Bulldog Determination Colfax Recovers From Opening Loss To Win State A Volleyball Championship

One game from elimination early Friday, Colfax had to work overtime late Saturday to win the State A volleyball championship.

The Bulldogs lost their opener in pool play Friday morning and then their first game in the second match, making an early trip home from Chelan a distinct possibility.

“The coaching staff got pretty into it at this point,” Colfax coach Sue Doering said. “Our assistant (Lisa McCammond), who played at the University of Washington, came on to the girls. The girls started picking it up.”

The Bulldogs rallied to beat Lakewood 15-17, 15-6, 15-3 and followed that with a 15-7, 16-14 win over Warden to advance to trophy play. They kept cruising, dropping LaCenter 15-9, 15-6 and Meridian 15-11, 16-14 to make the championship.

In the championship match, the Bulldogs came up against one of the best teams, Ridgefield, and best players in the tournament, 6-foot-1 Alyssa Bearus, who set the State B shotput record last year, plus a good supporting cast. They promptly lost the first game 15-9.

“It looked to me like we were playing for second,” Doering said. “I asked the girls, ‘Do you want to play for first or play for second?’ I felt really good. I thought we had a team that could beat Ridgefield, we just had to compete. Right there they stepped it up.”

Colfax rallied to win the second game 15-9.

“The key for us, which I don’t think other teams have, is we have enough tall players to put up a double block,” Doering said. “Our blockers got a lot of touches and she really had to think about her hits.”

Angie Hall, a 5-10 junior who was a part-time starter as a freshman and team MVP as a sophomore, and 5-11 junior Lindsay Thiele challenged Bearus.

With Hall serving six straight points and Bearus in the back row, the Bulldogs opened a 13-5 lead in the finale. Ridgefield earned a sideout with a great volley, getting Bearus back to the front row and Rachel Weisman served the Spudders back into a tie.

“Now it became a true championship match,” Doering said. “We had to get the big girl off the front.”

Jessica Blevens came in when Thiele reached the back row and made some crucial digs with senior co-captain Chanda Miller, who was celebrating her birthday, to push Bearus to the back. Senior Amy Zimmerman, served the 14th point but Ridgefield tied after several sideouts and then junior Tracy Tribbett got the 15th point for Colfax with an ace. After another tie, Hall served for the final two points with Thiele making the kills.

“The thing about our team is we’re so deep,” Doering said.”My senior year (at Bonners Ferry) I sat on the bench and my sister, who is a year younger, played. I know the role of the bench. That was the key to our team.”

Junior Michelle Mellor pushes setters Tribbett and Zimmerman and 6-foot senior Brooke Hansen spells Alison Harder, Thiele and Hall on the front row. Miller plays the back row and subs out with senior hitter and co-captain Nicki Lang.

“We have a team that is capable of scoring on every rotation,” Doering said. “Usually they say if you score on 50 percent of your serves, you’re doing well and we’ve been scoring on 65 percent. The matches we get our serves in we win pretty big.”

Doering installs her offense early and in eighth grade the future Bulldogs are running a double block.”That makes a big difference,” she said. “Then they don’t have to start high school and have to change their skills.”Colfax won a state title in 1988,

Doering’s first year, and have only missed state once in her eight years.

“I thought at the beginning of season we had a really good shot,” Doering said. “I think we just played well. We ran a quick offense … that helped, too. I don’t think any other team ran a consistent quick offense like we did. A lot hadn’t seen that or played that. Our girls did a really good job.”

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