Until Thursday.
With a strong all-around performance from her team as a whole, Manke's Blazers outfoxed North Thurston in three straight games (25-17, 25-22, 25-17) and Timberline pulled even at 1-1 in Class 3A Western Cascade Conference play.
"They went out there and played together as a team," Manke said. "They just played awesome - it was a great night. It was fun to watch."
Taryn Smith and Sarah Nelson led a balanced attack with six kills apiece. Ana Landerz and Taylor Smith each came up with four defensive digs.
"We made smart plays," Manke said. "They tipped when they needed to, hit when they needed to and just played great."
Tumwater 3, Aberdeen 0
Cristin Richards paced the Thunderbirds with eight kills as Tumwater cruised past the Bobcats and improved to 2-0 in the Class 2A Evergreen Conference.
Katrina McClaflin was tough on defense with 23 digs and teammates Amanda Warner (four aces) and Karlie Marquette (two aces) were both perfect in their serving attempts.
"I felt like every single player contribuited to this game and it was really fun to watch them all," T-Birds coach Tana Croft said.
Yelm 3, Clover Park 1
In a match much tighter than the score would indicate, the Tornados opened WCC play with a win over the Warriors of Clover Park.
The Tornados needed more than the regulation 25 points to win the first two games 26-24 and 28-26 before losing another thriller 25-23 in the first three games of the match.
In the fourth game, Yelm took control and cruised to a 25-15 triumph.
Yelm coach Chelan McDaniel credited Breanna Landis and Michelle Chaboya on offense, and said Alysha McCloud "held our back row together with defensive digs."
Black Hills 3, Chehalis 1
The Wolves continued to stay tough in Evergreen Conference, climbing to
2-0 in the league with a 25-18, 25-17, 20-25, 25-15 win over Chehalis.
Jessica Levine had 11 kills and teammate Christine Hilt added another eight to pace the offense. Hilt and Maylee Berschauer also combined for 15 defensive digs and five service aces.
"We were much improved from Tuesday night," Wolves coach Kara Peterson said. "We played with a lot more energy. The girls were more spirited and never let up."
Girls swimming
North Thurston 93, Shelton 83
The Rams nipped the Highclimbers with strong swims from Kira Skinner and freshman Bre Schwarz.
Skinner won a pair of individual races, taking the 200-yard freestyle in
2 minutes, 4.76 seconds and the 100 free in 57.52. Both of Skinner's times were within a second of meeting the state qualifying standard.
Schwarz was second in the 200 individual medley at 2:32.88 and won the 100 breaststroke in 1:19.02, with both times meeting the district standard.
Shelton's Haley Barnard won the 100 butterfly in 1:07.81
Hoquiam 95, River Ridge 88
River Ridge sophomore Emily Adelmann hit a state-qualifying time in the 500 free, winning the distance race for the Hawks. She also took second in the 50 free at 28.09.
Samantha Haskett was a double winner for River Ridge, taking the 200 IM in 2:27.95 and the 100 backstroke at 1:08.40.
Black Hills-Tumwater 99, Hoquiam 90
The Black Hills-Tumwater team opened up their season with a narrow win over Hoquiam.
Among the highlights was Tumwater senior Julianne Heryford who won both the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle.
Girls soccer
Shelton 7, Bremerton 3
The Highclimbers shrugged off a slow start with five goals in the second half to easily outdistance Bremerton.
Kassi Profitt notched four goals and an assist in the WCC opener for victorious Shelton. Megan Lund had a goal and an assist in the win as well.
"I challenged the kids at halftime to play smart, play hard and do the things we work on - getting the ball wide and using our speed to our advantage," Highclimbers coach Brett Bartlett said. "We really controlled the midfield, pushed the ball wide and started to get a lot of chances. We got good opportunities in the second half and we put them away."
Tenino 5, Forks 0
Five different Beavers - Stephanie Hardcastle, Chelsie Marchesano, Barbara Arechiga, Spencer Ford and Tiffany O'Brien - scored goals as Tenino shut down visiting Forks.
The Beavers outshot the Spartans 20-5 and Forks was never able to get anything going on offense, thanks to the defense of sweeper Sammi Shea.
"Sammi Shea basically shut down the middle," Beavers coach Kurt Brown said. "She had an excellent game - really didn't allow much to happen."
Yelm 1, North Thurston 0
Junior forward/midfielder Savanna Seabourn broke open a scoreless game with a timely pass from Jordan Kurina to give the Tornados an opening WCC victory.
In the defensive battle, Yelm senior and first-time keeper Courtney Cannon had eight saves and North Thurston's Kodi Wilson collected 10.
"I thought we dominated more in the second half," Yelm coach Shelley O'Dell-Banyai said. "We had multiple opportunities to score. I was pleased. We had moments in the past where the team clicked and (Thursday) it was mostly there."
Yelm outshot North Thurston 15-7. Yelm improved to 1-0 in league play and 1-3 overall.
Aberdeen 2, Chehalis 1
Freshman forward Leesha King gave the Bearcats their only offensive boost in a losing effort to Aberdeen, which scored two first-half goals.
"It was a hard-fought match," Chehalis coach Tino Sanchez said. "We gave up two easy goals. We have a young team, they're coming along."
Aberdeen outshot Chehalis 19-14. The Bearcats fell to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in EvCo play.
Cross country
NAVIGATORS CRUISE
Northwest Christian rolled in its first league meet of the season with both the boys and girls teams running to easy victories.
The boys scored 20 points, well ahead of second-place Forks which had 72. The girls scored 19, ahead of Ocosta which had 40.
Jocelyn Minton won the girls individual title, finsihing the 3.1-mile course in 21 minutes, 13 seconds.
Iwaco's Steven Berglund won the boys race at 17:46, but was followed by a pack of Navigators that included Justin Holden, Jordan Huston, Micah Cushman, Alex Feero and Clinton Barr, who finished second through sixth, in order, and within seconds of each other.
"We had them run as a pack and they did a great job of that," NWC coach Bill Kehoe said. "We just wanted to get them used to that - that's how we end up scoring - and it's good for the newer runners to get used to running with more experienced runners. It was a good team effort."
Boys golf
Centralia 221, River Ridge 225
With both teams missing their top players, River Ridge had the opportunity to get exposure for its younger players in a losing 2A Evergreen Conference effort to Centralia.
The Tigers trio of Derek Garland (40), Andrew Von Rotz (40) and Dillon Haws (42) overshadowed Steve Kay's solid round of 42 for the Hawks at Riverside Golf Course.
"Riverside is a thinking course," River Ridge coach Gary Larson said. "You have to know the right spots to hit at and I don't think our young kids did that very well today."
The Hawks fell to 0-3 in league play while Centralia moved to 1-2.
Boys tennis
Olympia 4, South Kitsap 1
With a minor slip-up in a singles match against one of 4A's best, Olympia came through shining in a sound victory.
The Bears, which have lost five of their six state tournament players from last year, are attempting to recover with the youth drive.
"Our No. 1 doubles team is solid and undefeated," Olympia coach Denny Bailey said. "We're still not sure for the other doubles teams. We'll just keep trying different lineups and hanging in there."
One new doubles lineup that worked was senior Preetam Talukdar and junior Trevor Wilson, who won their match in straight sets.
The Bears rose to 3-1 in 4A Narrows League play and will challenge Bellarmine next week.
