Columbia River books spot in 3A state volleyball

The Columbia River volleyball team reached the semifinals of the 3A bi-district tournament in Auburn on Friday.

By advancing, the Chieftains assured themselves of a trip to the Tri-Cities for the 3A state volleyball tournament next weekend.

Columbia River rolled past Enumclaw in the bi-district quarterfinal 25-14, 25-12, 25-10.

The Chieftains will face Auburn Mountainview at noon today in the semifinal.

The championship and third-place matches are at 3:30 p.m. at Auburn Mountainview High School.

Prairie has work to do if the Falcons want to join Columbia River at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.

Prairie lost to Auburn Riverside 25-14, 25-23, 25-20 in the quarterfinals and now must win their next two matches to reach state.

The Falcons begin with a loser-out match against Shelton at 10 a.m. today. Win that and Prairie would play the winner of Lincoln/North Thurston at 1 p.m. for a state berth.

If Prairie wins both loser-out matches, it would play for fifth place at 4 p.m.

Other events to watch

• The state cross country championships are today in Pasco. The Camas girls are among the favorites for the 4A state title.

• The 4A and 3A district girls swim finals are today at 3 p.m. at Kelso. The top two placers in 4A and the winner of each event in the 3A automatically qualify for state next weekend at Federal Way.