3A VOLLEYBALL: Wildcats prevail at right time

Somewhere between the open expanse of the Peone Prairie and the wooded hills of Mead, the Mt. Spokane Wildcats found their game.

They did so just in time.

The No. 1 seed from the Greater Spokane League was knocked off in the semifinals by Hanford at Mt. Spokane High School Saturday, then salvaged the third and final berth from the Eastern 3A Regional volleyball tournament into next weekend’s state championships in Kennewick by holding off East Valley at Mead High 25-23, 25-15, 22-25, 25-23.

The Wildcats won the opening game of their semifinal with Hanford 26-24 only to lose all semblance of momentum.

After rallying from a 4-1 deficit early in Game 2 to take a brief 5-4 lead, Mt. Spokane could muster back-to-back points only three times in the remainder of the match.

The Falcons’ McKenzie Snow served the final 12 points of to close out a 25-10 Hanford win to even the match at a game apiece. By the time she surrendered the serve, ironically off her own back-row miss-hit, Snow had staked her team to a 3-0 lead in Game 3 for a 15-point service run.

Hanford went on to close out the match with 25-12 and 25-9 wins.

“Hanford really took us out of a lot of the things we normally do,” Mt. Spokane coach John Reid said. “We really don’t match up with them very well because they have so much height. You can’t coach 6-foot-2. And they’ve been ranked all season long.”

With the loss, the Wildcats also lost their home-court advantage.

“We really didn’t have much time to even talk – we had barely an hour to get packed up and get over to Mead to play East Valley,” Reid said. “What we did talk about was just reading the ball and reacting to it. I didn’t want them thinking about what they were going to do.”

Still, senior Caitlin Barschig used the time to make something perfectly clear to her teammates – especially the underclassmen.

“I told them that we were going to state,” the 5-10 middle blocker said. “There was no way we weren’t going. The seniors weren’t going to allow that to happen and that meant that the juniors and sophomores were going to have to step up.”

The in-transit pep talk helped. By the time the Wildcats, who start five seniors, stepped on the court to meet the Knights, they were filled with confidence.

“We got our confidence back – that was key for us,” Barschig said.

East Valley, which lost to Kamiakin in its semifinal, also rediscovered some confidence and showed it wasn’t about to go quietly.

Several untimely net violation calls lifted the Wildcats to the 25-23 win in the opening game and the team maintained their momentum through the second game, which they won 25-15.

Outside hitters Justine Simpson and Allie Riggin rallied the Knights in the third game. Simpson served five straight points down the stretch as East Valley posted the 25-22 game-three win.

East Valley rallied from deficits of 8-4 and 17-13 in the fourth game and took a 21-20 lead only to have Mt. Spokane’s seniors take over.

Setter Jordon Hoffnagle sapped East Valley’s momentum with a dink to knot the score at 21-21 and middle blocker Brook Duncan hit down the middle to put the Wildcats in control at 23-21, then hit cross-court to make it 24-22. Barschig served the coup de grace on game point with a crushing cross-court shot.

Kamiakin defeated Hanford in the title game 25-17, 18-25, 15-25, 25-22, 15-13 and will take the No. 1 seed to the state tournament.