Volleyball: Riverhawks have state in their sights

Shantelle Hill has never played at the state tournament.

The Chiawana senior volleyball player attended it when it used to be in Kennewick, but she’d like to cap her final season by actually being on the court.

The Riverhawks (22-6) will face Mead at 2 p.m. Saturday in the District 5/8 regional tournament title match in Spokane. The winner earns a state berth, while the loser will play the winner of the Richland-Central Valley match for another state berth.

“It is a high motivation,” said Hill, an outside hitter. “I think it is in the back of everyone’s mind. We know we have a chance this year. Everyone has that on (their) mind, but we don’t bring it up during practice.”

Chiawana has never been to the state tournament, and the last time Pasco High was there — where coach Jim Steach was previously — was 1997. So this weekend could end a long drought.

To reach the tournament — Nov. 15-16 at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey — the Riverhawks will have to take down perennial state powerhouse Mead. While the Panthers have won six state titles in the last decade, they are not considered as strong this season.

“I think we just have to play as a team,” Hill said. “We know what we can do. We don’t know how good Mead is — we haven’t seen them play — but we will focus on what we can do and play our best.”

Hill is the key to the Riverhawks’ offense, leading them in hitting throughout the season. Setter Delaney Hodgins, outside hitter Megan Steach and middle blocker Maddison Heine have also been key contributors for the Riverhawks.

“We have to play confident,” Hill said. “If we play confident I know we can go far. They are known to be good, but we have to have confidence that we are good to and we can beat them.”

Chiawana cruised to the Class 4A District 5 tournament title last weekend, defeating Richland in the championship match. In the final match of the regular season, the Riverhawks nearly took down Class 3A No. 1 Southridge, falling in five sets.

“I think if we play how we did against Southridge, against Mead, I think we can do really well,” Hill said. “We just have to finish the game. It comes down to those final points at the end of the match.”

Class 3A: Four of the top five teams in the state will be playing at Southridge High on Saturday, but only three will qualify for the state tournament in Lacey.

Southridge will play Shadle Park at noon and then Kamiakin will face University at 2 p.m. The winners of those two matches earn state berths, while the losers will face off for the final state berth.

“It is tough because these are four very good teams,” Kamiakin coach Mary Opitz said. “We are right up there with them, and it’s sad because these four teams are good enough to do well at state and we can only take three of them.”

Southridge has consistently been ranked No. 1 in the state throughout the season, dropping just one match. Shadle, University and Kamiakin are all in the top five of the coaches association poll and The Seattle Times poll.

Kamiakin hasn’t been to state since 2008, while Southridge went last year, finishing third.

Class 1A: Connell hasn’t lost a set all season in non-tournament matches, running up a 15-0 record in the process.

The Eagles will face Zillah in a District 5 tournament semifinal at roughly 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Highland High in Cowiche.

The winner earns a state berth, while the loser will have to win a pair of matches to reach state.

Connell’s closest win of the season was against Tri-Cities Prep. The Eagles beat the Jaguars 25-13, 32-30, 25-19.

Class 2B: Speaking of the Jaguars, they open up District 7/9 tournament play against Lind-Ritzville/Sprague at 11:45 a.m. Saturday at Chiawana. Two wins in that tournament puts Prep into state.

Class 1B: Touchet is the lone area school left alive, and the Indians will have to win three matches to reach state. They begin that journey against St. John-Endicott at 2 p.m. Saturday at Clarkston High.

This story was originally published November 7, 2013 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Volleyball: Riverhawks have state in their sights."