Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008

Lewis & Clark finally comes out on top

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

The way the day started for the Kamiakin volleyball team Saturday at the 4A state tournament at Toyota Center, it looked as if the Braves might just take home their first-ever state title.

Kamiakin worked over Olympia in three quick sets in their semifinal match, 25-12, 25-18, 25-16, looking as good as the Braves have all season.

"We were pretty methodical in our play in that match," said Kamiakin coach Mary Opitz. "I thought we'd have great momentum going into the finals."

Lewis & Clark squashed that idea in a hurry. The Tigers scored nine straight points in the first set to open a 9-1 lead and never looked back in a 25-12, 25-20, 25-22 victory.

"Them getting so far ahead in the first game gave them lots of momentum," said Braves senior Marcy Hjellum. "If we could have stayed close that first game, I think it would have settled us down."

Kamiakin had never played in the finals before, while LC had lost the last two years to Mead in the championship match.

That experience showed early in Saturday's final.

"It wasn't nerves, but more anxiety, excitement. We had the adrenaline flowing," Hjellum said. "We realized we had to relax if we wanted to get back into it."

Another factor in LC's quick start was a tactical change Opitz made that ended up backfiring. She changed her season-long rotation hoping to get a favorable matchup along the front line.

"When I saw it didn't happen, I was like, 'Oh shoot!' " Opitz said. "That was a killer. I'll take the blame for that."

Still, after getting blitzed in the first set, the Braves played LC evenly to start both the second and third. In each, they opened up a small lead -- 12-10 in the second, 4-1 in the third -- but the Tigers eventually went on one big run to get separation.

In the second set, Chloe Rowand served six straight points to give the Tigers a 17-12 lead.

In the third, it was Shelby Grant who served four points, punctuated by an ace, to give LC a 15-10 lead. The Braves seven times closed the gap to two, but each time LC got a sideout to deny Kamiakin momentum.

Finally, on match point, Rowand's blast from the back row clipped the net and trickled through the heart of the Braves defense, unable to react to the offspeed finish.

"We hadn't seen a middle hitter that good all year," Hjellum said of Rowand, who is bound for Auburn after an 18-kill, three-block performance. "They had strong hitters, and they play strong defense. Hits that usually hit the floor were coming back up at us."

The final was a rematch of last week's Eastern Regional final, also won by LC but in five sets. The Tigers made subtle adjustments from that match, the primary one being to commit two and three blockers each time to stop Hjellum and fellow outside hitter Elise Jepsen.

The duo combined for 39 kills in the regional final but just 14 on Saturday night.

"I could definitely tell they were doing that," Hjellum said. "The thing you want to do most in a championship game is to kill the ball, but I was not finding the holes as easily tonight, and it was hard to find spots to call out for Elise to hit."

That wasn't the case in their semifinal match. Hjellum pounded down 16 kills and Jepsen 15 as the Braves rolled past Olympia.

"We knew momentum had been the thing that got us going all season, and we knew that it would be a huge factor today if we wanted to be in the championship," Hjellum said.

Oceana Bush added nine kills and four blocks for LC in the title match. Kristi Beyer, a junior middle hitter, led Kamiakin with 10 kills, while Carly Strecker added six.

-- 3rd/6th: Skyview 3, Olympia 0

Skyview setter Leanna Ludes, who signed last week with the University of San Francisco, had 34 assists and four kills in her high school finale as the Storm rebounded from a three-set loss to LC in the final to beat Olympia 25-17, 25-20, 26-24.

"Our coach gave us an hour to just clear our minds and get in a better mood," Ludes said. "After that hour went by, everyone was happy again and pumped up, ready to play. In the preseason, I said top-3 at state would be a good goal to have, and it's great to accomplish that."

-- 4th/7th: Kentwood 3, Mead 2

Kentwood had hoped a year ago to be the team that stopped Mead's string of state championships.

Olympia accomplished that Friday night with a five-set win over the Panthers in the quarterfinals. The Conquerors had to settle for beating Mead in the trophy round, 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 21-25, 15-11.

"These girls wanted to go out on a high by winning their last match," said Kentwood coach Bil Caillier.

-- 5th/8th: Curtis 3, Puyallup 0

It was a rematch of last week's West Central District final and, like then, it was Curtis that came out on top, beating its Vikings namesake and SPSL South rival 25-23, 25-18, 25-23.

"I knew from the beginning we could beat them again," said Curtis senior Andrea Geubelle, the reigning state long and triple jump champion who had 13 kills. "We just came out strong and did what we had to do to win."