Sunday, Nov. 01, 2009

Bombers claim No. 1 seed in volleyball

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

The Richland volleyball team huddled before Saturday's CBBN 4A district championship match and watched as Southridge received the trophy for winning the regular-season title.

"And we said, 'They took the league from us. Let's take the district from them,' " said Bombers setter Krysta Olberding. "It was payback time."

Two hours later, it was the Bombers congregating on Southridge's home floor, receiving the district championship trophy and goofing for pictures after a 25-21, 25-14, 22-25, 25-19 victory that gives them the league's No. 1 seed to next weekend's 4A Eastern Regionals in Spokane.

The Bombers open regional play at 7 p.m. Friday against Wenatchee at Rogers High. They need to win twice at regionals to earn their first-ever state berth.

"We just had real good practices this week, and that made us really confident," said junior Chelsey Bettinson, who led Richland with 21 kills (only four hitting errors), three blocks and five aces.

"But next weekend is a whole new week. We've got to prepare hard. We want that (state) banner up in our gym."

The Suns, who lost in the district final for the second year in a row, play University at 8:30 p.m. at Mead High.

"Give credit to Richland," said Southridge coach John Lengphounpraseut. "They were aggressive with their hitting, not just Chelsey, but everybody on their team."

Kamiakin grabbed the No. 3 regional seed, bouncing back from a four-set semifinal loss to Southridge to beat Kennewick and Eisenhower in the consolation bracket.

The Braves open regional play at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Rogers against Lewis & Clark in a rematch of last year's regional and state finals, both won by LC.

The Lions, who eliminated Walla Walla earlier in the day, were ousted by Wenatchee in the fifth-place match.

Championship

The Bombers handed Southridge its only loss in league play, sweeping the Suns in Kennewick.

Southridge opened the rematch strong, grabbing a 20-17 lead in the opening set, before Bettinson caught fire. She had four kills during an 8-1 run to close out the set.

"We moved Chelsey to the middle, and that gave us some momentum and confidence," said Richland coach Bob Raidl, who won his second district title in three years.

It carried through into the second set, as the Bombers grabbed a 6-2 lead and never relinquished it.

Southridge led almost wire-to-wire in the third set, with Meagan Doyle getting seven of her team-high 16 kills as well as two blocks, but Richland again jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the fourth and nursed it to the end.

Andrea Smith served an ace for the Suns to save one match point, but a kill by Michelle Coughanour sealed Richland's victory.

"We brought some energy in that third set," Lengphounpraseut said. "But at this level, you can't dig yourself a big hole and try to get out. If we win that first set, who knows?"

The Bombers nearly didn't reach the final, falling behind 2-1 to Eisenhower in the semifinals and trailing 14-6 in the fourth set and 7-3 in the fifth before rallying.

"We just fell apart for a little while, but we pulled ourseslves together and we finished it off," said Bettinson, who had 20 kills against Ike.

Olberding, who had nine blocks and 37 assists in the semifinals, added, "It's been a successful postseason so far. All of our heads are in it. We're fired up."

The Suns trailed 22-17 in the fourth set to Kamiakin in the semifinals before coming back to finish off the Braves in four.

Consolation

Kailee Dunn's face lit up when she heard who Kamiakin was playing in its first-round regional match.

"Oh yeah!" said Dunn, one of the few veterans off last year's state runner-up team. "I'm so excited. This is our chance to prove ourselves to them."

The Braves earned that chance by outlasting Kennewick in four sets in the consolation semifinals, then breezing past Eisenhower 25-16, 25-17 in the seeding match.

"It was a hard loss to Southridge," Dunn said. "But we know we can do it. We just have to work hard in practice this week so we can go out next weekend and do our best."

The Lions, who fought back from 2-1 down to beat Walla Walla in the morning loser-out match, lost the winner-to-regional match against Wenatchee, falling 25-17, 25-19, 25-16.

"After the way we played against Richland (on Thursday), I'm proud of how they played today," said Kennewick coach Scott Carswell. "They came out hard today. They played well."