The W.F. West volleyball team looked down, and out, and halfway back to Chehalis after three sets in Centralia on Tuesday. The Bearcats had seen their hosts nearly storm back from a massive deficit in the first set before running away with the next two by double digits, firing up a hostile crowd and putting things on the brink of getting completely out of hand.
That’s what happened in both Swamp Cup matches last season, with the Tigers needing time to figure out their flow but dominating once they did. Tuesday proved to be a different story for a different year, though, with the Bearcats being the ones to flip the script in a 25-23, 14-25, 15-25, 25-21, 15-9 thriller.
"I’m just proud of them; they brought it together,” WFW coach Tiffany Alvarado said. “It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for, the communication and the intensity, and knowing how to push hard through these matches, and they did it tonight.”
Like in each of the first four sets, the Bearcats (3-7, 2-2 EvCo) started the fifth set the stronger side, only to see the Tigers (2-6, 0-4) storm back, and tie the set up at 9-9.
But Grace Simpson got the guests back on the front foot with a kill and W.F. West never looked back, ending the match on a 6-0 run.
“I feel like we just knew we could do it,” Simpson said. “We just kept letting it get in our heads, letting the errors get to us. We finally pulled it together to finish the game.”
Simpson led the way with 13 kills, serving as the prime beneficiary of a new-look 6-2 system run around setters Paige Duncan and Jaden Jensen.
“Every perfect pass, I told them ‘If Grace is open, give it to Grace,’” Alvarado said.
Simpson also had three aces, while libero Ashley Mueller had a team-high five.
Fellow senior Addison Adams added eight kills, and sophomore Emma McGreal had five for the Bearcats, who snapped a three-match losing streak and won their first Swamp Cup since they swept the 2022 series with a pair of five-set wins.
“They’ve finally figured out how to be a team, and how to work together and trust each other,” Alvarado said. “Just know where to help and when to talk and how to talk and those kinds of things.”
On the flip side of things, it was a frustrating night for the Tigers, who dropped their fourth straight match, and their second in five sets.
“This is a game where you can’t dig holes,” Centralia coach Marti Smith said. “It makes it too hard, because now you’re exerting all of that energy mentally and physically to crawl back into it.”
That’s just how things went for the hosts, who fell behind 14-4 out the gate in the first set and trailed 23-17 before grinding back to a 23-23 tie — only to lose momentum on a contentious call on the baseline and see W.F. West put things away for good on an Amanda Linwood kill.
For a bit, it seemed like that run would spark the Tigers, who went on to dominate the second and third sets. But in the fourth, Centralia dug itself another hole, and despite fending off eight set points, couldn’t quite bridge the gap all the way.
That was all the help W.F. West needed, taking the reins in the fifth and never looking back.
Makenzie Erickson led the Tigers with 22 digs, while Hollyn Wakefield and Brooklyn Sprague both had 12.
Mikaela Marazita had six aces, five of which came in the third set. Sprague added five aces.
Things won’t get any easier for Centralia, which gets a home match against league-leading Tumwater on Thursday to close its week.
W.F. West, meanwhile, will head to Shelton on Thursday for what’s shaping up to be a crucial matchup nearing the midway point of the EvCo schedule. The Bearcats and Highclimbers are currently tied for third place in the league table, multiple games behind Tumwater and Aberdeen and multiple games ahead of Black Hills and Centralia.
“I think we just have to keep the energy up and know that we’re a good team, and that we can work hard together,” Alvarado said.
