Eagle volleyball qualify for state as 10th overall

DAYTON - The 1B State Volleyball Tournament will see two Whitman County teams represented.

The St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse Eagles and Oakesdale Nighthawks both will play in Yakima.

The Eagles qualified for state after defeating the Pomeroy Pirates in a winner-to-state match on Saturday, Nov. 4.

The match was played in Dayton.

Before the match against Pomeroy, the Eagles played the district semifinal match against the Liberty Christian Patriots.

The game was played in Richland on Thursday, Nov. 2.

Set scores in this match saw the Patriots win the second, third, and fourth sets to advance to the district championship game: 25-14, 22-25, 25-27, 22-25.

Emery Molina had a team-high 14 kills for the Eagles against the Patriots. Kenzie Stanley had four blocks, and Julia Guske had 36 assists.

With the loss, the Eagles were forced to play the winner-to-state game against the Pirates.

The game was dominated by the Eagles after a slow start.

Set scores saw the Eagles breeze past the Pirates: 25-9, 25-10, 25-13.

The first set saw the Eagles trail 7-2 before head coach Jenn Johnson called a timeout to regroup her team, and wake them up.

After the timeout, the Eagles went on a five-point run to tie the game at seven before taking the 12-8 lead before Pomeroy called their timeout.

After the timeout the Eagles went on another five-point run to lead 17-8.

St. John would finish the set on a 23-2 scoring run, winning set one 25-9.

The second set saw the Eagles jump to a 12-5 lead before the Pirates called a timeout.

The Eagles continued their serving and offensive dominance, taking a 22-10 lead before taking the set 25-10.

The third set was close at the beginning, with the set tied at four, then eight. The Eagles made a break, leading 11-8 before the Pirates took a timeout.

The Eagles would then lead 22-13 before closing out the set 25-13, punching their ticket to state.

Hough had 13 kills and seven aces to lead the offensive attack for the Eagles. Cami Larsen and Guske had five digs each, and Stanley had two blocks.

The Eagles are seeded as the 10th seed in the 1B State Tournament.

The tournament is held in Yakima, and is going on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 8-9.

The Eagles played their first match of state on Wednesday, Nov. 8, against Waterville-Mansfield.