LACEY — In Meadowdale’s opening match against University at Friday’s 3A state volleyball tournament, the Mavericks were dominant, cruising to a 3-0 victory over University by set scores of 25-12, 25-16 and 25-19.
The Mavericks’ quarterfinal match against Holy Names couldn’t have been more opposite. The Cougars dominated the first set 25-11 and thwarted comeback attempts in the second and third sets, winning each 25-22 for the three-game sweep.
“We made a lot of mistakes in that first set,” Meadowdale head coach Machen Shrum said. “I think then they started to question themselves. I saw the confidence drop a little bit.”
In the Mavericks sweep of University they made just two hitting errors the entire match, but made plenty against Holy Names.
“I think that shook them just a little bit and it was hard to get it back,” Shrum said.
Despite such a lopsided loss in the first set, Meadowdale would come back to hold leads in both the second and the third. The Cougars rallied to close both times. Shrum said she thought a win in either of those sets could have turned around the match.
“When you lose by three points each time, that’s just a matter of how many balls that we let drop that we didn’t go for,” Shrum said. “That’s just a matter of if we missed a serve. That’s all it takes to turn it around is to fix those one or two little balls that we didn’t go 100 percent for and I felt like we had some of those on defense.”
Kaylan Cummins led the Mavericks with 13 kills. Sloane Morrison added 12 kills, Amy Rickel had 16 digs and Annelise Blanchard had 10 digs, and Tara Fishback had 27 assists.
Before the tournament Shrum said the goal for her team was to place in the top eight, which still remains a possibility. Meadowdale faces Seattle Prep, which lost a five-setter to Columbia River in another quarterfinal on Friday, at 11:45 a.m. in a loser-out match.
“We take the good and the bad,” Shrum said. “We take the good and we run with it and we take the bad and we fix it. We flush the bad and we start over tomorrow.”
Meadowdale’s Sloane Morrison had 18 kills and 11 digs and Kaylan Cummins had 14 kills and 14 digs to lead the Mavericks to a sweep of University. Set scores were 25-12, 25-16 and 25-22. Gabrielle Mahler added six kills, Amy Rickel had 12 digs and Tara Fishback had 40 assists for the Mavericks.
At Saint Martin’s University
Meadowdale 25 25 25 — 3
University 12 16 22 — 0
Highlights—Meadowdale: Sloane Morrison 18 kills, 11 digs; Kaylan Cummins 14 kills, 14 digs; Gabrielle Mahler 6 kills; Amy Rickel 12 digs; Tara Fishback 40 assists. Home: Player stats; player stats. Records—Meadowdale 14-5 overall. University 13-4.
At Saint Martin’s University
Meadowdale 12 16 19 — 0
Holy Names 25 25 25 — 3
Highlights—Meadowdale: Kaylan Cummins 13 kills; Sloane Morrison 12 kills; Amy Rickel 16 digs; Annelise Blanchard 10 digs; Tara Fishback 27 assists. Holy Names: Not reported. Records—Meadowdale 14-5 overall. Holy Names 17-8.
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