Not too much was expected of La Salle at the Class 1A state volleyball tournament. The Lightning had, after all, finished a mere fourth in the SCAC West.

But the Lightning's 2011 resume now includes something a bit more impressive than that: a sixth-place state finish.

"How about that: The fourth-place team in league is trophying," La Salle coach Collette Heffner said after her team's convincing 25-14, 25-22, 27-25 victory over Cedar Park Christian and its imposing 6-foot middle Mattie Shelford (20 kills). "And we've had a tough path. We had to play Colville, for goodness sake."

The Lightning lost that match to Colville and dropped their tourney finale to a very athletic Freeman team 25-12, 25-16, 25-22 in the fifth/sixth-place match. Between those matches, though, they demonstrated their resilience with the victory over CPC.

"I'm really proud of the way they played," Heffner said. "They had that tough loss to Colville and they come back the next morning and bounced back."

Senior standout Regine Standley turned in her typical sensational day, following her 14-kill, four-block performance against CPC with a six-kill, nine-dig, three-block night in the loss to the Scotties.

"I think a lot of people thought about us, 'They're not going to make it,' but we just kept pushing ourselves," said Standley, who along with Gasseling played virtually every minute of last year's seventh-place-trophy season and now this sixth-placer. "I'm so proud of these girls because they worked so hard, they stuck with it, and because they've accomplished so much for us seniors."

The Lightning had plenty of heroines against CPC, with senior reserve Sarah Snyder accruing three kills at big moments, freshman Ashley Anderson chipping in three kills and seven digs and sophomore middle Dani Kaschmitter having her best net match of the tourney (11 kills, three stuff blocks). Cheyenne Taylor had 10 kills over Saturday's two matches ("She had a really good tournament," Heffner noted), but the Lightning simply couldn't match Maya Jensen and the rest of Freeman's explosive hitters.

SCAC West champion Zillah, an overachieving bunch which had overcome its one quite literal shortcoming -- its lack of height -- to run through an unbeaten league season, fell one victory short of a state trophy Saturday when it was beaten by a much-taller and just as athletic Freeman squad 25-15, 25-14, 25-16.

The Scotties had three players with double-digit digs and four with seven or more kills, led by high-flying 5-9 outside hitter Maya Jansen (12 kills, 14 digs). What few kill opportunities Zillah had, the Scotties simply kept in play.

"Freeman didn't make mistakes," Zillah coach Lindsey Golob said. "Lots of long rallies and they usually ended it with a kill."

Senior Whitney Winters finished her final state tourney with a bang, racking up nine kills and 11 digs.

"I'm really proud of my team," Winters said. "I'm proud to be a part of this team, and even though this didn't end the way we wanted it to, I wouldn't trade my teammates for anybody.

"These last two teams we played (Lynden Christian on Friday and Freeman) were both really tall and competitive, and really athletic. They were tough teams to play."

Like Winters, Naches Valley's Justine Benner also finished her career in emphatic fashion. The SCAC West's player of the year hammered 17 kills and stuff-blocked three Ridgefield shots, but it was far too little to overcome Ridgefield's resilient defense in the Spudders' 25-19, 25-16, 25-14 sweep.

"They were very good on defense. They dug a lot," Rangers coach Sheri Partlow said. "Our girls played really, really hard this year; they've really improved from the beginning of the season to now."

The Rangers lose two stellar seniors in Benner and Katie Reeder, who finished her season with a nine-kill game, but return everybody else -- so the future looks bright.

Said Partlow, "We'll be back next year."

La Salle highlights: Vs. Cedar Park Christian: Regina Standley 14 kills, 4 blocks, 9 digs; Dani Kaschmitter 11 kills, 3 blocks; Cheyenne Taylor 4 kills; Ashley Anderson 3 kills, 7 digs; Rachel Gasseling 30 assists, 10 digs; Megan McCanna 5 digs; Janelle Dufault 9 digs; Sarah Snider 3 kills. Vs. Freeman -- Standley 6 kills, 3 stuff blocks, 9 digs; Taylor 6 kills; Gasseling 14 assists, 3 kills, 4 digs; Kaschmitter 2 kills, 2 stuff blocks; Anderson 7 digs; Dufault 8 digs.

Naches Valley highlights: Vs. Ridgefield -- Justine Benner 17 kills, 3 blocks, 9-10 serving, 2 aces; Katie Reeder 9 kills, 8-10 serving; Abby Yost 12-13 serving; Kristin Stanley 15-16 serving, 3 aces, 5 kills; Alex Krapf 26 assists.

Zillah highlights: Vs. Freeman -- Whitney Winters 9 kills, 11 digs; Kassidy Ruggles 6 kills, 6 digs; Leigh-Ann Purdy 2 kills, 7 digs; Allison Torres 5-5 serving, 10 digs; Felina Razey 8 assists, 16 digs; Jennifer Nelson 8-9 serving, 2 digs, 8 assists; Madison Burge 6 digs.