District 4A volleyball field includes relieved Mt. Spokane

Mt. Spokane volleyball coach John Reid could finally breathe a sigh of relief following Tuesday’s latest five-game marathon.

His Wildcats advanced into this week’s six-team District 8 4A tournament, which begins tonight and continues through Saturday.

Mt. Spokane, led by the hitting of Katrina Johnson and blocking at the net, eliminated Shadle Park in a tiebreaking match, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to win the final three games 25-21, 25-17, 15-11.

It was the Wildcats’ third five-game contest during a stretch run of five matches that began with a must win over Shadle to ultimately produce the sixth-place tie and need for the tiebreaker.

“Last Thursday if we won we were third, if we lost we tied for sixth,” Reid said of the harrowing end of to the regular season.

After falling 25-18, 25-15 to the Highlanders at Mead on Tuesday, it didn’t look as if Mt. Spokane’s season would continue.

“I told (the Wildcats players) last night, before the match, that I was not ready to be done yet,” said Reid. “In 25 years of coaching, I’m never ready for the season to be over.”

His players took him to heart.

Now the focus turns to best-of-3 matches in the double-elimination district playoffs. The four highest seeds host matches tonight and Friday before play moves to Mt. Spokane on Saturday.