Three GSL schools in 4A volleyball semis

EVERETT – The defending champion Mead Panthers found out just what it will take to repeat.

University received an exhausting, two-match baptism of fire.

And Gonzaga Prep, the surprise, learned that the underdog can be more than just a bump in the road.

All three will be playing semifinal matches in the State 4A volleyball tournament this afternoon at 1 p.m. at the Everett Events Center, with Mead taking on G-Prep and University meeting a familiar Eisenhower squad.

G-Prep (17-6) shocked sixth-ranked Auburn Riverside with an 18-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-18 win.

“We outlasted them,” Gonzaga Prep head coach Lisa Phillips said. “They were surprised we came back in game two, and we stole it. We built a little momentum and just kept chipping away.”

The key to improving a team, which finished tied for third in the GSL and fourth out of the Eastern Regional, is just enjoying the game.

“We’re having fun out there,” Phillips said. “We aren’t trying to control the outcome, and we’ve been building all season toward this.”

Senior Kelly Mastor had 17 kills in the match, and senior Haley Topliff led the defensive effort with 25 digs.

“We have excellent senior leadership,” Phillips said.

Top-ranked Mead needed everything it had to survive five games against seventh-ranked Emerald Ridge of Puyallup. Emerald Ridge jumped ahead with a decisive 25-16 victory in the first game, with junior outside hitter Kylie Marshall serving three aces on a nine-point run midway through the game.

Mead (26-2) bounced back in a seesaw second game, and then the Jaguars took the third game, another back-and-forth affair.

After handily winning game four, Mead rode an early fifth-game onslaught by Rachael Schurman to a 15-10 win and a date with the Bullpups this afternoon at 1 p.m.

“We’ve been working so hard to get to this peak,” said Schurman, who had 23 kills in the quarterfinal win. “We learned a lot from this game. We learned just how bad we wanted it.”

This run differs quite a bit from last year’s state title, when the Panthers were rarely challenged and only lost one game in four matches.

“Our motto is: Heart, guts and passion, and that’s what it took,” Mead head coach Judy Kight said. “We are battle-ready. We’ve faced adversity, and we know what it takes to come out on top.”

Emerald Ridge’s Marshall, a member of the USA under-16 national team this summer, gave the Panthers huge problems, finishing with 30 kills and 30 digs.

Mead has defeated its semifinal opponent G-Prep three times this season, but Phillips says that could work to either team’s advantage.

“Everyone’s vulnerable,” Phillips said. “We’ve got nothing to lose. Nobody expected us to be here. We’ll play to win, not playing not to lose.”

University (25-3) squeezed out a five-game win over Bethel in the quarterfinals 25-21, 18-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-9. Mandy Daniels and Daidre Mendenhall dominated the fifth game, accounting for 11 of the Titans’ 15 points. The two would combine for 44 kills in the match.

“Some teams focus on Mandy, and that opens it up for Daidre,” University head coach Amanda Velasquez said. “When they focus on her, that opens it for Mandy.”

After splitting the first two games, Bethel took control by running off the final four points of game three to win 25-21. U-Hi evened it up in the fourth game, breaking open a 19-16 game with three kills by Mendenhall and two by Daniels to beat the Braves 25-17.

“After that third game, they got a fire lit under them,” Velasquez said. “They realized that playing like that was unacceptable.”

The Titans face off against second-ranked Eisenhower of Yakima, which they played just a week ago at the Eastern Regional, falling in a tight three-game match.

G-Prep had an easier time reaching the quarterfinals, sweeping fifth-ranked Bellarmine Prep. The Lions played without the big right arm of Narrows Bay Division MVP Alita Fisher, who broke her hand in last weekend’s regionals.

Bellarmine couldn’t get going without Fisher, and the Bullpups left no room for error, smothering the Lions in the first two sets 25-18, 25-14. Bellarmine rebounded in game three to take an 18-8 lead, but G-Prep ran off 17 of the next 20 points to move into the quarterfinals.

“It was very, very important to start off strong,” Mastor said. “We had played them earlier with their best player and we beat them, so I think we could beat them even if they had her.”

G-Prep defeated Bellarmine in four sets early in September in Spokane.

“There’s a mental edge when you’ve played someone and won,” Phillips said. “We knew they weren’t the same team after beating Auburn, Riverside and Bethel, but we weren’t the same team either.”

Mead didn’t struggle either on its way into the second round, dispatching eighth-ranked Spanaway Lake 25-12, 25-21, 25-22 in an 8:30 a.m. match.

Schurman had 10 kills to lead the Panthers, and Cassie Dobson added seven kills and 13 digs.

Spanaway, which finished third in 2003, couldn’t find many opportunities above the net for its pair of Division I-bound middle blockers, two-time South Puget Sound MVP Jalen Pendon (Washington State) and Jennifer Oney (Portland State).

University moved into the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 24-26, 25-22, 25-20, 25-14 win over ninth-ranked Everett.

Daniels, Kara Crisp and Mendenhall carried U-Hi back after a difficult first-game loss. Daniels and Mendenhall combined for 44 kills, Crisp had 49 assists and the trio sparked the Titans’ defense, each with at least 15 digs.

“We finally relaxed and realized we can dig everything up and block,” Velasquez said. “We’ve lost game one before and come back. It’s something that fires them up because they know they should have won that.”