GSL volleyball unbeatens meet tonight

Two early season non-counting volleyball meetings between Mead and Lewis and Clark turned out to be a wash.

The Tigers won during a jamboree; the Panthers, in five sets, captured their non-league contest.

Tonight at Mead, the unbeaten Greater Spokane League teams face off for real, the league championship, in all likelihood, going with it.

“It appears that way,” Tigers coach Julie Yearout said.

LC (5-0, ranked third in state) and five-time 4A state champion Mead (4-0 and ranked No. 1) are two games up in the loss column over six other teams. Three of those are Class 3A and will go their separate post-season ways at season’s end.

Mead brings back six players from last year’s state titlist, including early University of Southern California commit Alexis Olgard, but only three seniors. And the Panthers are relying heavily on new faces. Earlier this year, Olgard said that winning state titles is always difficult, but to defend this year will be even harder because there’s so little state experience in the lineup.

“One of our seniors was out when we played LC the last time,” coach Judy Kite said. “We started four sophomores and two juniors.”

Senior right side Kylie McCluskey will be back tonight. The youngsters are juniors Olgard and setter Emma Barrington joined by sophomores Kuulei Zalopany, Katie Miller, second setter Danika Christen and 5-foot-9 middle blocker Kaely Kight – the coach’s daughter.

“We didn’t know at the beginning,” Judy Kite said about how well this team would come along. “We’ll find out (tonight). It’s our first big test since the non-league game and we’ll need to fire on all cylinders offensively.”

The Tigers, by contrast, have nine veterans back from last year’s state runner-up, led by Oceana Bush, Chloe Rowand and Hilary Koenigs.

There were three two-point outcomes in their non-league match.

“It was a great battle and we had our moments,” coach Julie Yearout said. “I don’t think we mixed it up enough and were predictable in what we did. We can’t let them get their rhythm.”

Yearout likes LC’s depth and plans to exploit it in tonight’s contest. She said that even though Mead is young, with the 6-foot-5 junior Olgard in the middle and contributions from other juniors and sophomores, the Panthers are talented.

It’s the big start of a big week for volleyball. Friday and Saturday is the annual 64-team Crossover Classic, this year being played at Lewis and Clark, Ferris, Shadle Park and Rogers. It is the benchmark by which teams from throughout the area and state judge themselves.

First-place showdowns

Besides the Mead-Lewis and Clark volleyball match, there are several other first-place showdowns in the next couple of days.

North Central and Mead boys cross country teams risk their perfect records Wednesday at Audubon Park. The Indians are ranked No. 1 nationally and are the state’s top-rated 3A classification team. Mead has been ranked as high as No. 1 among Washington 4A teams and, like NC, is defending state champion.

Also:

•Today Great Northern League unbeaten girls soccer teams Pullman and West Valley play at WV, and unbeaten GNL boys cross country teams Cheney and Colville meet in Colville.

When it rains, it pours

Anything that could have gone awry did, and still Ferris won its non-league game at Eastmont, 21-12. Surviving the circumstances, Saxons coach Jim Sharkey said, was victory in itself.

A light, but steady rain for three quarters made the going difficult, particularly in the second half. Ferris fumbled through the end zone and lost a potential 28-6 lead before intermission. Afterward, the Saxons coughed up the ball on five successive possessions.

“We turned it over every possession in the third quarter and played in our own end of the field,” Sharkey said.

Yet the defense allowed only one touchdown. The Saxons also had 150 yards of penalties.

The game was a chance for Derek Peterson to show his stuff at quarterback. Peterson may not be this year’s Lou Gehrig for Wally Pipp exchange as Jeff Minnerly was for Shawn Stockton when they were juniors, but he had 250 yards of total offensive yardage, throwing for two touchdowns. And Connor Halliday is still uncertain if he can return from mononucleosis.

The game also marked the debut of fullback Kevin Wright, a Georgia transfer who rushed for 63 yards on 17 attempts.

“They showed flashes of brilliance and struggled,” Sharkey said. “But it was everything we wanted to go through and did. It was a good experience for the kids. They had to play four quarters two weeks in a row.”

Ferris had more speed and depth than Eastmont, he said, but so does this week’s foe, Shadle Park, which leaves him wary. The Highlanders rushed for more than 200 yards in a loss to Lewis and Clark.

If the Saxons win, they and Central Valley will be the lone unbeaten league teams as 4A heads into the final three weeks of head-to-head Greater Spokane League contests. Six games – Gonzaga Prep-Mead, Ferris at Central Valley, Ferris-Lewis and Clark, CV at Prep, Mead at CV and Gonzaga-LC – will determine two post-season teams.