Pomeroy, Eagles bag 1B state tickets

Pomeroy’s Pirates, who had just one loss in the SE league run, stacked a sweep over Oakesdale in the title round of the SE district final at Colfax Saturday to take the top slot in the 1B championship round at Yakima’s SunDome Friday and Saturday.

The number-two finisher at the tourney in Colfax was the SJE Eagles who locked it up in a five-game enduro with Oakesdale’s Nighthawks for the last ticket to state. The cross-county battle went to a dramatic fifth game with the Eagles staging a late comeback to get the win.

Oakesdale, the eight-player team with zero seniors, went into the tourney as the number-two finisher in the league and had already defeated SJE in the semi round last Wednesday night.

Pomeroy had to pull out two comeback game wins to get past the Oakesdale wunderkids in the championship match. The Nighthawks jumped to early lead in two of the games, but they couldn’t hold it against the big Pirate club which will arrive at state with a 23-3 overall record. The lone loss for the Pirates in the SE league was five-gamer to SJE in the first league round.

Match score for the championship win was 25-12 25-14 and 25-18.

The `hawks broke a 5-0 lead in the second game, but Pomeroy made up the ground with Skylar Smith making a big round at the service line.

In the third game, the Nighthawks jumped to a 7-1 lead, but Pomeroy again rallied for a 13-13 tie. Oakesdale hung with the champs until 16-16 before the Pirates pulled away for the 25-18 closer in the third game.

Coach Jim Greene’s Pomeroy club will start at the SunDome Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Klickitat-Glenwood in the bottom bracket.

The Eagles will start Friday at 9:45 against Riverside Christian in the top bracket. The Eagles will return to the Yakima finale after placing third in 2012 in a battle with Almira/Coulee/Hartline. The ACH club and Naselle are booked opposite the Eagles so they could have a state rematch in the second round.

Other 1B powers in the top bracket with SJE are Sunnyside Christain and Neah Bay who are matched up in the first game.

St.John/Endicott Saturday advanced to the last-chance match at Colfax with a four-game win over Colton in the consolation final. The Eagles prevailed 25-14 16-25 25-17 and 25-20.

Colton posted a strong lead to win the second game and made it stick for the 25-16 win with Winnie Schultheis rapping a power block for the win. That put the elimination match at 1-1. Colton cracked another lead in the third game, but the Eagles tied it at 10-10 and then pulled out for the 25-17 win.

Abby Glorfield posted a strong serving run to spur SJE in deciding game, and Colton came back with Zoe Moser spiking a big kill, but the Eagles fought them off with the 25-20 match winner.

The SJE team then had to turn around and play Oakesdale in the final Colfax match for the last ticket. The two clubs rolled out a 2-2 lock in the first four games, and SJE took the win with a 15-9 in the decider.

Line score for the elim showdown was 25-20 21-25 25-18 20-25 and the 15-9.

Coach Meagan Dorman said one of the big factors in the win was the Eagles move to get double blocks on Jacey Johnson, the `hawks - outside hitter. Rachel Gfeller, who finished the match in the front line, hit 18 kills in the match and had five blocks and three aces.

The Nighthawk tied the match at 2-2 with Johnson rapping a big kill and Coryann Anderson dicing up the SJE defense for two late points. Logan Reed, an eighth- grader topped the game win with two ace serves inside the sideline in front of the Eagles bench.

In the fifth game, the `hawks looked like they would lock it up when Lindsey Lindgren went to the serve line and hit three aces for a 9-8 lead.

SJE turned it around with Gfeller tagging a kill and Glorfield hitting an ace. SJE added another point on a net call to go out of range.

Action at Colfax started with two loser-out matches which were booked in the Wednesday round.

St. John/Endicott eliminated Garfield/Palouse 25-23 25-27 and 25-20.

Colton eliminated LaCrosse/Washtucna in a match which went five games, 23-25 29-27 22-25 25-19 and 15-12.

Those wins paired up Colton and SJE for the first afternoon showdown in the Saturday afternoon finals at Colfax.

Pomeroy and Oakesdale paired off in the title match after the Pirates stopped Colton and the Nighthawks stopped SJE in the Wednesday semi-finals.