East Side Rules At B Tourney
State volleyball
When the dust settled on the first day of the State B high school volleyball championships at Eastern Washington University Friday, it was teams from the East Side that claimed the majority of spots in today’s quarterfinals.
Darrington will be Western Washington’s sole representative when play resumes at 8:30 a.m. today.
“It’s tradition; we have a good winning tradition,” said Ritzville coach Kathy Sackmann, noting that second-day competition is normally dominated by Eastern Washington schools.
Of the eight teams advancing, four left Friday’s pool play undefeated: Davenport, Pomeroy, Tekoa-Oakesdale and Northwest Christian.
Davenport came into the tournament looking to defend its state title. Defeating Naselle, Cascade Christian and Manson in easy fashion set up a quarterfinal match-up against Darrington.
“It was a pretty good first day,” said Davenport coach Pete Shweiger. “We just got the job done.”
Pomeroy is a team many feel could dethrone the Gorillas with tri-towers Tracy Wren, Courtney Brandon and Jessica Henry - all of whom stand over 6 feet tall.
After convincing wins over Reardan and Neah Bay, the Pirates ran into a fired-up La Conner team that almost stole the first game before losing 18-16, 15-4.
“They played better than I’ve seen them play all day,” said Pomeroy coach Jim Greene of La Conner. “They gave us all we wanted.”
Pomeroy is set to face-off against Ritzville today.
Northwest Christian also emerged from pool play unscathed after Sunnyside Christian gave it a run for its money with a 15-2, 11-15, 15-11 third match. It draws Reardan in today’s quarterfinal match.
Tekoa-Oakesdale and Ritzville both entered the third round of pool play without a loss, setting up a pool C showdown - the winner getting the No. 1 seed.
Tekoa-Oakesdale jumped out to a seemingly commanding 10-0 lead before the Broncos stormed back to tie at 10.
The momentum shifted back the Nighthawks’ way and they put the game away 15-13.
In the second game, Tekoa-Oakesdale again took a big lead, this time going up 14-5, before Ritzville started to chip away. But its rally fell short and the Nighthawks won 15-9.
“The momentum was just something else,” said John Taylor, TekoaOakedale’s coach. “Volleyball is just such a goofy game.”
The back-and-forth flow of the game was typical of a Nighthawks-Broncos volleyball game said Sackmann. The schools split their regular-season meetings, each winning on their home courts.
“I wanted to get them to Spokane so they could show their stuff,” said Taylor, whose team plays Manson today. “We haven’t peaked yet.”
Though Reardan enters quarterfinal play as a second seed, coach Bryce Wilson isn’t too concerned.
“We can beat anybody now,” he said. “When you play that schedule (against Panorama and Bi-County teams), it prepares you for state.”
2A tournament
Colville won all three of its matches the first day of the State 2A tournament at St. Martin’s College in Lacey.
The Indians beat Yakima’s East Valley 15-2, 15-10 in the first round and followed with a 15-3, 15-3 win over Foster and a 19-17, 17-15 win over Meridian.
Newport advanced after going 2-1 on the day. After dropping their opener to Black Hills 15-7, 15-7, the Grizzlies rallied for wins over Grandview (15-9, 14-16, 15-12) and Eatonville (15-13, 15-1).
Pullman lost three straight matches.
1A tournament
Colfax advanced to the second day of the Class 1A state tournament the hard way.
The Bulldogs dropped their opener to Warden 15-10, 15-9, before rallying for a 15-12, 15-2 win over Rainier and a 15-4, 15-0 victory over Friday Harbor.
Colfax goes up against Kalama this morning at 8:30.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FINAL 8 These are the B teams who will be playing in the quarterfinal matches beginning today at 8:30 a.m. at Eastern. Trophy matches will move to the Arena at 4:30 p.m. Manson Tekoa-Oakesdale Reardan Northwest Christian Darrington Davenport Ritzville Pomeroy