Colfax places 3rd at state after battling Braves

The unprecedented Colfax title run in state volleyball action at Yakima came to an end Saturday in the semi-final round of the 2B tournament, but the Bulldogs kept on battling and finished with the third place trophy.

Their semi foe was La Conner, a team which figures in most Colfax state sagas. The Braves, who collided with Colfax in the quarter-final round last year, defeated Colfax in a five-game middle court classic which lasted more than two hours Saturday morning at the dome.

The La Conner win in the semi sent them up against Reardan in the championship game, and Reardan took the title.

Colfax went on to defeat Darrington in three games and place third.

“Getting third is a tough thing to do. After you’ve been in a big semi battle like that, it’s tough to keep in focus and win that last one,” Coach Sue Doering said.

The five-game loss to La Connor in the semi round ended a run of 26 straight tournament match wins booked when the Bulldogs took titles in six straight state entries. Four of those were in the A division and the last two were in the 2B division.

The last Colfax loss in the SunDome was the championship game in 2003 when Lind/Ritzville took the title in the A division.

Colfax started the run at state this year with a three game crunch over Mount Vernon Christian, 25-12 25-12 and 25-12.

The first round win put them in a quarter-final battle with Brewster, a team they defeated in the Okanogan tourney.

Brewster dropped Colfax by 10 points, 25-15 in the first game with Amanda Youngers booking a series of kills at the net.

Coach Doering called the Bulldogs into an intense huddle and the crew came out to take the Bears in the next three games, 25-19 25-20 and 25-22.

“We just weren’t getting the blocks up,” Doering commented. “We also changed our set to keep the ball away from her.”

Brewster cracked a 4-0 lead in the second game, but Amelie Bruya came to the serve line and ran seven to put Colfax on top 7-4.

Senior Maggee Cochran had a big run in the last game when she served up four straight to move Colfax out in front on the way to match point.

Christa Nyholm booked 15 digs against the Bears, and Misty Skelton had 13 digs as the Colfax defense kept pushing back a big Bear club.

Hannah Harazin hit seven kills in the quarter-final.

La Conner’s 5-7 Priscilla Pone-Venegas keyed the Braves offense against the Bulldogs in the semi-final round.

The Bulldogs again came out with a solid back court game and came close to stopping Coach Suzanne Marble’s Braves.

Line score for the La Connor win was 25-22 26-28 25-21 25-27 and 15-9.

Colfax got off to a fast start in the fifth-game decider when Nicole Sheer hit two kills and a block. Shaina Simonson hit a kill and an ace, and Cochran served to a Braves’ mistake to put the decider at 9-9.

“After that we were in the weak park of our rotations and we couldn’t get the serve back to get out of it,” Doering explained. The mode left Colfax with its shortest front line, and La Conner cashed it in for the 15-9 win.

Sheer served 21-24 against the Braves with five aces. Lauren Moore, who booked a 49-49 serving mark in the tourney run, hit 23-23 against the Braves.

Amelie Bruya put up 47 assists in the La Connor match, a mark which Coach Doering believes qualifies for some kind of a record.

The Bulldogs also had 94 digs on defense against the hard-hitting Braves with Moore getting 21, Nyholm 20 and Sheer 12.

“Overall, it was a great match,” Coach Doering said. She enjoyed the battle, although she was sad to see the Colfax state run end.

Colfax picked it up later in the afternoon and went up against a Darrington team which lost in the semi round to Reardan, the eventual champs.

Colfax took out the Loggers 25-13 25-21 and 25-11 to collect the third place trophy. They came down the chute with senior Brooke Webber serving nine straight off the line in the third game.

Coach Doering credited Reardan with getting past La Conner in the title game to take the trophy. The Indians, who bowed to the Bulldogs in the NE title match, also took the hard-hitting Braves into the fifth game and won it 15-11 to take the title.

“Reardan was really on a roll,” Coach Doering noted.

Colfax will graduate four seniors off of this year’s team, but with two freshman and four sophomores on this year’s state team they figure to make a big mark in future SunDome campaigns.

BULLDOG TOURNEY STATS: Amelie Bruya 66-72 serving with 8 aces, 131 assists, 4 kills, 2 blocks, 19 digs; Christa Nyholm 48 digs, 2 kills; Lauren Moore 49-49 w/5, 47 digs, 18 kills, 3 blocks; Taylor Lange 13 kills, 5 blocks, 4 digs; Shaina Simonson 18-20 w/3, 39 kills, 10 blocks, 5 digs; Misty Skelton 1 kill, 37 digs; Nicole Sheer 23-32 w/6, 46 kills, 9 blocks, 17 digs; Brooke Webber 56-57 w/2, 25 digs; Hannah Harazin 46-49 w/2, 25 kills, 3 blocks, 12 digs; Taylor Larsen 3-3, 3 digs; Rachel Robinson 19-21 w/4, 2 digs; Becca Hardie 5-5 w/2, 1 kill 1 block.