Richland soccer, Kamiakin volleyball finish impressive seasons, just short of WA titles

Only one team ever feels completely happy at the end of a sports season — the state champion.

Many other teams are disappointed about falling short of that state title goal.

But then, with time, athletes and coaches can look back on the campaign with satisfaction — knowing it was a pretty good season.

Such is the case of the Richland High girls soccer team and the Kamiakin volleyball team.

The Bombers placed third in the 4A state tournament this past weekend at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.

Richland finished with a 21-1 record, with the only loss a 1-0 verdict to the hands of Issaquah in Friday’s semifinals.

But on Saturday, the Bombers bounced back by beating Skyline 4-2, as senior Hayden Crowley scored a hat trick and Brookelyn Peterson added the fourth goal for Richland.

It has been a great calendar year for head coach Justin Almquist’s Bombers. If you include the team’s 11-1 record in the shortened spring season, Richland went 32-2 this year.

Pretty impressive.

And the way Almquist puts his team together, it’s built for future success. The Bombers are not a senior dominated team, but instead have a smattering of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen who all contribute.

Perhaps the biggest contributor this season, though, is Crowley. The senior forward, who has signed to play women’s soccer at the University of Washington next fall, was named the Mid-Columbia Conference’s Player of the Year this season by the conference’s coaches.

She was joined on the MCC first team by teammates Kelsey Fulton, a junior midfielder; and Kaylie Pearson, a senior defender.

Three others — senior midfielder Kylie Hay, senior defender Maggie Perryman, and junior defender Kendal Smith — were named to the second team.

Almquist, who has the respect of his peers, was named MCC Coach of the Year.

▪ Other players named to the MCC first team included five Chiawana standouts: senior midfielder Ellie Cortes-Muniz, junior defender Emma Haertling, sophomore forward Isabella Hoag, junior defender Olivia Mendoza, and junior forward Ava Suarez.

Kamiakin had three first-team members: junior forward Kate Christian, senior defender Claire Eerkes, and junior midfielder Hannah Whitemarsh.

Three other schools each had one representative on the first team: Southridge senior midfielder Violet Duran, Hanford senior forward Claire Nguyen, and Hermiston senior goalkeeper Lindsey Pasena-Littlesky.

▪ Besides Camas beating Issaquah 1-0 in a shootout for the 4A state title on Saturday, Lakeside of Seattle edged Seattle Prep 2-1 for the 3A crown. … Archbishop Murphy shut out Hockinson 2-0 to win the girls 2A state championship at Shoreline Stadium on Saturday, while Deer Park blanked Seattle Academy for the 1A girls title, and Kalama beat Adna 1-0 in a shootout for the 1B/2B girls crown. … Providence Classical Christian defeated Orcas Island 2-1 in a shootout at Sunset Chev Stadium to take the 1B/2B boys state title.

Volleyball

Kamiakin went 1-2 in the 4A state volleyball tournament in Yakima.

The Braves lost their opener by a 3-2 score to Mt. Si on Friday to drop into the losers bracket. But they bounced back to eliminate Central Valley 3-0 later that night.

On Saturday, though, Kamiakin fell 3-1 to Lake Stevens to end its impressive run.

Head coach Morgan Schauble led her troops to a 15-1 MCC record to win the conference title in a season that had five tough teams that could beat each other on any given night.

The Braves, who finished with a 17-4 overall record, had two players named to the first-team All-MCC squad: senior outside hitter Taryn Vrieling, and sophomore setter Rylie Dolven.

Sophomore outside hitter Peyton Arland was named to the second team.

And Schauble, for her team’s efforts, was named the MCC Coach of the Year.

▪ Kennewick senior outside hitter Autumn Larson was named the MCC Player of the Year.

Besides Vrieling and Dolven, others joining Larson on the first team are two Walla Walla standouts — senior outside hitter Jade Ilaoa and senior setter Becky Merca.

In addition, Chiawana junior middle hitter Emily Dawes, Kennewick senior middle hitter Hailey Dreier, and Richland senior libero Morgon Maxwell were all named to the first team.

▪ Bothell beat Curtis 3-0 on Saturday night to win the 4A state volleyball title. … Mead defeated Peninsula 3-1 to take the 3A state championship on Friday night. … Walla Walla had qualified for the 3A title, but as a 14 seed in the 20-team tournament, the Blue Devils were forced to compete in a play-in match against Bainbridge on Thursday morning. Wa-Hi fell 3-2 and was eliminated. … Columbia River defeated Ridgefield 3-1 in an all-Vancouver region 2A state championship match on Saturday.

Notes

▪ Former Tri-City American defenseman Luke Zazula is now playing at Acadia University in Canada.

The Axemen are off to a 5-9-0 start through games of Nov. 17, and Zazula has a goal and six assists through 14 games.

Zazula played parts of two seasons with the Americans from 2019 to 2021, participating in 55 games, scoring 9 goals and 21 assists.

▪ Southridge High grad Mason Martin finished the 2021 minor league baseball season batting .241 in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

Martin played 112 games in Double-A Altoona, and another eight games in Triple-A Indianapolis to finish the season.

Martin — who should start the 2022 season at Indianapolis — hit 25 home runs, drove in 81 runs, and scored 66 runs in 2021.

▪ Former Tri-City American Morgan Geekie — who is playing with the NHL expansion franchise Seattle Kraken this season — was asked recently in a radio interview to rank the Tri-Cities.

Pasco is first, Geekie told Jake Heaps and Stacy Rost of ESPN 710 AM of Seattle, because he lived with his billet family in that town.

Kennewick, he said, was second, because he played in that town at the Toyota Center for the Americans.

And Richland ranked third, mainly because Geekie said he never spent any time there.

This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 11:31 AM.