Eagles top L-W for title
YAKIMA – St. John-Endicott coach Megan Doering capped a wild week with a volleyball championship as her Eagles outlasted District 9 North rival LaCrosse-Washtucna 26-24, 26-28, 23-25, 25-21, 15-10 for the State 1B title at the SunDome.
Doering won four titles as a player for her mother, Sue, at Colfax, working her way up the ladder from fourth place to first in 2000. Her charges made sure she didn’t have to wait long to win her first state title in her second trip to state as coach.
It capped off what for any young women would be a great week – she got engaged Tuesday night to Mike Dorman – the girls basketball coach at LaCrosse-Washtucna.
The match was wild from the start, as has been the case the last two times the teams met.
SJE had to rally from down 24-21 to win the first game 26-24, then came from 10 points down to tie the second game at 24 before falling 28-26. Through the first four games, two points separated the two squads.
“I just kept telling them one point at a time,” Doering said as her players celebrated afterward. “You can’t play the next point until you play this one.
“Our kids have done a really good job of coming back when they have been down.”
Doering said she stole one idea from her mother.
“We’ve been working on playing little five-point games to keep them focused,” she said.
L-W coach Sandy Martin said her charges would rather play an opponent they were unfamiliar with that someone they knew.
“My kids are a lot more comfortable when they have to adjust on the fly,” she said. “We do better when we play teams we know nothing about.”
The familiarity that comes with District 9 volleyball was a big factor in the results. The teams in the final met five times prior to the day. SJE won four of those matches. The Eagles’ victim in the semifinals – Colton – lost to SJE for the seventh time this season.
District 9 neighbor Colton captured third place, outlasting Almira/Coulee-Hartline 3-2, including 17-15 in the clincher.
Northport took fifth place, sweeping North Sound Christian.