After years as bridesmaids, Wolves are queens of 2A district

PREP VOLLEYBALL: Black Hills, after finishing second the past three years, wins district tournament

MEG WOCHNICK; The Olympian | • Published November 08, 2009

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TUMWATER – For the Black Hills Wolves, they know all too well what’s it’s like finishing second at the district tournament.

The previous three seasons, the Wolves have finished second at district, losing to Tumwater twice (2007, ’08) and R.A. Long (’06) in the district volleyball title match.

But after Saturday’s three-set sweep of Mark Morris, they once again can call themselves district champions.

Senior middle hitter Kailah Lenz had a match-high 15 kills and Hillary Lutz added 11 kills and 12 digs in Black Hills’ 25-21, 25-16, 25-19 win over the Monarchs to take the Class 2A District IV title at Tumwater High School.

The Wolves (24-5) will be a No. 1 seed heading into next weekend’s state tournament in Kennewick.

It’s the fourth time since the school opened in 1997 that they won the district title and a No. 1 seed to state. They also won district in 1999, ’02, and ’04.

Black Hills advanced to the title match after its 25-15, 25-11, 27-25 win over Hockinson in the first semifinal.

Black Hills coach Kara Peterson credited her team’s play in the third set, when her team was down 24-20 but rallied to close out the set and match.

“They came all the way back and battled,” Peterson said. “They did everything they needed to do. That kind of set the stage for what came later.”

Black Hills, Mark Morris, R.A. Long and Hockinson are the four teams from District IV to advance to state.

Against Mark Morris, the regular-season champs in the 2A Greater St. Helens League, the Wolves started to pull ahead late in the first set after Lenz’s kill that gave them a 22-19 lead. Before that, neither team had more than a two-point lead in a set that featured six ties.

Mark Morris had close to twice as many unforced errors as Black Hills in the second and third sets.

The Wolves had scoring runs of 5-2 and 8-4 en route to the 25-16 second-set win, in which Lenz had six kills.

Taylor Aschenbrenner had 25 assists and went to Lutz more late in the third set, and the Wolves started to pull away after her kill gave them a 21-17 lead.

The Wolves used a 7-2 run to close out the match with kills from Lutz (three) and Rachel Warick (one). Aschenbrenner and Lutz combined for 30 digs and Whitney Martin chipped in with seven kills.

R.A. Long was the Cinderella team throughout the two-day tournament. The Lumberjills will make their first state appearance since 2006 after upsetting defending state champion Tumwater, 3-2, in a winner-to-state, loser-out match Saturday.

R. A. Long entered the tournament with a 5-5 record in the 2A Greater St. Helens League and defeated Hoquiam in Tuesday’s play-in game just to make the tournament.

After an opening-round loss to Black Hills, the Lumberjills bounced back to upset Centralia, which set up their match with Tumwater.

Both of Tumwater’s matches Saturday went five sets. In the T-Birds’ semifinal match against Mark Morris, Tumwater had a 2-0 lead, but the Monarchs stormed back to win, 3-2, to advance to the district title match.

Tumwater ends a four-year streak of making the state tournament.

Against the Lumberjills, the T-Birds forced a fifth set after a 24-19 score in Game 4. The fifth set featured seven ties, with the largest lead coming with the final score.

Cara Olden’s kill gave Tumwater a 12-11 lead, but R.A. Long’s Rachel Morrow, a 6-foot-3 middle hitter, had back-to-back kills as her team scored three unanswered points to win, 15-12.

“Deep down, we knew we had it in us,” R.A. Long coach Jennifer Hefley said. “We just could never put it all together for three full games and we did it when it counted.”

Meg Wochnick: 360-754-5443

mwochnick@theolympian.com

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