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A year after finishing fourth at the 2A state volleyball tournament, Burlington-Edison came roaring back with a 3-1 win (26-24, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21) over Tumwater Saturday night at The Evergreen State College.
“It’s surreal,” said a tearful senior offensive hitter Lucy Capron, who led the Tigers with 16 digs and 23 kills. “(Three of us) have been playing together since we were 10 years old, and this was our dream.”
An equally emotional Burlington-Edison coach Tawnya Brewer described the feeling as overwhelming.
“This was their dream,” she said in reference to the team’s quartet of seniors. “We’ve talked about it, we’ve pictured how it would look, but last year, we just came up short.”
This year, a near untouchable defense buoyed the Tigers – and stunned their opponents.
“We have never seen a team that plays such great defense,” said Thunderbirds coach Tana Croft. “Offense is our key to succeed, but in this one, defense won.”
Still, she said, “I saw moments where I thought we would pull through – I’d say we gave the fans their money’s worth.”
Tumwater took a 23-19 lead in the first game, but slowly, the Tigers’ defense chipped away at their attack. Despite their close win in the second set, the Thunderbirds were unable to get their bearings for the remainder of the match.
Tumwater senior offensive hitter Annie Torfin said that it was hard to end the season with a loss in front of a large hometown crowd.
“But I’m proud of us,” she said. “We knew they would focus on defense, but we fought, and we gave it our all.”
Burlington-Edison senior setter Katlyn Mataya tallied 14 digs and 40 assists, while her classmate, middle hitter Courtnie Wells, contributed 14 blocks and eight kills.
Tumwater was led by junior setter Courtney Bowen’s 45 assists, Torfin’s 19 digs and senior middle blocker Erika Waldner’s 12 kills.
Earlier in the day, Bowen tallied 34 assists and six digs and Waldner contributed 11 kills to help Tumwater to a 3-0 semifinal shutout of Selah.
Burlington-Edison defeated White River 3-1 in the semifinals, led by Mataya’s 30 assists, 10 digs and three kills. Selah later rebounded for a 3-1 win (25-18, 21-25, 25-13, 25-16) over White River and a third-place finish in the tournament.
“That was a great finish, and it’s nice to finish strong,” said Selah coach Kay Aberle. “I was glad the girls were able to bounce back – third place in the state is nothing to look down on.”
White River coach Strydar Argo said that a lack of intensity contributed to his team’s fourth-place finish.
“We came out flat and played the entire match flat,” he said. “We got killed by a team we should have competed with.”
Anacortes placed fifth after defeating Pullman 3-2 (19-25, 24-26, 25-22, 25-19, 16-14). The Seahawks rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to take the final three sets; the Greyhounds finished in sixth.
In its first state appearance since 1990, Centralia placed eighth after falling to seventh-place Black Hills 3-2 (25-17, 27-25, 25-27, 23-25, 11-15).
