The Kittitas Coyotes entered the trophy round of the Class 2B state volleyball tournament in the SunDome on Saturday afternoon with high hopes, but realistic expectations.

By beating DeSales in five games in the morning, Kittitas earned at least eighth place, with a shot at seventh.

Unfortunately, the Coyotes had to go through perennial power La Conner to get it.

"They are a powerhouse; they are here year after year," Kittitas coach Brandon Ambrose said of La Conner. "They are definitely on people's minds."

Kittitas struggled early and often against a crisp La Conner team, overwhelmed and swept 25-14, 25-16, 25-20.

"We are an emotional team and when we play with positive emotion, we do great things," Ambrose said. "But when we are mentally out of it, the whole team just struggles."

The struggles began immediately, as the first set saw the Braves sprint to a 10-1 lead. Trying to play catch-up, Kittitas got as close as three points at 11-8 before La Conner ended the game on a 14-6 run.

Kittitas kept up in the second set before La Conner broke a 10-10 tie to run away with it.

The third set was different. Kittitas played with energy and passion, with the careers of six seniors on the line.

"For some reason they came back this game," Ambrose said of the Coyotes, who forced a back-and-forth battle with four lead changes. "I told them it's all about pride this game. Seventh and eighth place doesn't mean much, but I wanted them to play with pride and without regret."

Kittitas came back from a six-point deficit to get to within 20-22 before coming up short. But Ambrose was happy with the effort.

"I would rather them go out having fun on the court, losing, but doing their best, than going out there panicking, freaking out, and then playing horrible anyway," he said. "If you're going to lose, you might as well have fun doing it."

Junior Dakota Adams and senior Erica Clerf each had four kills in the match.

"For me and the girls it doesn't really matter because the goal is to get first (place)," Ambrose said. "So it's good to trophy up, but seventh isn't much different from eighth."

To reach the trophy round, Kittitas beat DeSales 25-21, 25-12, 23-25, 19-25, 15-6.

Adams had 20 kills, while Clerf totaled nine kills and five aces, Tori O'Shaughnessy had nine kills, Ashley Hayes had five blocks and Jessica Lawrence dished out 35 assists.
In other action, Riverside Christian lost to Brewster 25-17, 25-18, 25-19 and was eliminated from trophy contention.