Colfax girls 7-0 in league, will open district tournament Saturday in Spokane

Colfax volleyball players cruised past the last two foes on their league schedule last week to wrap up a 7-0 run in the NE league.

The Bulldogs Saturday will depart for St.George’s in Spokane with the top slot in the district tournament.

Colfax and Davenport as the top two finishers in the league will get a bye in the first two rounds while the other two teams play elimination games.

The league’s fifth and eighth place teams will face off in the first elimination round, and the survivor will play Northwest Christian, now fourth place.

Winner of that round will play Colfax in a district semi-final round, estimated to get underway at 11 a.m.

Davenport will play in a semi on the other side of the bracket, and the two winners will collide in the championship round.

Colfax last Thursday nailed down the league’s top finish when they downed Davenport 25-4 25-10 and 25-18 on the Bulldogs’ court. The two teams collided with matching 5-0 records.

Colfax blasted off in the first two games against the Gorillas with big leads. In the first game, Amara Huber, rolled out seven serve points as the first server for Colfax.

Kori Goodwin, number-three server for Colfax, then rolled up nine serve points to put the Bulldogs out of reach.

In the second game, Leah Heiner, who didn’t go to the line in the first game because of the limited number of rotations hit six straight to lead it off, and Huber followed with another seven,

Down two games, Davenport caught their breath in the third game and played even with the Bulldogs while Coach Sue Doering began to put reserve players into the action.

Taylor Larsen put Colfax back in command when she served six straight at the Gorillas with three aces in the run.

Saturday, Colfax hosted fourth-place Northwest Christian and ran a 25-9 25-18 and 25-7 win over the Colbert team.

Colfax finished the match 70-74 overall in serving with 14 aces, just a notch short of 20 percent. Larsen, who totaled six aces for the match, ran points 7 to 14 in the first game for another quick Colfax launch.

The Crusaders steadied up in the second game and had a 16-12 edge over the hosts at midpoint before Colfax setter Kori Goodwin went to the line and booked a streak to crack a 17-16 Colfax lead. Goodwin hit two aces in the run.

Four Bulldogs seniors honored at the last home match were Larsen, Nicole Sheer, Heiner and Cassidy Vorderbrueggen.

Stats vs. Davenport: Taylor Larsen-14 ills, 3 blocks, 12-15 serving with 3 aces; Kori Goodwin-30 assists,12-14 w/3 aces; Amara Huber-8 kills, 2 blocks, 18-20 serving, 11 digs; Leah Heiner- 7-8 serving with 3 aces, 5 digs; Nicole Sheer- 2-2 serving, 9 kills, 2 blocks; Kindra Kneale-7-7 serving w/1 ace; 6 kills 3 blocks; Cassidy Vorderbrueggen-4-4 serving, 5 digs; Olivia Mellor-1 kill, 1 block; Alison MacDonald-1 kill, 1 block, 4-4 serving.

Stats vs., NWC: Larsen -8 kills, 1 block, 16- w/6 aces; 4 digs; Huber-3 kills , 1 block,15-15 serving w/ ace; 12 digs; Goodwin-19 assists, 11-12 serving/3 aces, 5 digs; Kneale-10 kills, 2 blocks, 8-8 serving with 2 aces; Sheer - 7 kills, 1 block , 9-11 serving w/ace; Heiner-8 digs; Mellor-1 kill, 1 block, Vorderbrueggen-2 digs, 6-6 serving.