Mead moves into semifinals
The Mead volleyball team is one win away from playing for another state championship.
Lewis and Clark, meanwhile, will play for fourth/seventh Friday.
Click the tab below to read my unedited story.
By
Staff writer
The No. 1-ranked Panthers swept their first two opponents, cruising past outmanned Tahoma 25-15, 25-13, 25-12 and breezing by Olympia 25-9, 25-16, 25-12 at the Toyota Center.
Defending state champ Lewis and Clark recovered from a slow
start in a first-round match, topping Edmonds-Woodway 26-28, 25-20, 25-21,
25-20 before running into a brick wall against Curtis, which stopped the Tigers
21-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-13. In a loser-out match, LC fought back to down
Mead (30-2) will take on Graham-Kapowsin (31-4) in the semifinals this afternoon at 3:30. In the other semifinal, Curtis (22-3) will take on Auburn Riverside (26-7).
LC (17-9) will take home a trophy. The Tigers take on
Mead was especially efficient its two victories, especially
against
The Panthers were inspired, managing a measure of revenge
against
“You don’t forget that kind of stuff,” Mead coach Judy Kight
said of the second-round loss to
Mead’s not only the path to changing its course, the Panthers sent a statement Thursday.
Junior outside hitter Kuulei Zalopany battled the flu the
past week, but she was back to her usually effective self. Against
“We came out really strong and we were ready to play,” she said.
So what will Mead have to do to finish the job today?
“We’re going to have to play with HGP (heart, guts and passion),” Zalopany said. “We want the (title) trophy.”
Zalopany explained that HGP has been a longtime motto for
tradition-rich Mead. She had plenty of help against
“We only have one day left and we’re playing our best,” Kight said.
Mead barely broke a sweat against Tahoma.
Tahoma couldn’t sustain an attack against Mead. Olgard led the Panthers with 14 kills, the majority of which were uncontested by the smaller Bears. She also had seven digs, five blocks and two aces. Teammate Mady Dahlstrom had six kills and 12 digs.
“I got to play everybody and everybody played well,” Kight said. “We just want to make sure that we’re rounded and getting a lot of contributions.”
Unlike its first-round match, LC started well against Curtis. After the Vikings evened the match up in the second set, they took control thereafter.
Janele Vogt led the Tigers with 15 kills. Shelby Grant had 21 digs and six kills.
In the elimination match, the Tigers dug deep and found
something left against
“Expectations and goals are two different things,” LC coach Heather Jackson said. “We really expected to bring home some hardware. Their goal was to be in that championship match, so it was a bit disappointing. But they responded tremendously.”
Vogt and Mercedes Montoya led with eight kills apiece.
Against Edmond-Woodway, Vogt led LC with 16 kills and eight blocks.
After committing four service errors in the first set, the Tigers limited their service mistakes in the final three sets.
“It took us a while to get into the flow but also it’s 9
a.m. in the morning and the girls are used to playing 7 o’clock (p.m.)
matches,”