Davenport Makes Amends

B volleyball

The Davenport Gorillas made darn sure they didn’t have a repeat of last year’s disaster.

Last season, the Gorillas, overwhelming favorites after an undefeated season, were eliminated from the State B volleyball tournament during the first day of play.

Friday, Davenport was one of four undefeated teams to emerge from the pool-play portion of the 2000 tournament at Eastern Washington University.

Almira-Coulee/Hartline, Pomeroy and Klickitat are the other unbeaten teams heading into today’s match-play portion at EWU and the Spokane Arena.

Davenport, behind the strong play of senior middle blocker Cindy Swain, didn’t drop a game en route to winning its three matches.

Swain was especially tough in an opening-round showdown with Garfield-Palouse, the defending state champion.

Swain had 17 kills, eight digs and two aces as Davenport won a tight match 15-12, 15-12.

“I just knew we had to start strong,” said Swain, who had 35 kills in three matches. “I was up early before my alarm clock (went off), thinking about what I had to do.”

“They had a little revenge,” Davenport coach Pete Schweiger said. “We wanted to prove we could do be better than last year.”

Garfield-Palouse shrugged off the loss to Davenport and destroyed Mt. Vernon Christian 15-2, 15-4 and Naselle 15-4, 15-1 to earn a spot in today’s play.

The draw for match play, performed after the final match Friday, put Garfield-Palouse and Davenport on opposite ends of the bracket.

If Davenport makes the championship match, Swain said she expects to see Garfield-Palouse waiting for them.

The Vikings will have to play ACH in one of two 8:30 a.m. matches. Davenport, making its 10th straight state appearance, drew Tekoa-Oakesdale at 10 a.m.

ACH dropped the first game in each of its three matches but rallied to win all of them.

“We didn’t play well,” ACH coach Sean Matthewson said. “We have the first-game blues. It’s a long day, and girls got tired.”

Still, Matthewson has pretty high hopes today.

“I think we’re the dark horse,” he said, fingering Davenport and Garfield-Palouse as the favorites.

ACH downed Tekoa-Oakesdale 7-15, 15-1, 15-9 in both teams’ second match.

“Tekoa was the key (to winning the pool),” Matthewson said. “We knew that coming in.”

Tekoa-Oakesdale swept Pateros and South Bend to move into the second day.

St. George’s and Valley Christian made the most of their first trip to state by earning berths into match play and assuring themselves trophies.

St. George’s won a battle against Manson in the opening round 12-15, 15-12, 15-5 before losing to Pomeroy in the second round 16-14, 15-12. The Dragons qualified for match play by beating up on Lopez 15-8, 15-7.

Valley Christian rebounded from an opening-round loss to Klickitat 15-3, 10-15, 15-3 by pounding on Wahkiakum 15-5, 15-8 and Snohomish County Christian 15-8, 16-14.

Today, St. George’s drew Klickitat in an 8:30 a.m. match. Valley Christian plays Pomeroy at 10 a.m.