If the Skyview volleyball team know anything, it’s drama.
“We’re notorious for playing five sets this season,” senior Gracie Brenner said. “So we knew that we’ve been down way more than this. So we knew we could do it.”
The Storm, down 5-1 in the final set to Camas Tuesday in a Class 4A Greater St. Helens League match, rallied to score 14 of the matches final 20 points and beat the rival Papermakers, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 17-25, 15-11.
It was the third five-set match of the season between Skyview and Camas.
“We knew Camas was going to come out fired up, and if we wanted to win it, we were going to have to work for it,” Shelby
Skyview and Camas are co-league champions, but the Storm will head to the bi-district tournament as the league’s top seed. Camas is No. 2.
The drama for Skyview started before Tuesday’s match at Hudson’s Bay.
This match was originally scheduled for last Thursday but was called off after it was ruled that Skyview used an ineligible player its final league match and would have to forfeit, breaking a tie atop the league standings.
But the Storm appealed the decision and won. Once Tuesday’s tiebreaker match was back on, it was on.
Camas took the first set in a back-and-forth battle. The second set was tied at 14-14 when Camas was called for a rotation violation. The score was reset from the moment the player out of rotation began serving, giving Skyview a 15-10 edge.
From there, Skyview took the second set 25-23 despite a late 11-point run by the Papermakers.
After Skyview took a 2-1 edge in sets, Camas forced the deciding final set.
“We knew that if we wanted it more and fought harder, we would take the (final) set,” Brenner said. “Fourth game didn’t go quite as planned, but we came out in the fifth game and did everything we said we were going to do. We worked hard and played for each other.”
Sophomore Lia Hawken had back-to-back kills to give Skyview an 8-7 lead in the final set. Brenner’s two kills late helped Skyview seal the victory.
Brenner led the Storm with 20 kills, three digs and an ace. Hawken added seven kills, six blocks and three digs. Tyra Schaub had nine kills, seven digs, six aces and three blocks.
Emma Villaluz had a big match for the Papermakers with 20 kills, 16 assists, six digs and six aces. Mackenzie Hancock added 15 assists, seven kills, five aces and four digs for Camas.
Skyview will face Federal Way on Saturday at Kent-Meridian High School to open bi-district. Camas will face Enumclaw at Kentlake.
“I think this was good match for both sides,” Swanson said. “It was a tough match between two teams moving on to bi-districts, and it’s something we can both build on.”
For Brenner, the win was a relief.
“I know losing on our senior night (against Camas), our only league loss, really brought us down for a good couple of days,” Brenner said. “We had to fight to get this game, to win the appeal on this game. So we knew we had to win it, just for ourselves.”
