Taller West Stars Prevail

It would have been real easy to have gotten lost in the East and West volleyball all-star teams locker rooms.

With just about half the rosters in the AAA/AA 1995 Washington State Mizuno All State Mizuno All State High School Volleyball Series standing 6 feet and taller, the West used its slight height advantage to defeat the East 9-15, 16-14, 15-13, 15-13 Thursday night at North Central High School.

In what many observers called the best game of the 10-year series, the competition was just as intense as the North Central gym was hot.

“These kids are amazing,” Rogers coach and AAA/AA East coach Sharon Hankins said.

True enough.

The East and West squads were brought together on Tuesday for the first time and had been practicing in the sweltering gymnasiums at Ferris and Lewis and Clark.

“We had a five-and-a-half hour on practice Wednesday, and if we had asked them to go another hour, they would have done it.”

The East took the first game from the West, but the West, whose front line never dipped under 6 feet, took control after the first game.

In the third game, the West raced to a 10-3 lead. However, the East rallied to tie the score at 13 before the West took the final two points.

Paving the way for the West was 6-5 middle blocker Benishe Dillard of Kent-Meridian, who finished with 12 kills, and 6-4 Leslie Tuiasosopo of Woodinville, who had 11.

For the East, Lewis and Clark’s Shannon Blott registered 11 kills while Shadle Park’s Kelly Bartleson contributed 11 digs.

, DataTimes