Mead Adds Another Title

Mead completed its out-of-order Grand Slam on Saturday night.

The Panthers’ 15-8, 15-12 win over Lewis and Clark gave them the title of the WestCoast Hospitality District 8 4A volleyball tournament at Mt. Spokane High.

Mead hadn’t won the district title since 1980. The jewel is the fourth in the Panthers’ crown during the last 12 months. They won last year’s regional and state tournaments, and this year’s Greater Spokane League title.

“Last year, we were clawing, just trying to get through district,” said Mead coach Judy Kight. “This year was a lot easier.”

Mead advances to the regional tournament as the GSL’s No. 1 seed. The Panthers will open at Mt. Spokane at 7 p.m. Friday against Big Nine Conference No. 4 seed Kamiakin, the regularseason champ.

LC, as No. 2 seed, will open regional at 7 at Mead against Big Nine No. 3 Walla Walla. LC has been district runner-up in four of the last six years.

Other regional openers, at 8:30, will be GSL No. 3 Gonzaga Prep vs. Big Nine No. 2 Eisenhower; and GSL No. 4 Mt. Spokane vs. Big Nine No. 1 Wenatchee. Wenatchee entered as the No. 5 seed, but won its first district title since 1988.

G-Prep earned the GSL’s No. 3 by stomping Mt. Spokane 15-6, 15-3 to open Saturday’s play at Mt. Spokane. Keva Sonderen had 10 kills and four blocks for the Bullpups, who entered as the No. 6 seed. G-Prep last competed at regional in 1995.

Mt. Spokane will make its first regional appearance after making its first district appearance. The Wildcats qualified by holding off Shadle Park 18-16, 15-8 in the final district match. Shadle lost all eight games it has played against Mt. Spokane this season.

“Our hopes grew a lot during this tournament,” said Mt. Spokane coach Bridget Monahan. “Now we hope to finish strong.”

It will be a strange regional without Shadle and Ferris, which had combined to win 22 of the 25 districts that have been played. Ferris won the last five district titles.

Shadle ended Ferris’ year with a 2-1 win prior to the night’s title match.

Mead jumped to a 6-0 first-game lead over LC. The Tigers fought back within three points, at 10-7, but mistakes and a powerful kill by KeLicia Shorts stopped the rally.

“I think right now we’re playing our best, because it’s against better competition and it means more,” Shorts said.

Emily Querna’s kill and block started LC toward a 6-2 second-game lead. The game was tied at 10 when Mead’s Kari Vagstad served three consecutive points, then added a kill for the 14th point.

“We all hit,” Vagstad said. “That’s why we’re playing so well, because we don’t have just one star.”

Julie Marsh totaled 13 kills and four blocks, and Kelly Brannan added 19 assists to lead Cheney to a 15-8, 15-9 win over Colville in the District 7 3A tournament at Cheney. Cheney rallied after trailing the first game 7-1. Colville had a brief lead in the second game, but the Blackhawks clicked off 10 consecutive points… . Both teams advance to Saturday’s regional tournament at Cheney. Regional openers are Colville vs. Mid-Valley No. 3 Prosser, and MV No. 2 West Valley (Yakima) vs. MV No. 4 Hanford. Cheney and MV No. 1 Selah have openinground byes… . Colville opened district with a 15-8, 15-10 win that eliminated West Valley. WV led the first game 4-0 and the second 6-1. Janet Bach totaled seven digs for Colville, and added two kills and a block late in the second game… . WV started the day by ousting Clarkston 15-8, 15-8.

Mollie Hornfelt finished with 16 kills and 14 digs to lead Pullman (8-4) to a 3-1 win over visiting Newport that created a second-place tie in final Great Northern League standings. Pullman won the final game 15-10 after trailing 7-3… . The teams will play a tiebreaker at Medical Lake on Tuesday night to determine the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds to the District 7 2A tournament at East Valley on Saturday. Loser-out openers will be the No. 3 vs. No. 6 Riverside, and No. 4 Medical Lake vs. No. 5 Chewelah. The No. 2 and No. 1 Lakeside have opening-round byes… . ML didn’t report its final regular-season match, against visiting Chewelah.

Julie Witherspoon finished with 16 kills and 12 blocks to guide St. George’s to a 15-13, 13-15, 15-7 win over Northwest Christian in the title match of the Panorama League tournament at Kettle Falls. The outcome reversed their regular-season matchup, a 3-2 NWC win, and gave the Dragons the No. 1 seed to the District 7 B tournament. NWC moves on as No. 2… . Witherspoon also had 12 kills and five blocks as St. George’s opened the day with a 2-0 win over Springdale… . Springdale bounced back to top Republic 2-0 in the match for third and fourth seeds to the District 7 B tournament… . District openers are St. George’s vs. Bi-County League No. 4 Valley Christian; NWC vs. Bi-Co No. 3 Wilbur-Creston; Springdale vs. Bi-Co No. 2, Almira/Coulee-Hartline; and Republic vs. Bi-Co No. 1, Davenport… . At the Bi-County tourney in Reardan, Davenport defeated ACH 2-0 in the title match, and VC eliminated Ritzville 3-15, 15-10, 15-8.

Pomeroy defeated DeSales 15-4, 15-11 in the title match of the Blue Mountain tournament at Pomeroy. Touchet topped Liberty Christian 2-0 in the consolation match… . The league’s seeds for the District 9 B tournament are: 1, Pomeroy; 2, DeSales; 3, Touchet; 4, Liberty Christian.

Girls soccer

Casey Peterson’s goal off a penalty kick capped Cheney’s 2-0 win over visiting West Valley in the District 7 3A championship match. Peterson’s goal was set up when a WV player grabbed Heather Walker by the shirt and took her down. Cheney (11-3-1) earned a first-round bye to the regional tournament. The Blackhawks will play at home on Thursday against Tuesday’s winner between Prosser (8-10-1) and Hanford (14-2). WV (7-10-1) will host Eastmont (11-7) at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Katie Harkins scored on a free kick from 4 yards out in the 55th minute to lift Pullman (9-6-2) to a 3-2 win over Riverside (11-4) in the first round of the District 7 2A tournament at Nine Mile Falls. Pullman will play Lakeside (12-3-1) at noon Saturday for a berth to the state playoffs… . Also at district, Lacie Wilson’s shot from 18 yards completed Lakeside’s 2-0 win that eliminated Deer Park (5-11).

Football

Paul Dart rushed for 316 yards and five TDs on 21 carries, and Odessa (7-1) piled up 804 total yards during a 90-40 B-8 non-league win at Entiat (2-5). The Tigers finished with 647 yards on the ground. Shawn Smith, with 120 yards and two TDs, and Nick Sebesta, with 117 yards and a TD, added to the punishing ground game.