State volleyball preview: Mt. Spokane ready to show its still one of the teams to beat in 3A tournament

First-year Mt. Spokane volleyball coach Darcy McMurray knew when the season started that the cupboard of talent was far from bare.

In fact, McMurray inherited a team that lost just a handful of seniors from the previous season – a team that finished sixth at last year’s State 3A tournament.

That treasure trove of experience led to a 12-4 record for the Wildcats and another berth into the State 3A tournament, which takes place Friday and Saturday at the Yakima Valley SunDome.

“We have come a long ways from where we started and are only continuing to peak,” McMurray said after last Thursday’s District 6 championship match against Ridgeline. “We’ve found a lot of consistency in the little things right now and I really think that we are peaking when we should be.”

The Wildcats earned the No. 6 seed into the state field and will face 11th-seeded Timberline in Friday morning’s opening round.

That seeding places Mt. Spokane on the opposite side of the bracket from Greater Spokane League and District 6 champions Ridgeline, which claimed the tournament’s top seed after defeating the Wildcats 3-1 in last week’s district tournament title.

Mt. Spokane senior middle Teegan Curtis said the team didn’t play to its full potential against the Falcons, but she knows the issue can be easily fixed.

“We have to compete every single point, that is what has gotten us here,” Curtis said. “We didn’t compete to our full potential in this one and that’s why we came up short, but we all know what it should look like.”

McMurray added that even with the result not going their way, the Wildcats can take a lot from a tough match against one of the state’s best teams leading into the tournament.

“This is the kind of match you want to play before you go to state, because it shows you the things we need to work on and do over the next week,” McMurray said. “They’re an incredible team that we’d love to see again maybe, so it’s a great preparation game for us.”

Mt. Spokane knows a high trophy placing is well within its reach once it gets to Yakima. The Wildcats have earned a trophy in the past four 3A tournaments, including a state title in 2019.

Curtis believes it is on the team’s core of four seniors to instill that confidence when it comes down to crunch time.

“I want to encourage these girls to realize that our ceiling is still so much higher than where we are,” she said. “We want to figure out a way to reach that level in the tournament. We think we can go all the way.”

The top-seeded Falcons (16-1) will open their first trip to the state tournament against either 16th-seeded Bishop Blanchet or 17th-seeded Bellarmine Prep on Friday afternoon.

The State 3A championship match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

• Defending 3A champs Mead back to state in first 4A season: After claiming the state title in 3A last fall, Mead is hoping to find similar success at the highest classification in this weekend’s State 4A tournament, also in Yakima.

The Panthers (12-7) earned the tournament’s No. 14 seed after winning the District 6 4A tournament as the fifth seed with victories over Richland, Gonzaga Prep and Kamiakin.

Mead will play third-seeded Kennedy Catholic in Friday morning’s first round.

“We had a really slow start to this season and struggled to really get going,” Mead coach Shawn Wilson said after an Oct. 24 loss at Gonzaga Prep.

“But I think we’re starting to see it connect a bit better, and we know that it’s new life once you hit the postseason and anyone can be that hot team.”

The 4A title game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the SunDome.