The Bears fell 3-1 to Narrows League rival Bellarmine Prep in Saturday’s final match at Kentwood High School.
“I thought our two teams should be in the championship,” she said. “We like our league representing.”
Senior setter Alex Bassett, who tallied 22 digs and 30 assists against the Lions, agreed.
“They’re one of our big rivals, and we never want to lose to them,” she said. “But us both being in the championship game shows we’re a good league.”
The Lions won the first two games, 25-16 and 25-19, but fell to the Bears, 22-25 in the third. A 25-19 win in game four clinched the win.
Both teams played aggressively, with Olympia scoring first in all but the opening round, and pulling to 16-3 lead early in the third game.
“We just ran out of gas,” said Creighton, who said her players had a hard time getting into an offensive rhythm.
Senior Christie Colasurdo had a team-high 11 kills but was fighting an illness and therefore lacked her usual energy.
It was Bellarmine Prep’s first district title – and the realization of a goal set before the season started.
“This has been one of the goals since the beginning,” said Lions coach Jody DeGroot, “but we have focused on one goal at a time, so they get to check this off on Monday.”
Earlier in the day, Bellarmine Prep defeated Puyallup 3-1 (25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 20-25, 15-11).
The Vikings later clinched the district’s No. 3 seed with a 3-2 win (25-21, 22-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-9) over No. 4 Kentwood, which lost in the semifinals to Olympia (21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 27-25).
DeGroot said that the final four were all top-quality teams, and that she told her players, “This is what it’s like from here on out – no easy wins.”
Bellarmine Prep defeated Olympia without setter Katy DeGroot, who took a knee to the head while going for a dig at the beginning of the second game.
The Lions traditionally play two setters. DeGroot said the junior was checked out and appeared to not have suffered a concussion.
Courtney Schwan, the Lions’ 6-foot-2 sophomore offensive hitter, said that her team had been working “toward this moment” since the beginning of the season, and that they knew Olympia would be a challenging foe. Schwan led the Lions with 20 kills and 26 digs.
Puyallup coach Tony Batinovich said that he thought his team played a good semifinal against Bellarmine Prep, and that both teams are solid in most positions.
“I’m glad the kids came back and did something against Kentwood,” he said.
Also advancing to the state tournament next weekend at St. Martin’s University in Lacey are Rogers, Tahoma, Kent-Meridian and Curtis.
