YAKIMA — Skeptics? Doubters? Cynics?
The Prairie Falcons knew there were plenty coming into the 2018 volleyball season. And, indeed, there were a multitude of unknowns after key graduation losses for the team that had placed fifth at last year’s Class 3A state tournament.
But Prairie proved them wrong, ultimately taking home some more state hardware by finishing sixth Saturday at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
The Falcons (21-9) beat Wilson of Tacoma in a morning elimination match, 26-24, 25-16, 19-25, 25-19, then lost in straight sets to Snohomish, 25-20, 25-22, 25-21.
“The way we worked this season to get back to where we are — not a lot of people were expecting us to get here, I’m going to be honest,” said senior Katie Vroman, who delivered 19 kills against Wilson and 14 in her final high-school match. “But we did it. I just couldn’t be more proud of these girls.”
Coach Jen Palmer was pleased, too.
“Our senior class this year really stepped up leadership-wise,” she said, “so I’m really proud.”
Mountain View, meanwhile, came out flat Saturday morning against No. 9 Roosevelt of Seattle and was eliminated in straight sets — showing little fire until a blazing third set that fell short, 25-14, 25-11, 29-27.
“We just weren’t composed enough this morning to put forth our best effort in the first two sets,” coach Rachael Howington said. “But in the third set we ended up coming alive a little bit more and competing, and that was good.”
The Thunder (24-9) wound up 1-2 in the tournament, one victory short of the trophy round. Howington had no real regrets, especially considering this was the program’s first state appearance since 1993.
“It’s been an incredible season,” Howington said. “We’re senior strong, so we have a lot of leadership, but they’re young with experience, as far as this is the first time they’ve all been here. They have made huge accomplishments across the whole season, hitting some milestones and some goals we set.
“I’m just proud of them, their hard work and their nonstop effort.”
4A tournament
They fell short of their trophy aspirations in the Class 4A state tournament, but there is always next year for the Camas Papermakers — except for the three seniors.
That’s why there were tears after the loss to Tahoma of Maple Valley Saturday morning that ended their season, 25-18, 25-12, 25-14. It meant saying goodbye to Mary Pipkin, Kylie Loewen and Madi Hanton.
“I’m proud of my seniors,” coach Michelle Allen said. “They’ve been in the program for four years, every single one of them, and they’ve worked hard. They’re positive, nice girls. I just want to say thank you to them for everything they’ve given to the team and program and being those leaders.
It had been since 2014 since Camas (16-15) crashed the state tournament and the young Papermakers turned some heads (maybe even some of their own) with a first-round victory over Issaquah on Friday before losing to top-ranked Kentridge.
Overall, Allen couldn’t be disappointed with her young squad, which includes five sophomores and a freshman.
“I am so proud of the girls, even just making it here,” she said. “I think they were shocked with that first game (Friday), thinking it was just luck. It wasn’t luck. It’s about teamwork and they worked so hard for this.”
Kate Golb and Emma Villauz each had seven kills against Tahoma and Villauz added 16 assists.
