SEATTLE — King’s defeated Bear Creek and Annie Wright to win a spot in the Class 1A state tournament for the 12th consecutive year Saturday.

“We’ve had two state championships in (12 years),” King’s head coach Jeff Fransen said. “The road to get (to state) is harder every year, and it was a significant accomplishment to be able to go back again.”

The Knights swept Bear Creek in the loser-out match in three games, setting up the winner-to-state match against Annie Wright. King’s defeated Annie Wright in four sets.

King’s has the fourth seed in the state tournament.

“I think we’ve been fortunate enough to build a solid program,” Fransen said about the Knights district playoff dominance. “We work hard establishing a tradition of excellence and I think that gets passed on from year to year. We have young players looking forward to their opportunity to get to that varsity level and go to state, and they work hard to become athletes to uphold those traditions.

I think year by year players have done a good job of passing the torch.”

Fransen said that he leans on his seinor outside hitters Hannah Green and Baylee Hanson in big games like these.

“Both of them have worked really hard all year on perfecting their game, and from an outside hitter standpoint, we’ve come to rely on them to take control.”

I think win or lose the girls played like champions. They played for their teammates and their school.”

King’s 3, Bear Creek 0

At King’s H.S.

King’s 25 25 25 — 3

Bear Creek 10 7 10 — 0

Highlights—King’s: Hannah Green five aces, seven kills, Baylee Hanson eight kills. Bear Creek: none reported.

King’s 3, Annie Wright 1

At King’s H.S.

King’s 25 20 25 25 — 3

Annie Wright 7 25 21 15 — 1

Highlights—King’s: Hannah Green eight kills, Baylee Hanson 12 kills, Savannah Hanson 15 kills, Sydney Gaenz 10 kills, Rachel Morinaga 42 assists, five aces, Anna Hoff 11 digs, four aces. Annie Wright: none reported.