (8, 12, 20).

Lakeside got a huge 18-kill, three-block performance from junior all-stater Kelli Tikker in its 25-14, 25-11, 25-23 first-round drilling of Stevenson, then whipped Connell in straight games (13, 20, 19) behind Tikker's 15 kills, a 16-dig, 12-kill performance by Val Gilroy and eight aces from Kia Gibson.

"It's a totally different feeling from last year," Lakeside coach Kara Moffatt said, referring to the then-unsung Eagles' third-place state finish in Class 2A. "Last year nobody even looked at us when we walked in the door. Now -- I keep all this from them, I hide the newspapers -- but we get here and there it is in the morning paper: We're the favorites. Oh, no!

"So it's a relief (to reach the semifinals), but I'm really excited because we're playing really well. Our girls came to play."

And they'll need to play Saturday, because Chewelah is waiting -- with either King's or Colfax waiting in the wings to face the winner in the final. None of the three Northeast League semifinalists even lost a game en route to the semis.

"It's amazing," Chewelah coach Wendy Stenbeck said. "Our league, district and regional ... if you can get out of there, it really prepares you for the state tournament. You have to work hard for every win."

And now, with Lakeside looming, the work gets even harder.

"There's that rivalry there," Stenbeck said. "We always get up to play them, so we're looking forward to it."