Colfax powers past Connell for championship
 
By PAUL SHUGAR
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Colfax's volleyball players stopped warming up and plugged their ears as Queen’s “We Are the Champions” played over the SunDome’s speakers after the Class 2B state championship game early Saturday evening.

The Class 1A title didn’t belong to them yet, and nothing was allowed to make them think otherwise. Not at least until the Bulldogs had the trophy in their possession.

It was something they didn’t wait long for, as they dispatched gritty Connell 25-15, 25-12, 25-22 for Colfax’s fourth straight championship.

“We never listen to the championship song in either basketball or volleyball,” said Colfax senior middle hitter Sadie Lazzarini, who finished with a team-high 11 kills and two blocks in the title game. “So it’s sort of a superstition for us; we just can’t do that.”

The stats say plenty about the precision of these Bulldogs. They only missed three serves, Megan Teade added nine kills and Kayla Johnson eight to Lazzarini’s total, and the perfect passing never stopped. Jordan Harazin made sure 29 of 31 balls she dug out of the back row ended up as a Colfax hit — 17 so perfect that the setter could pick from any one of the three hitters for a potential kill.

“That’s just amazing,” Colfax coach Sue Doering said.

What’s even more spellbinding is how the Bulldogs got there.

Top-ranked Colfax fought off a scare from second-ranked King’s in the semifinals. The Bulldogs won 25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 27-29, 21-19 in arguably the best match of the weekend, especially considering a trip to the finals was on the line. The Knights had two chances to win in the fifth game after holding off the Bulldogs four times before setter Abby Bruya’s ace finished the match.

Colfax, which got 20 kills from Lazzarini and 18 from Johnson, appeared to have things won in the fourth with a 24-20 advantage before King’s forced a fifth game, fighting off six match points for the 29-27 victory. The emotional match had players on both sides wiping away tears, and Doering made sure to go around the huddle and hug each of her girls for their efforts.

“My kids were going up to each other (during a fifth-game timeout) and saying, ‘We are not losing,’” Doering said. “This whole past week we played against the scoreboard — putting them in situations where they had to come from behind or hold a lead. We put the pressure on these kids the best we can to prepare them for these situations.”

Connell did plenty of fighting as well to reach the championship match, coming from two games down in both the quarterfinals and the semifinals against Lakeside and Chewelah, respectively. The Eagles defeated Lakeside 22-25, 9-25, 25-19, 31-29, 15-9 and the Cougars 17-25, 15-25, 25-22, 25-18, 15-10. They even played their best game against Colfax after trailing 2-0, leading 13-11 at one point.

Connell coach Vicky Buss accredited this to the makeup of her team, which has 10 seniors who helped the team reach its first finals in volleyball.

“They have a lot of heart,” Buss said. “This team has a lot of seniors and five of them were here last year and they wanted something.”

Colfax's fourth straight volleyball title in the SunDome matches the Bulldogs basketball squad, which also has won fourth straight crowns in Yakima. The girls hoops team will have a chance for one more 1A title before Colfax becomes a Class 2B school next fall.