Nighthawks peg threepeat with run to state 1B title

Oakesdale Nighthawks rolled to the Sundome for the 1B tourney with one goal in mind: a threepeat. The ‘hawks kept the big trophy with three tidy sweeps in their first three matches and a win over Pomeroy, their SE foe, in a four-gamer in the championship round.

Coach Brandy Brown and crew went to state with senior veterans Madison Shrope and Emma Perry on the roster and junior veterans Logan Reed, Brooklyn Henley, Desiree Brown, Amber Jones, Aliya Rutledge and Dani Larson.

The team qualified as the number-one state entry out of the district finals at Walla Walla where they faced Pomeroy in the title match.

That led to Oakesdale and Pomeroy being seeded on opposite sides of the tourney bracket list. Again, they both made it through their first three matches and faced off in the center court at the dome for the title.

That made the title match the fourth time this year the two teams have collided.

Oakesdale held a 2-1 edge going into the championship game. The lone Pomeroy win in the season campaign came in the league game. Pomeroy took that win to top the league at 8-0 and put Oakesdale in second place at 7-1.

Friday in the season’s last match at the dome, the Nighthawks took the first two sets, allowed Pomeroy to win the third set and then came back to win the fourth and complete the run for the threepeat.

Coach Bob Green’s Pomeroy teams were also the final foes for the the 2015 and the 2016 Oakesdale title games.

Oakesdale’s line score for the title game was 25-21 25-16 18-25 and 25-20.

Oakesdale’s advance to the title match started with a three-game sweep over Mt. Rainier Christian 25-6 25-10 and 25-15.

They then swept Puget Sound Christian in a closer match 25-20 25-11 and 25-17

The quarter-final win put them up against Odessa in the semi-final. Coach

Lanae Harper’s Odessa team came out of the Northeast 1B playoffs as the third-place entry behind Almira/Coulee/Hartline and Selkirk.

The Nighthawks also went past Odessa with a sweep, 25-9 25-16 25-16, to get to the title games.

Pomeroy advanced with wins over Rainier Christian in the opener, ACH in the quarter final and Colton in the semi.

Despite the threepeat quest, Coach Brown said she told the Nighthawks the 2017 tourney was their time to shine and not to be concerned or pressured on what transpired before.

Brown said the one-set loss to Pomeroy in the title match was a slight bump in the road.

“Sometimes you get into a set, and it just not in the cards. You just want to get through it,” she noted.

Brooklyn Henley started Oakesdale with three blocks on Pomeroy hits in the fourth set, and junior Logan Reed had another solid finish on the way to match and tourney point.

Brown noted on the first day, the Nighthawks were a little sluggish and the serving was off. They began to pick up steam in the semi round when LouEllen Reed hit 16 straight serves against Odessa in the semi-final.

Coach Brown has headed the ‘hawks last year and this year. The Oakesdale win marks her fifth title with her first three coaching as head of the former Tekoa/Oakesdale combo.

McKenzie Turner coached the 2015 title team.

Overall stats: Logan Reed 62 kills 36 digs, 12 blocks, 51-53 serving; Brooklyn Henley 40 kills, 16 digs, 5 blocks; Madison Schrope 72 assists, 11 digs, 47-48 serving; LouEllen Reed 10 kills, 49 assists, 27 digs, 65-69 serving, 4 blocks.