Dealing with disappointment
It’s the hard truth about chasing dreams: the closer you are to you goal when you fall short, the harder it hurts.
At East Valley and at University, the sting is keenly felt. Both teams fell one game shy of reaching their respective state high school volleyball tournaments. East Valley lost in four games to Mt. Spokane for the third and final Class 3A state berth Saturday while U-Hi lost to Shadle Park in three games for the final Class 4A entry.
Both East Valley and Mt. Spokane reached the semifinals of the Class 3A tournament, falling to Kamiakin and Hanford, respectively, before squaring off for the final state berth. Mead and Lewis and Clark, both finalists at last year’s state tournament, took the first and second seeds, respectively, into the Class 4A tournament.
“It’s hard when you get that close and not make it,” East Valley coach Jim Dorr said. “Sure, you’re disappointed. I’m sure U-Hi is feeling the same way. You play the semifinal and lose, then you turn right around and play again in a loser-out game.
“But at the same time, I am so proud of the way my team played. We played a lot of loser-out games the past few weeks. These kids played with a lot of courage and with emotion and I am proud of them.”
University finished fourth during the regular season, posting a 7-4 league record under first-year coach Mark Weis, who spent four seasons as an assistant to former coach Amanda Velasquez.
East Valley, with just two seniors on its varsity roster, was 5-5 in league and survived a five-set scare from North Central in a loser-out game to reach the regional tournament.
“I have a lot of respect for North Central and they really gave us a major scare,” Dorr said. “That’s a program that you have to keep an eye on.”
It would be difficult to find a more difficult league to succeed in than the Greater Spokane League. League champion Mead is favored to win its fifth-consecutive Class 4A championship this weekend in Kennewick, and in the past 10 state tournaments, a GSL team has played in the final game nine times and won six championship trophies.
Since 1984, when legendary coach Linda Sheridan won the league’s first state title, GSL teams have won 14 state championships – five each for Sheridan’s Shadle Park Highlanders, Judy Kight’s Mead Panthers, two for Lewis and Clark and one each for Ferris and North Central.
“I think, every year, we end up leaving home teams in this league that would place at state,” Dorr said. “I think that was the case this year with U-Hi. I look at that team and I can see them doing well at the state tournament.”
East Valley will hold its annual awards night Monday – but moved up the time in order to allow its players the chance to play in the upcoming club season.
Dorr said he plans to cut back just a bit with his own off-season coaching to spend more time watching a son and daughter, both of whom are keeping the family’s volleyball tradition alive. In addition to coaching the Knights, Jim Dorr is a former assistant coach at Gonzaga University while his wife is the former head coach at Rogers.
“I promised my son that I’d help him,” he said. “He love volleyball and he’s excited about playing.”