The Centralia volleyball team’s season came to an end Tuesday in Cowlitz County, in a 25-16, 25-19, 22-25, 25-18 loss to Mark Morris in the pigtail matchup of the 2A District 4 tournament.
“It was hard having to end it like that for them,” Centralia coach Marti Smith said.
Lauren Wasson led the defense with 19 digs and also had a team-high seven kills. Gracie Schofield had 16 digs, and McKenna Smith added nine.
Makayla Chavez and Alayna McGregor both added five kills. Wasson, McKenna Smith, and Payton Baumel all finished with three blocks, while Chavez had two.
The Tigers did their best to stay in it on the road with their serve game, only racking up two errors from the line all night long. McKenna Smith, Chavez and McGregor combined for eight aces.
“It was our best serving of the season,” Marti Smith said.
But for one last match this fall, the Tigers couldn’t get up to speed until it was too late, dropping the first two sets to put themselves in a hole that ended up being too big to climb out of.
“Any time we were trying to make up ground, Mark Morris would come back with a run of their own,” Marti Smith said. “We really were out of sync offensively in the first two sets.”
Going into the third, Smith made a tweak to the lineup, slotting in McGregor, who had missed the beginning of her senior season with a hand injury. The move paid off, with McGregor helping to lead the Tigers in the one set they’d end up winning.
“It was nice to get a senior in who’s worked so hard,” Smith said. “She did a great job in the third and fourth sets.”
Centralia ends its season with an even 8-8 record. The Tigers are set to graduate six seniors: McGregor, Chavez, Schofield, Wasson, Heaven Jacobson and Selah Calkins.
“It’s a tough group to have to let go,” Smith said. “They’ve definitely laid a foundation… Hopefully now our underclassmen will only build off of that.”
