Burlington-Edison volleyball placed third in the 2A state tourney, and Lynden Christian and Meridian finished seventh and eighth, respectively, at the 1A state tourney Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
Burlington-Edison
No. 2 Burlington-Edison made it all the way to the 2A semifinals before losing in four sets (26-24, 21-25, 25-22, 25-21) to No. 3 Columbia River Saturday morning. The Tigers bounced back to beat Northwest Conference rival Archbishop Murphy in four sets (25-14, 22-25, 25-21, 25-23) in the third/fourth-place match Saturday night.
Burlington-Edison began its march through the 2A tournament against Sultan in the first round and dominated, sweeping the Turks 3-0 (25-9, 25-12, 25-14).
Brooklyn Weynands, Mia Whitlock and Lexie Mason gave the Tigers an early 4-0 lead with a pair of kills and an ace. Burlington-Edison continued to dominate as Whitlock finished the first set with six kills and two aces, while Mason had six kills and an ace.
Whitlock finished with 13 kills and five aces, Mason finished with 17 kills, four aces and a block, and Madeline Squibb had three kills and two aces.
Burlington-Edison and Sultan had a ton of errors to begin the second set. Both teams were tied 4-4 before a kill occurred. Mason fired her first kill of the set to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead.
Sultan began to creep up the court and attacked the net, making it close throughout the set. Yet, the errors allowed the Tigers to win the set, including the final point coming from a service error.
In the third set, Burlington-Edison attacked the net and showcased its height advantage. Weynands led the Tigers with a block to earn one of the first points and another block to secure the victory. Whitlock also had three aces to extend the lead in the set.
Burlington-Edison then cruised past Tumwater in the quarterfinals in three sets (25-10, 25-12, 25-14). The T-Birds gave the toughest challenge in the third set by trying to serve to Witlock and Mason, limiting their attacking opportunities.
Weynands played a pivotal role in the final set with a couple of kills and blocks, including the game-winning kill. In the first set, Whitlock led the Tigers with a handful of aces and kills. Mason dominated the second set with 11 kills and a block. She led the Tigers to a 14-3 run at the end of the second set.
Lynden Christian
After getting swept by No. 9 Stevenson in the first round, No.8 Lynden Christian ripped off three straight victories — all sweeps — to claim seventh place at state.
Saturday began with a sweep of No. 12 Lakeside (25-19, 25-11, 25-14), which put the Lyncs in the trophy round against No. 6 Meridian. LC kept rolling to top the Trojans in straight sets (25-19, 25-16, 25-23).
LC began the tourney with a straight-set loss to Stevenson (26-24, 27-25, 25-23). Throughout the three sets, the Lyncs and Bulldogs were tied 27 times and had 14 lead changes.
In the first set, the Lyncs’ largest lead came at the end, holding a 24-21 lead with set point. However, Stevenson rallied back with five straight points to win the set, including a couple blocks.
Etta DeJong led the Lyncs with 10 kills and a block while Danya Dykstra had eight kills and a block.
In the second set, Stevenson had its largest lead, winning 20-12. Lynden Christian rallied back and tied the match at 24-24. During that span, DeJong had two kills, Dykstra had a kill and a block, and Allison Wright and Tyra Dykstra had a kill each.
However, Stevenson held the advantage with a block and kill to win the second set.
Lynden Christian held a lead of up to four points throughout most of the third set. Stevenson matched the score at 21-21 with an ace and took over shortly after. A couple of kills and blocks led Stevenson to victory.
The Lyncs bounced back against 16-seed Kalama in the consolations, winning in three sets (25-17, 25-20, 25-18).
Lynden Christian utilized the middle of the court in the first set to keep Kalama’s defense confused. They were also able to pick up several blocks and forced attacking errors to take the lead.
Lynden Christian struggled early in the second set until they took their first lead at 9-8. The two teams battled back and forth until the Lyncs held strong for the five-point win. Similar to the second set, the Lyncs overcame an early deficit to win the third set.
Meridian
Meridian also had to reel off two straight wins to reach the trophy round. Saturday began with a sweep of No. 15 Seton Catholic (25-23, 25-21, 25-20). That win set up a showdown with familiar foe Lynden Christian, where the Trojans were swept and finished with an eighth-place trophy.
Meridian faced No. 11 The Bear Creek School in its state opener and the Grizzlies stunned the Trojans in five sets (18-25, 25-17, 25-15, 15-25, 9-15).
Despite falling in the first set, the Trojans offense looked comfortable in the first half of the match. Taya Benson was able to pick up some kills and blocks at the middle of the net while a handful of the outside hitters were scoring on side attacks and cross-court kills.
Once the fourth set arrived, Bear Creek’s back line kept Meridian hitters quiet. Halfway through the fourth set, the Trojans trailed 15-10 but kept it close from Grizzlies’ errors. However, Meridian was scrambling around when they tried to attack.
The Grizzlies were able to pick up three blocks, an ace and force an error to win the set. In the fifth set, Bear Creek picked up two more blocks. The Grizzlies scored four straight points to take a 9-4 lead and Meridian struggled to climb back.
Benson picked up a final block but a couple of kills from Bear Creek secured the victory.
Meridian rebounded with a victory against Zillah (25-19, 25-18, 22-25, 25-15) in the consolation bracet.
Ferndale
Ferndale won its opening match at the 3A District 1 tournament against Meadowdale with a sweep Thursday, Nov. 7. The Golden Eagles lost its second-round match 3-2 to Lynnwood on Thursday, Nov. 14, but remained alive in the bracket. Ferndale then won the first round of consolations against Monroe Thursday, sweeping 3-0.
The Golden Eagles will face Edmonds-Woodway at 1 p.m. Saturday at Stanwood High School for a spot in the state tournament.
Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
