T-Birds sweep Capital to win 2A District title

LONGVIEW – For the second year in a row, the Tumwater Thunderbirds are 2A District IV volleyball champions after sweeping 2A Evergreen Conference rival Capital, 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-15) in the district title match Saturday at Mark Morris High School.

The win makes the Thunderbirds (17-0) the district’s No. 1 seed into next week’s Class 2A state tournament at Pierce College in Lakewood. Capital (14-3) will be the district’s No. 2 seed into state.

The T-Birds, regular-season champions of the EvCo, also won last year’s district title, defeating Black Hills in five games, and advanced to the 2A state championship match.

“They definitely got a bigger prize on their minds,” Tumwater coach Tana Otton said.

The third and final berth to state from District IV went to Mark Morris, which defeated Ridgefield. Earlier in the day, Ridgefield eliminated Black Hills, 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-22) in the consolation round.

Tumwater and Capital each won their morning semifinal matches. The T-Birds dispatched Mark Morris, 25-12, 30-28, 25-11, and Capital topped Ridgefield. Tumwater won the second game against the Monarchs on its fifth game point, a game that Otton said was good for her team.

“A tight game was really good for us,” Otton said.

3A WEST CENTRAL/SOUTHWEST BI-DISTRICT

Timberline, North Thurston advance to state: The two Class 3A Lacey schools faced off for the fourth time this season in the fourth/sixth-place seeding match into next week’s 3A state tournament at Saint Martin’s University after each won a loser-out match early Saturday.

Timberline swept Kennedy, 3-0, and North Thurston needed five games to dispatch Enumclaw, 3-2, to earn its first state berth since 1995 when it was a Class 4A school.

In the all-Lacey fourth/sixth-place match, North Thurston held a two-games-to-none lead on Timberline before it roared back to win the final three games and the match, 3-2 (20-25, 12-25, 25-11, 25-18, 15-9) to earn the fourth seed to state.

For Timberline, Riley Podowicz had 19 kills and five blocks, Nicole Pittelkau had 14 kills and 12 digs and Hunter Manke had 38 assists and 14 digs.

For North Thurston, which will be the sixth seed at state, Brittany Rutherford had a match-high 20 kills and Megan Kramer had 33 assists.

All four meetings between North Thurston and Timberline have gone five games.

4A WEST CENTRAL/SOUTHWEST BI-DISTRICT

Olympia on to state: Olympia, the defending 4A state champion, survived its loser-out match, sweeping Rogers in three games to earn a state berth, then defeated 4A Narrows League rival Gig Harbor, 3-1 (26-24, 21-25, 25-21, 25-16) to earn the sixth seed into next week’s 4A state tournament at Saint Martin’s University.

Olympia coach Laurie Creighton commended her team’s serve and serve receive as game changers in both matches.

Middle hitter Michaela Berendt had seven serving aces and was 24 of 26 serving against Gig Harbor.

Alexis Jackson served 10 straight points in the third game to jump out to a 10-0 lead against Rogers.

Rachel Kelson led the Bears in kills in both matches, including 18 against the Tides.