With one very notable exception, this year’s Columbia River volleyball team had almost no experience playing in the state tournament.
That exception, of course, was senior captain Sydney Dreves. The 2A Greater St. Helens League Player of the Year achieved the rare distinction of four-time state champion when Columbia River edged Ellensburg in five sets Saturday in the Class 2A state title match.
But alongside Dreves was a new crew of Rapids who grew into their roles throughout the season. When called upon when the stakes were highest, they came up big at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
Such are the standards at Columbia River. Such is the reason why the Rapids have now won four consecutive titles, second only in state history to Mead’s five in a row among schools Class 2A or larger.
Nobody saw her role grow more than Sophia Gourley. The sophomore hitter became attack option 1-A, second only to Dreves this season in kills.
At the state tournament, Columbia River showed no hesitation setting up Gourley, which kept opposing blockers from keying on Dreves.
Never was that one-two punch more effective than in the fifth set of the state championship match. Dreves and Gourley each had four kills and one ace, with Gourley delivering the title-clinching kill as the Rapids won the tiebreaking set 15-8.
“Sometimes I stop and realize she’s just a sophomore,” Columbia River coach Breanne Smedley said of Gourley. “Her ability to take care of the ball in those pressure situations. She’s got senior competition on the other side of the net, but she stepped up. She owned it.”
Gourley wasn’t the only Rapid to fill big shoes this season. Avery Seley, a junior, took on the setter position occupied last year by first-team all-leaguer Macey McCoy.
Katelynn Kessler, Riley Schoonmaker, Katie Dumas and Aria McCarstle, all seniors, saw significant playing time at state.
That group watched and learned from last year’s senior class that included all-league starters Logan DeJong, Evie Wenger, Ellie Ogee and, of course, state player of the year Lauren Dreves.
Bringing her fellow seniors up to championship speed was a challenge Sydney Dreves embraced.
Her advice for them at the state tournament? Just do your thing.
“You just have to enjoy every second and leave no regrets,” Dreves said. “For the seniors, this is it for them so they’re just enjoying the moment.”
Smedley had no doubt Dreves could inherit the team’s leadership role from her older sister.
“We were working on that from day one of this season,” Smedley said. “How was she going to lead this team that is not experienced or deep as we’ve had in the past. She decided that she was going to step up and lead this team by example and also by the words she’s speaking into that every single day.”
The Rapids biggest stress test came Saturday. After taking the first set 25-19, Columbia River lost the second set 25-23 and looked out of sorts in a 25-13 third-set loss.
How would this year’s Rapids fare under the pressure of possibly losing a state championship? After the third set, Smedley helped her players regain composure by reminding them of the grit they had shown throughout the season.
“I’ve seen them battle and fight,” Smedley said. “We’ve been down worse than this before. We can come back from this. Of course that’s going through everyone’s mind, is this it? But they rose to the occasion and battled.”
Columbia River steadied itself and led through much of the fourth set.
But top-seeded Ellensburg rallied and led 24-23, one point away from its first state title since 1988.
That’s when the Rapids showed a champion’s grit by rallying off three straight points to force the fifth set.
“I never really thought we were going to lose,” Dreves said. “My mindset was always just go out and play.”
