BRUSH PRAIRIE — The goal all season for the Prairie volleyball team was to return to the Class 3A state tournament.
The Falcons never doubted they could achieve that goal, despite a couple of bumps along the way.
On Saturday on their home court, the Falcons achieved that goal with a 25-10, 25-15, 22-25, 25-22 victory over Peninsula of Purdy in the 3A bi-district tournament.
“It’s so amazing,” junior Sophia Carter said. “I knew we could do it. But for us to have actually done it, it’s the most amazing feeling.”
Up until two weeks ago, the Falcons were sailing through the 3A Greater St. Helens League schedule unbeaten, having only dropped one set in eight league matches.
But then came a 3-0 loss to Mountain View on Oct. 23 that forced the Falcons to share the league title with the Thunder. It also necessitated a tiebreaker match on Halloween night that Prairie won 3-0, setting up Saturday’s winner-to-state match with a small, but scrappy Peninsula squad.
Carter and senior Katie Vroman were on the front line for Prairie on Saturday. Vroman recorded 21 kills and 13 digs. Carter had 18 kills and two blocks.
Carter ended a minute-long rally in the second set with a powerful kill off the face of a Peninsula backline player.
It helped Prairie take a 2-0 advantage, and the Falcons looked on their way to victory.
But Peninsula ran off 12 of 15 points in the fourth set, helping the Seahawks stay alive.
Peninsula jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the fourth set. But Carter and Amelia Renner had kills in a pivotal 8-1 run that gave the Falcons a lead they would not surrender, although the Seahawks got within one point five times down the stretch until Carter helped seal the win with a couple more kills.
Molly Packer had 30 digs, and Lainne Wilkins added 48 assists, nine digs and four kills for Prairie.
The victory not only clinched a state berth for the Falcons, it also advanced them to the bi-district semifinals. Prairie will face Wilson of Tacoma in a semifinal next Saturday at Capital High School in Olympia.
“We have a lot of team chemistry that we’ve been working on all season long,” Carter said. “We’ve done crossfit every day. We’ve worked for this. It just feels so good for it to finally come true.”
