Pomeroy, Oakesdale roll to state B tourney

Pomeroy’s Ally Bott spikes the ball past Oakesdale freshman Logan Reed in the final.

Nighthawk Coach McKinzie Turner addresses her team Saturday in the SE championship game against Pomeroy, the defending champs who extended their SE win streak in taking the top state entry. The 1B/2B state tournament begins Friday in Yakima.

Pomeroy and Oakesdale, the top two teams in the SE league campaign, emerged as the top two finishers in the SE tournament at Colfax Saturday and are on line to start action in the 1B state show at the SunDome in Yakima Friday.

Pomeroy, top contender out of the SE, returns to the Dome as the defending champs who have posted a 23-3 record for the season. They will go up against Quilcene in the first round Friday at 9:45 a.m.

Oakesdale, who battled Pomeroy for five games in the SE championship round, picked up the second state ticket out of the consolation round at Colfax and will face Naselle in the first round Friday at 11:30 a.m.

Oakesdale and Pomeroy collided after advancing with semi-final wins on their respective home courts last Wednesday.

In Saturday's championship match, Oakesdale took the first game 20-25, and Pomeroy bounced back to win the next two, 25-16 and 25-19. Oakesdale refused to fold and took a 28-26 win in the fourth game to lock it up at 2-2, but Pomeroy took the decider 15-9 to take the first state ticket.

Jacey Johnson hit 19 kills for the Nighthawks in the title match, and Maddy Shrope had 41 assists. Johnson and Lindsey Lindgren each hit two aces.

Esther Schuh hit 19 kills and six blocks for the Pirates, and Ally Bott hit 18 kills. Pomeroy coach Jim Greene credited the Nighthawks for putting up an all-out battle for the top ticket.

The loss put Oakesdale on the sideline while the other entrants advanced through consolation rounds to determine the last foe to face the Nighthawks for the number-two state ticket.

Colton emerged as the consolation survivor, but the Nighthawks dropped the Wildcats in three games to take the state ticket. Line score for the sweep was 25-23 25-18 and 25-18. Johnson hit 19 kills in the match, and Shrope had 32 assists.

Colton went into the last match after defeating Touchet in a four-game match in the first round at Colfax and then eliminating St. John/Endicott in the next round. The win over the Eagles went to four games, 25-20 21-25 25-15 and 25-21.

St. John/Endicott bumped Garfield/Palouse, number-four finisher in the league standings, in the first round at Colfax, 25-14 17-25 25-23 25-15 to end the Vikings' season.

In the Wednesday rounds, Pomeroy defeated Garfield/Palouse 23-25 25-12 25-12 25-9 to advance to the title round, and Oakesdale dropped Colton in three games 25-18 25-16 and 25-22.

Colton started the action at Oakesdale with a five-game win over St. John/Endicott, and Garfield /Palouse started at Pomeroy with a four-game win over Touchet.

All six teams in the Wednesday round advanced to the tournament action at Colfax Saturday.