Having already punched its ticket to the state tournament next week, the Napavine volleyball team took a set from Kalama, but fell in four Saturday night in Raymond in the 2B District 4 title game, 25-16, 19-25, 25-16, 25-16.
Struggling a bit in serve-receive, the Tigers’ back row picked up the slack scrambling for balls and making sure they got into their offense. That was enough to get the Chinooks out of whack for a set before the defending district champs did their thing and pulled away.
“Emily (Kang), Morgan (Hamilton) and Grace (Gall) did an amazing job in the back row, they kept us in the game,” Tigers coach Monica Dailey said. “We made some dumb mistakes, but overall, we never once gave up, they stayed in the game and kept pushing. Kalama's a really all-around good team, and they outpaced us.”
Hamilton led the Tigers again with a team-high 19 digs to go along with 16 kills, and middle Keira O’Neill had a team-high 17 kills with two block kills. Jessie McCoy and Kang each served 100%, with McCoy adding 18 assists and 14 digs, Grace Gall had 10 more digs, and Avery Schutz had 16 assists at the other setter spot.
The Tigers will find out their postseason fate Sunday when the WIAA announces its volleyball seedings at 11 a.m. After that, Napavine will open the tournament next Thursday at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
