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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Panthers destiny’s darlings


Panthers Emma Olgard (10) and Karyn Mockel (4) celebrate title. 
 (Rajah Bose Special to / The Spokesman-Review)

KENNEWICK – It wasn’t Redmond or Spanaway Lake’s fault. Mead and Lewis and Clark, simply put, had a date with destiny.

And as fate would have it, the reigning champion Panthers prevailed, topping LC 25-21, 25-22, 26-24 Saturday night in the championship match of the State 4A volleyball tournament at the Toyota Center.

LC and Mead swept Spanaway Lake and Redmond, respectively, in afternoon semifinal matches, earning them a place in the all-Greater Spokane League final.

The Panthers pounced on the Tigers early in the first game, taking advantage of LC’s unforced hitting errors. The Tigers didn’t make a lot of mistakes, but Mead made even fewer, playing a nearly flawless game.

In the second game, the teams traded points until 19-all. Mead’s Alex Cey aced one point and Karyn Mockel dumped a quick point on the Tigers to break away. Mead picked up two more quick points before LC made a final effort to even the match at one-game all.

Senior Tigers Janae Forney, Hannah Zimmerman and Erica Ehlo all had kills to bring LC within one point of tying the game. But two unforced errors later, Mead took the second game.

The Panthers took early control of the third and final game, jumping ahead 7-3. But LC went on a 6-2 scoring run to tie the game at 9-all. After a back-and-forth fight, the scoreboard showed 20-all. LC took its first lead of the game on an Ehlo kill at 21-all.

The Panthers retaliated, earning a point on an LC blocking error. Freshman Alexis Olgard locked things up again at 22-all with a kill that kissed the line and senior Ashley Hutchinson added another kill. At 24-all, Mead junior Emma Olgard blasted a shot into the middle to bring up match point for Mead.

The Tigers shanked a serve-receive pass and the Panthers celebrated their fourth straight state title.

“We made too many unforced errors,” LC coach Julie Yearout said. “And Mead played a really solid match. We sort of pulled apart from each other at the end and that’s kind of been the difference. When we beat them before, we came together at the end and celebrated points, but here we just didn’t do that. But they had a good tournament, you can’t take that away from them.”

Mead senior Kady Try, whose Brentwood (Calif.) High team placed second in the state tournament in California last year, savored the feeling of being a state champion.

“I am so ecstatic right now,” Try said. “We wanted it so bad, we would have done anything to win that match. This is the coolest feeling in the world.”

With the win, Mead became the first 4A team in Washington history to win the state title four consecutive years. The only other team to do it was Odessa, a Class B team, which won from 1989-1992.

“I’m honestly stunned,” Mead coach Judy Kight said. “We won some big points and really hung in there, and I am just beyond proud of this team.”

She should be proud. It was never out of the question at the beginning of the year, but after last year it seemed, well, a little unlikely. The Panthers graduated all six starters from last year’s team. This year, the Panthers will lose Try and Hutchinson.

“We had eight seniors last year,” Kight said. “And six starters left. That really says how resilient this team was, to come back and do it again, a new group of girls.”

The Mead victory settled the score in a rivalry that has lasted all season long. Going into the final, each team had two wins against the other, Mead in the league championship and district tournament and LC in an early non-league match and last weekend in the regional final.

Meg Ryan led the Panthers with eight kills and 19 digs. Alexis Olgard finished with nine blocks for the Panthers.

Sophomore Oceana Bush had 11 kills and 16 digs for LC and teammate Chloe Rowand had six blocks.

Shadle Park, which swept Bellarmine Prep earlier in the day, finished eighth.

The Highlanders fell short of a fifth-place trophy, losing 26-24, 27-25, 25-23 to Central Kitsap.

“I felt like we were playing safe, instead of playing to win,” Shadle coach Brooke Cooper said.

The Highlanders had game points in the first two games, but couldn’t find the floor against the scrappy Cougars defense. In the third and final game, Central Kitsap senior Vienna Gilman sent the final point down the line.

But all was not lost for the Highlanders, who barely earned a place in the district tournament. This was Shadle’s first appearance at the tournament since 2002 and first trophy since placing third in 1999.

“I’m super excited,” Cooper said. “We get to go home with a trophy and that’s great. I think there will be higher expectations for the years to come.”