State volleyball: Oakesdale sweeps its way to ninth 1B championship in past 11 seasons

YAKIMA – Top-seeded Oakesdale continued to bulldoze its way through the State 1B volleyball ranks late Friday afternoon at the Yakima Valley SunDome, sweeping to a repeat and a ninth championship in the past 11 tournaments.

No. 4 Colfax, however, was unable to unseat third-seeded La Conner, which kept the Bulldogs from adding to their plentiful championship collection by claiming a fourth consecutive title .

1B

Oakesdale lived up to the word silk-screened down one of the sleeves of coach McKinzie Turner’s T-shirt – GRIT – in the 25-13, 25-17, 29-27 victory in a rematch of last year’s final.

The Nighthawks worked their way out of an early six-point hole in the third set of the championship match against No. 2 Mossyrock to preserve a fourth sweep in this trip to Yakima.

“They just played with a lot of heart in that third set and they just scrapped and they scrapped,” Turner said. “They believe in themselves and they believe in each other.”

Oakesdale early on looked as if it might run away with the match, rolling in the first set and building as much as a 12-point lead in the next behind the big kills of reigning co-1B Player of the Year and senior Gianna Anderson and junior Payton Davis.

But Mossyrock, which has finished second in four of the past five state tournaments while pursuing its first championship, jumped on the Nighthawks in the third set and led 12-6.

Oakesdale battled back and held a 23-19 lead before the Vikings surged in front and had several set points before the Nighthawks rallied for the championship .

“We have six players on the court who can put a ball away at any given time and we have six amazing defensive players and six amazing servers,” Turner said. “We have a whole team of amazing girls and they are fun to coach because it gives us a lot of options and a lot of fire power.”

2B

La Conner beat Colfax in four sets while exorcising a recurring misstep in its otherwise title-laden history.

Braves coach Suzanne Marble capped a 30-year Hall of Fame career that includes more than 500 victories and a seventh state championship as her team did something they hadn’t been able to do before – beat the Bulldogs in the final.

Colfax had topped the Braves all five times the teams had met in the state title match – twice at 1A – before Friday’s match.

“My mom has played them five times in the state championship and lost five times in the state championship,” said La Conner senior Ellie Marble, who was the co-2B Player of the Year last season, after the 25-12, 24-26, 25-19, 25-18 victory. “This means a lot to go out beating them in a state championship.”

The Bulldogs were the last team other than the Braves to win the 2B championship when Sue Doering capped her Hall of Fame career with a 14th championship in 2017.

Colfax, now coached by Doering’s daughter, Megan Dorman, was the upstart Friday having replaced several players from a fifth-place finishing team of a year ago. The veteran La Conner lineup cruised past the younger Bulldogs in the opening set.

“They were the more experienced team today and that was kind of the story of the match,” Dorman said. “We kind of came in wide-eyed. I have a lot of players that were C squad or JV last year that are playing huge roles this year.”

Colfax, though, regained its composure, and fought off a pair of set points to even the match at a set apiece.

La Conner broke away late in the third and fourth sets to wrap up the championship.

Marble’s kills were matched by junior teammate Morgan Huizenga. Fellow senior and returning all-state selection Makayla Herrera was a force in the middle for the Braves.

“It means so much, this team has been working so hard all year and now to go out my senior year like this is incredible,” Marble said.

Juniors Hailey Demler and Lauryn York and sophomore Brynn McGaughy provided the big hits Friday for Colfax, which figures to again be in title contention next fall.

“They’re fighters and my team has been fighting all season to get better,” Dorman said.

In Friday’s other 2B trophy matches, No. 2 Manson swept top-seeded Kalama to take third place; fifth-seeded Adna outlasted No. 11 Lind-Ritzville-Sprague for fifth place; and No. 14 Okanogan topped 12th-seeded Tri-Cities Prep for seventh.