Mount Si grabs trophy in state volleyball tournament

First opening-round win for 'Cats in nearly 20 years

By Rhett Workman • November 13, 2009 7:22 pm
The Mount Si volleyball team says goodbye to family members as their bus prepares to leave for the state tournament. Mount Si took sixth place.
The Mount Si volleyball team says goodbye to family members as their bus prepares to leave for the state tournament. Mount Si took sixth place.

The Wildcat volleyball team took sixth place at state after two days of tough competition at the 3A volleyball tournament in Kennewick.

Mount Si fell in the third place game late last Saturday night to Prairie of Vancouver, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. The Wildcats played hard throughout, but the Falcons took the match 26-24, 27-25, 25-17 to take the third place spot; Mount Si took the sixth place trophy.

The Wildcats played in the third place game after being defeated earlier that afternoon by the Metro League’s Bishop Blanchet Braves in three sets. Scores were 25-20, 25-10 and 25-19 as the Wildcats fell to former local player Summer Nash and the Braves, who went on to win the state title.

Mount Si had made it to the semifinals against the Braves after two dramatic wins to open the tournament last Friday, Nov. 13.

Late last Friday, the Wildcats overcame a two-sets-to-one deficit to take care of the Camas Papermakers in five sets, 10-25, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24, 15-12, advancing to their first-ever state championship semifinal. The match had been scheduled to start at 8 p.m., but started a couple hours late due to court conflicts at the Toyota Center, where the event is being held, and did not wrap up until early Saturday morning.

Shelagh Macaulay had 12 kills and 24 digs to lead the way for the Wildcats while Erika Clark came up big for Mount Si with 16 digs.

Earlier in the afternoon last Friday, the Wildcats overcame two late-game deficits in sets three and four to post their first opening round win at the state tournament in nearly 20 years, beating Lakes of Tacoma 25-14, 19-25, 25-22 and 25-23. The win avenged an opening round five-set loss to the SPSL’s Lancers in last year’s state tournament.

Aubrey Larion and Baylee Sinner each had 12 digs to pace the Wildcats, who were down 20-22 in set three and 20-23 in set four before rallying both times with 5-0 runs to close each frame out, and thus the match.

According to WIAA history, the last time Mount Si won an opening round game at the state tournament was in 1990, when the event was played in pool formats before getting to the semifinals and finals. Mount Si had not made the championship semifinals in ten previous tries.

The Seattle Times reported that Wildcat junior Zoe Gogan had been named to the all-tournament team following the matches last Saturday. Mount Si finished their season 19-5, and returns all but Macaulay and fellow senior Robyn Schirmer, who will be graduating.

While Macaulay and Schirmer’s graduations will leave big holes, the program is looking strong, so those voids should be filled in time for next season.