TOLEDO — Adna, Morton-White Pass, and Napavine met in Toledo on Friday for a tiebreaker to determine the C2BL’s final two district tournament teams, and the Pirates and Timberwolves punched their postseason tickets with victories.
Both games were best-of-three. In the first game, Adna defeated MWP 17-25, 25-23, 15-12, and in the second matchup, the T-Wolves beat Napavine 25-19, 25-23.
Which teams played in which game were determined by a coin flip. All three teams flipped a coin, and the odd team out was Napavine. That left the Tigers waiting to play the loser of the first matchup.
The Pirates didn’t take any chances, bouncing back after losing the first set against the Timberwolves to take care of business in the first game.
“Playing the first one, and winning the first one, that’s big,” Adna coach Wendie Dotson said. “And then losing the first set was just ‘Let’s refocus and not panic.’ That’s kind of what we did.”
Adna (5-11) trailed 17-15 in Set 2, but a 5-0 run capped by back-to-back kills from Alyssa Carroll reignited the Pirate bench and forced an MWP timeout.
Carroll also added a pair of kills in the fifth set, and she wasn’t the only Pirate to come through with some big swings late.
Avery LaFontaine capped another 5-0 run in the fifth set with a kill, giving Adna a four-point lead midway through, and she added two more later in the final set to help Adna maintain its lead.
“Avery came in, hit two right between the block and another just to the right of the block,” Dotson said with a smile. “That kind of was an energizer too. (LaFontaine and Carroll) combined together were big.”
The final outcome was a welcome one for Adna, which had gone 1-2 during MWP during the regular season, including a Pirate win at the Adna Tournament.
Dotson said that since those matchups, they had made some adjustments to the lineup, but added that it might have come down to something a little more intangible.
“I think they just wanted it,” Dotson said.
Carroll finished with 10 kills, nine digs, five blocks, and two assists, while LaFontaine logged eight kills and a dig.
McKenna Torrey tallied eight digs, six kills, two aces, and an assist, and Taylor Johnson had eight digs and two kills. Hadleigh Gerard collected 10 digs, Presley Strodemier added nine, and Madi Otten pitched in four kills, four blocks, and an assist.
As the losers of Game 1, MWP (10-9) got a second chance against the Tigers. MWP coach Jamie Brazil wanted to make sure they didn’t let that opportunity go to waste.
“We just lacked energy (against Adna),” Brazil said. “That was our focus going into Napavine. It was like ‘okay, you guys need to bring the energy. Celebrate every point like it’s game point.’ That’s what we really focused on.”
An 8-1 run in the middle of the first set gave the T-Wolves the lead, and a 6-1 run later in the set helped them keep it.
In the second set, Morton-White Pass watched an 18-12 lead suddenly shift to a 22-21 deficit, but they scored four of the final five points of the match to secure the playoff spot in two.
“We’ve been working on scenarios like that in practice,” Brazil said. “I think it was their energy and that they wanted to go to districts. Energy and determination.”
Malia Armstrong was perfect from the service line and had 27 digs across the two games, and Chevy Fuller also didn’t miss a serve while chipping in 13 kills and three blocks.
Ryelin Wiedenmann and Brooklyn Montoure both finished with 17 kills, and Ryleigh Johnson recorded eight kills and seven blocks. Layna Sams added 21 assists, and Karah Fairhart finished with nine.
Brazil said that she still feels her team hasn’t played its best game yet, but she’s proud that they’ll get to play at least one more game regardless.
“I feel lucky,” Brazil said. “We have been together since June like six days a week getting to build this connection and relationship. I feel like this year, they aren’t just teammates. They actually care about each other, care about the team, and put the team first.”
Kendall Kelly, Makayla Brett, Anna Guenther, Hollie Brockmueller, and Sophia Bittner were all perfect from the service line for the Tigers, and Brett also dished out 23 assists.
Kennedy Purvis added 11 kills, Ava Ondong tallied five, and Mya Garrett logged five kills and three stuff blocks.
Napavine coach Monica Dailey credited Lilly Grabianowski, Guenther, and Tarynn Dalebout for strong play in the serve receive, “which made things much easier for Makayla to run her offense.”
“I felt the girls played well tonight as a group,” Dailey said. “But things didn’t fall our way. They kept working hard and never gave up. I’m proud of their effort tonight.
The Tigers finish their season 3-14 and will graduate five seniors: Brockmueller, Kelly, Purvis, Lillian Blair, and Bittner.
“I want to thank my seniors for their dedication over the years,” Dailey said. “They will be missed.”
With the dust settled on the tiebreaker, the district tournament bracket is officially set.
Morton-White Pass is the C2BL’s No. 6 seed and will play Mossyrock, the league’s No. 5, in an elimination game. The winner of that game will face No. 1 Onalaska in a quarterfinal.
Both of those games are on Saturday in Onalaska.
“We know the Mossyrock girls really well,” Brazil said. “It’s always fun to go out there, feed off of each other’s energy, and just play some good volleyball.”
Adna is the C2BL’s No. 7 seed and will play Chief Leschi, the P2BL’s No. 4, in an elimination game. The winner of that will play Toledo, the C2BL’s No. 4, in another elimination game. The winner of that game will play Raymond-South Bend, the P2BL champion, in a quarterfinal.
All three of those games are on Saturday in Raymond.
