Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Top seeds roll in 4A district volleyball

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

RICHLAND -- The subject of last year's postseason came up frequently at Richland volleyball practices this week.

Specifically, the discussion turned to a pair of home losses to lower seeds -- including a first-round district loss to Pasco -- and how to avoid a similar fate this year.

"We wanted to come out strong and make sure that our heads were in the game," said senior setter Krysta Olberding.

At least in Thursday's first-round CBBN 4A district match against Kennewick, the Bombers did just that. The fifth-ranked Bombers, seeded second in the tournament, blitzed the No. 7-seeded Lions 25-14, 25-18, 25-9 at Art Dawald Gym.

"To start out districts like this is a good confidence booster," said Olberding, who had 21 assists, 10 digs and five aces.

Richland, which won the district title two years ago, advanced to Saturday's semifinals at 10 a.m. at Southridge against Eisenhower, needing only one win to qualify for next weekend's Eastern Regionals in Spokane.

The Cadets were the other lower-seeded team to beat Richland last fall, ousting the Bombers from regionals.

"We had three real good practices this week," said Bombers coach Bob Raidl. "The girls just got tired of not playing well. They'd been in a slump, and they turned it around themselves."

That is what Lions coach Scott Carswell hopes his team can accomplish between now and Saturday. Kennewick takes on Walla Walla in a loser-out match at 11:30 a.m. and needs to win twice Saturday to advance to regionals for only the second time in school history.

"We just didn't show up tonight," said Carswell, whose team was knocked out of districts by Richland last year. "But it's nothing that can't be fixed. We have the skills to compete. We just need to prepare ourselves mentally and bring those skills to the court."

The Lions' mental breakdowns included seven rotation errors that helped pad Richland's ace total to 17.

Southridge 3, Eastmont 0

KENNEWICK -- Heather Worley had 14 kills and 12 digs, and CBBN regular-season champion Southridge -- ranked No. 9 in the state -- defeated Eastmont 25-20, 25-15, 25-18 in first-round action in Kennewick.

The Suns take on crosstown rival Kamiakin in Saturday's semifinals. Southridge won their regular-season match in five sets.

"We hadn't been on the court for about a week, so it was nice to get back and get the feel of it again," said Suns coach John Lengphounpraseut. "We played defense well, but our offense was not as good as I would like to see."

Jamie Lyons added five kills and 19 digs for the Suns.

Kamiakin 3, Wenatchee 1

KENNEWICK -- Bethany Huston had 11 kills and six blocks, and Paige Wamboldt added 19 assists and 16 digs as No. 10 Kamiakin, seeded fourth in the tourney, beat Wenatchee 25-20, 17-25, 25-19, 25-23 in Kennewick.

"We dished it around a little bit tonight, and our blocking was really good," said Braves coach Mary Opitz. "Wenatchee goes for everything. They're very scrappy, so we had to make sure all the pieces of our game were in play."

Eisenhower 3, Walla Walla 0

YAKIMA -- Courtney Zaro had nine kills and eight digs, but sixth-seeded Walla Walla fell 25-17, 25-19, 25-23 in a first-round match to Eisenhower.