T-Birds top Black Hills

The Olympian

TUMWATER - The Black Hills High School gymnasium was packed for the Wolves' Class 2A Evergreen Conference volleyball match against the Tumwater Thunderbirds.

"Always playing in Black Hills' gym is loud and exciting," Thunderbirds coach Tana Croft said. "Our girls were really pumped to go in and play."

And play they did. The Thunderbirds beat the Wolves 25-19, 25-18, 25-18. And Croft felt good about how her team played.

"Amanda Warner played solid all around with her nine kills and no errors," Croft said. "Katrina McClaflin did a great job in the back row. Carlie Sampson was a huge reason why we were successful tonight with her serving, and she did a great job on defense."

Losing at home is never easy. And Black Hills coach Kara Peterson was disappointed with the loss but not her team's performance.

"They're solid," Peterson said about Tumwater. "They have a core group that has been together four years. They play very flawlessly. For us to beat them, we have to play like that. We took major strides. Our passing was the best we've had all year."

Kailah Lenz led Black Hills with nine kills, nine blocks and four digs.

"The kids were bummed they lost, but encouraged because they took some strides," Peterson said.

Lakes 3, North Thurston 1

Despite an opening-game win, the Rams dropped three straight to Lakes and slipped farther from the EvCo leader.

"We came out real strong," North Thurston coach Micah McBride said. "We started making some passing errors. They served tougher, and we were on our heels.

"We've got to serve better and be more consistent, not going for the ace every time. If we continue to rally, we have the chance to win."

Capital 3, Shelton 2

The Capital Cougars opened with a strong win in the first game, then held off the pesky Shelton Highclimbers for a 25-14, 24-26, 21-25, 25-22, 16-14 victory to remain unbeaten in the Class 3A Western Cascade Conference.

"Our offense was off all night," Capital coach Natalie Zukowski said. "We missed way too many serves

"Shelton was scrappy and didn't let many of our balls by. We pulled it out, but we have a lot of things to work on."

Zukowski was pleased with the play of outside hitter Bevin Darby, who led the Cougars with 15 kills.

"She was really consistent swinging from the outside," Zudowski said. "She was one of our go-to people."