Two Tri-Cities teams vying for 4A championships in WA state volleyball this week
Neither Valarie Anderson nor Morgan Schauble are upset about their teams’ seeds into this week’s Class 4A event at the WIAA state high school volleyball tournament at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
Anderson’s Richland Bombers are seeded No. 13 out of 16 entries, while Schauble’s Kamiakin Braves earned the 14th seed.
“I don’t know how we’re perceived on the other side of the state,” said Anderson. “But I actually didn’t look a lot into it. It’s just the luck of the draw.”
Schauble, Kamiakin’s head coach, agrees.
“I know the committee goes on the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), and who you play in conference,” said Schauble. “I’m not surprised where we’re at. Chiawana, Richland and Hanford have all been tough. The top four teams were battling each other out the last week (of the Mid-Columbia Conference regular season).”
Anderson’s Bombers are 15-4, and will open Friday’s tournament against No. 4 seed Lake Stevens (25-6).
“The kids are very antsy to play,” she said.
This is Anderson’s first season as head coach for the Bombers.
“There has been a learning curve for the kids with me this season,” said Anderson.
But they kicked things into high gear about mid-season, “and unity is their strength.”
The irony is Anderson has seen the Bomber girls play for a long time.
“My sister and I were coaching them at Libby Middle School (in West Richland) when they were in seventh and eighth grade,” said Anderson. “For some of them, that’s when they first played volleyball.”
Anderson eventually became the junior varsity coach at Richland High School, coaching many of those girls again.
And now, here they are, together again — attempting to win a state title together.
“We have to show up and have to do our jobs,” said Anderson. “We have a very talented skills group.”
Schauble’s team (18-3-1) has a very early game Friday: 7 a.m. against No. 3 seed Mount Rainier of Des Moines (27-3).
It’s a tough team which has only dropped 7 sets all season.
But Schauble says they are prepping for a win.
“We’ve been practicing at 6 a.m. this week,” she said. “We’ll have to play some very tough defense.”
Kamiakin’s group is heavy with juniors, and the Braves played in the state tournament last year, with many of them as sophomores.
“But we’re focusing on this year’s team,” said Schauble. “Last year was fantastic. We had a great year. We purposefully played in the Yakima SunDome tournament in September, so it’s not new when we play there this week.”
Schauble said the strength of this team is how the players have all bought in on what they’re doing.
“And I like that this team feels as a family,” she added. “I love coming to the gym. I’ve known most of these kids since they were in elementary school or middle school.”
▪ Kamiakin and Richland dominated the first team of the MCC all-conference team, as voted by coaches.
Kamiakin, which won the regular-season title with a 14-2 record, had junior setter Rylie Dolven named Player of the Year as well as first team, while Schauble was Coach of the Year.
Other Braves first-team selections are junior outside hitter Peyton Arland, junior middle hitter Julie Whitley, and senior libero/defensive specialist Abby Zoladz.
Richland had two players on the first team: senior outside hitter Kenzie Nealon, and senior setter Kelli Ostboe.
The other first-team pick as Hanford junior outside hitter Aubrey Tornow.
Prep football
Royal is attempting to win another Class 1A state football title, and the Knights are 25 percent there.
Kaleb Hernandez rushed for two touchdowns en route to Royal — the top seed in the 1A tournament — beating No. 16 Cascade Christian 41-7 last Saturday.
Now, Wiley Allred’s Knights will play host to the No. 8 Montesano Bulldogs in the state quarterfinals. The game will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Royal.
Montesano beat No. 9 Toppenish 24-22 last weekend in a first-round game.
▪ Meanwhile, Othello used its vaunted rushing attack to score six touchdowns on the ground en route to beating Washington of Tacoma 49-12 in a state 2A first-round game last Saturday.
Julian Alegria scored four of those touchdowns for the Huskies, who are seed 5th in the tournament.
Othello will now travel to Enumclaw this coming Saturday to play the Hornets in the state quarterfinals. Kickoff will be at 3 p.m.
▪ River View saw its season end on Saturday, as the Panthers lost to Liberty of Spangle 28-14 at Union Stadium in Spokane.
Kris Welch’s Panthers jumped on Liberty first, as Ajani Fornos connected with Cody Brown for a 10-yard TD pass.
But Liberty’s Jake Jeske responded with two touchdown runs and a TD pass to lead his team to the win.
Trayce Teague scored the Panthers’ other touchdown on an 8-yard run.
River View finishes a great season with a 9-2 record, winning the EWAC East Division with a perfect 5-0 record.
Fornos finished the season with 17 TD passes, while star running back Miguel Farias averaged 134 yards rushing a game this season.