West 3A/2A all-stars win rubber match

It runs in the family.

Two years ago Kara Pein sat in the stands at Lewis and Clark’s Hunter Fieldhouse and watched her sister, Karlie, play in the Washington State Volleyball Coaches Association All-State Volleyball Series.

“I wasn’t sure I would ever qualify to play in it, but it was always one of my goals,” the Colville graduate said after completing the three-match series Saturday at LC.

Pein came up with a team-high 11 digs, but her Class 3A/2A East squad came up short as the West took two out of three games, winning the rubber game of the state series, 25-17, 22-25, 25-20.

The West swept all three games in Fife Thursday, 25-11, 25-22, 25-16. Friday at Davis High in Yakima the East earned a 27-25, 31-29, 25-27 victory.

“My sister told me how much fun this series was and how good the players all were,” Pein said. “My experience has been just the same.

“Sometimes you just have to stop and marvel at some of the plays they make.”

The West was led by Mount Si setter Maggie Olson’s 19 assists. Michelle Weydert, an outside hitter from Washington High in Kent, collected a dozen digs and Skyline’s Nauzley Abedini racked up 11 kills.

Setter Katie Robinson had 10 assists to lead the East. Ferndale’s Morgan Delaney had four blocks and five kills.

The All-State series, in its 19th year, was played without a representative from the Greater Spokane League in either the Class 4A or 3A matches. Seattle’s giant Kingco Conference also was not represented.

“If you are named first-team all-league, you’re automatically sent an invitation,” said Buzzie Welch, the former LC volleyball coach and the series’ Spokane coordinator. “We never heard back from the GSL, and that’s a shame. Mead won the State 4A championship and isn’t represented.”

Welch, who retired from LC and now coaches volleyball at Wenatchee, said they are considering making changes to the way the series is broken down.

Under consideration for next year is a combined 4A/3A and 2A/1A series, with Class B the only classification playing solo.

“We’ve always gotten a great response from the Class B teams,” Welch said.

The 1A/B East squad completed a three-match sweep of its series with a 25-21, 24-26, 25-14 victory – coming within a game of sweeping all nine games of the series.

Freeman setter Tiffany Hornbeck piloted the East to victory by dishing out 22 assists. Lind-Ritzville teammates Tiffany Starring and Jessica Heidenreich combined for 15 kills and 20 digs.

Saturday marked the final match together for Heidenreich, Starring and Brittney Kubik, who powered the Broncos to a State Class B championship in 2002 and to the Class 1A state title last season.

All three intend to play college volleyball in the fall: Heidenreich at Clackamas Community College, Kubik at Walla Walla CC and Starring at Boise State University.

The trio combined for 17 kills Friday in Yakima.

Class B’s Almira/Coulee-Hartline also had a trio playing their final volleyball games together: Bailee Clark, Sheena Henderson and Kristen Dormaier.

“It was great to be able to play with them one last time,” said Henderson, a 5-foot-11 hitter who will play basketball at Big Bend CC this winter. “This is a great series to play in because you get to spend some time with your teammates and get to know them a little bit. It’s not just one day and you’re done, like the basketball games are.”

Clark also will play basketball in college. The 5-8 guard will attend Western Washington. Dormaier will attend Whitworth and plans to be a track walk-on.

It took some imagination to call the victorious Class 4A squad “East”, but no matter how you shook them up, the team came out the winner.

The East team was a combination of players from the Big Nine Conference and the Western Conference, which stretches from the northern tip of King County to the Canadian Border and includes Everett, Snohomish, Marysville and Bellingham.

The trans-Cascadian mélange rolled behind the 26 assists of Walla Walla’s Hailey Pearce and knocked off the West 25-23, 24-26, 25-19 to win the deciding match of the series.

The East won the first match Thursday, 23-25, 25-16, 25-18. but fell in Yakima 25-14, 16-25, 17-25.

Emily Otto of Kamiakin collected 13 digs and an equal number of kills to lead the East.