EVERETT — Redemption, relief and a lot of excitement.
Those were just some of the emotions that were going through the Archbishop Murphy girls volleyball team after a 25-18, 25-22, 24-26, 25-9 victory over the previously undefeated King’s Knights in a Cascade Conference match played at Archbishop High School Wednesday evening.
Using the momentum from a pregame Senior Night celebration, the Wildcats (11-1 in league and overall) jumped out to a two-games-to-none lead, weathered a back-and-forth third game loss, then dominated the deciding fourth game in notching the win over the Knights (13-1).
“It’s crazy, absolutely crazy. Everyone is really excited and everyone really contributed, it wasn’t just one person,” senior captain Ashley Broadwell said.
King’s dominated the Wildcats in the first match of the season sweeping all three games at King’s High School on October 7, but Broadwell added that the Wildcats, “came in with a lot of confidence and knew they were a better team than when we played before.”
The Knights entered the contest ranked No. 1 in the latest 1A Washington State coaches’ 1A state poll and with a win would’ve clinched a Cascade Conference championship.
Instead both teams are again tied atop the standings, with Archbishop Murphy having two more games remaining on its schedule.
“The better team won. I don’t think they did anything different. We knew what they were going to do, we just couldn’t stop them. Give them credit. I thought they served much better which created problems on the serve-and-receive and that’s what the game is all about,” King’s head coach Steve Bain said.
The Wildcats jumped out to an 18-10 lead in the first game before King’s junior outside hitter Dionna Kirton led a Knights rally that cut the lead to 18-14.
Archbishop Murphy rallied back before finishing off the Knights by blocking a King’s kill and turning it into the game point.
King’s would grab its first lead of the night in the second game snagging an early 4-3 lead before the Wildcats would take over at 6-5 and ultimately take a 2-0 lead.
The momentum shifted in the third game when King’s jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Murphy rallied to tie it at 6-6.
The two teams would trade points before King’s took a 13-12 lead and kept it until Archbishop Murphy again rallied back tying it at 19-19.
Though the third game ultimately went to the Knights it was the Wildcats that used that game to dominate the fourth game, scoring eight of the game’s first 10 points before finishing off the Knights in convincing fashion.
“We had some struggles in the third game but the wheels didn’t come off.
They kept confidence,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Jim Hardy said.
Hardy credited senior libero Dakota Bradley and senior Brittany Varriano.
“They let the hitters feast. They were able to get the ball to the hitters.
(King’s) has a very effective block so our hitters did well,” Hardy said.
Broadwell, Alyssa Smith and Rachel Shober all keyed the Wildcats front line while the trio, combined with junior Savannah Fletcher anchored the defense.
Kirton, Laura Friar and Jordan Irish all came up big for the Knights in the loss. King’s will have the No. 1 seed when it opens up its 1A District tournament this Saturday at Coupeville.
Not only were the Wildcats celebrating Senior Night, the Wildcats were also recognized before the game as the 2A state academic champions.
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