Pullman, WV win; Mt. Spokane falls

KENNEWICK – The Pullman volleyball team didn’t notice the state coaches’ rankings this week that had the defending 2A champions picked to finish seventh, losing in the quarterfinals to Burlington-Edison.

That was the same prediction a year ago, and the Greyhounds knew how that turned out.

“We weren’t even seeded in the top 10 all last year and we won state,” said senior Stephanie Logan after Pullman’s 25-18, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18 victory Friday night at the Toyota Center. “So we knew if we just played our game, we’d win.”

The Greyhounds will play in this afternoon’s semifinals against Great Northern League rival West Valley, which swept Black Hills to complete an all-eastside semifinal quartet. Grandview meets Selah in the other semifinal.

“When (Pullman coach) Dave (Weitz) and I talked after our second league match, we thought that we could see each other maybe three times in the postseason,” WV coach Drew Wendle said. “I really hoped it would have been in the state final, but I’ll take it as it is.”

Mt. Spokane, last year’s runner-up in 3A, was ousted in straight sets by Seattle Prep in the quarterfinals. The Wildcats will play Kennewick in a loser-out match this morning, with the winner going for fourth place.

• State 3A: The Wildcats found themselves in the toughest quarter of the tournament draw. Although they swept Capital in their opening match, none of the three sets were easy wins in the 25-22, 26-24, 25-23 victory.

“And then they just got taller,” quipped coach John Reid.

The “they” in question was Seattle Prep, which returned 6-foot-2 junior Olivia Magill to the lineup from injury late last month and also boasts 6-2 Yale-bound senior Gabby Bird-Vogel.

Those two combined for 26 kills, and junior Katie Wickersham had five blocks as the Panthers owned the net.

“They got into our heads with their block,” Reid said. “Even if they didn’t block us, we couldn’t get into our offense.”

Annie Arnzen had 13 kills to lead Mt. Spokane, which now faces Kennewick in a rematch of last week’s regional semifinals, won by the Wildcats in four sets.

“I know they will be hungry to come after us again,” Reid said. “We have to be ready for them.”

• State 2A: The only history Weitz concerned himself with against B-E was how his team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Tigers on its way to the title.

He was worried history might repeat itself when B-E took the third set Friday.

“I told the girls you know the B-E coach is talking about how we came back on them last year and that they can do it too,” Weitz said. “Our aggressive nature went away in the third, but at the end, we got a little separation. We matured a little bit in that match.”

The Greyhounds romped past Interlake in their opening match, while West Valley needed four sets to get past a stubborn White River team.

In the quarterfinals, the Eagles wasted two match points before sophomore Sequoia Lofton pounded the ball down the middle to put away Black Hills, 25-18, 25-17, 28-26.

“Overall, I’m very happy with how the day went,” Wendle said. “We’ve been fighting the flu, fighting a few other things right now, but when character shows up, good things will happen.”