SNOHOMISH — Down two sets and trailing 23-20 in the third, things were looking bleak for the Snohomish volleyball team on Wednesday night.
But the Panthers rallied by scoring six of the final seven points in the third set to stave off defeat, sparking a rally that culminated with a 3-2 win over Lake Stevens.
“We don’t stop believing in ourselves,” Snohomish head coach Alex Tarin said. “We do this drill in practice where we do situationals down by three and even down by four at 24-20 and we just work on those scenarios, so we’ve been in that scenario before. To see the girls pull through is great.”
Set scores were 21-25, 22-25, 26-24, 25-21 and 15-6.
It’s the fourth win in a row for the Panthers, who improved to 5-3 this season after a 1-3 start. Snohomish lost to the Vikings in the first match of the season, but avenged that loss with Wednesday’s victory. The Panthers only other losses in the first half of the season came to Monroe and Kamiak.
Some of the blame for Snohomish’s early season struggles comes from not playing with its full complement of players.
“The first half of the season we didn’t have all of our players,” Tarin said. “Tonight, we had all of our players. This is the first match where we had all of our players. Maybe game one and game two we struggled just a little bit because we weren’t used to that lineup. Tonight was our full lineup that we’re going to go with this year and I love it. It looks great.”
The Panthers were led by senior Jessica Brennis, who finished the match with 28 kills, four aces and nine digs. With senior Kyla Mellick moving from outside hitter to libero, Brennis has been the Panthers’ go-to hitter so far this season.
“Jessica is a great, great hitter,” Tarin said. “At the beginning of the year other players were getting a lot of the credit and Jess just kept working hard. I knew as a coach that Jessica was going to have a great year. She’s had a great year so far.”
Mellick switched positions with senior Cyrene Hertzog, who has been the team’s libero for the past two seasons. Hertzog is headed to the University of Hawaii on a beach volleyball scholarship, so Tarin wanted to get her more hitting opportunities in her senior season. Tarin said Mellick, who will likely be a libero in college, offered to switch spots with Hertzog to help out the team.
“We’re really deep, which is a great problem to have,” Tarin said. “Cyrene has always played libero for us, but this year Kyla stepped up to the challenge and said ‘that’s what I’m probably playing in college, so I want to do that here.’ Kyla stepped it up and I talked to her and she loves it. She’s doing a great, great job.”
Mellick finished Wednesday’s match with two aces and 30 digs.
Hertzog missed the first half of the Panthers’ season traveling with her family, but returned to the lineup for the first time on Wednesday. Her season debut was a success. She finished with 14 kills and 12 digs.
“She’s a fabulous player,” Tarin said. “Being able to go halfway through the season (without her) and add her to your team. That’s a great asset and we’re excited to have her back.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
At Snohomish H.S.
Lake Stevens 25 25 24 21 6 — 2
Snohomish 21 22 26 25 15 — 3
Highlights—Lake Stevens: Lilly Eason 24 assists, 13-for-13 serving; Gabby Gunterman 18 kills, 2 blocks; Madi Solis 23 digs, 13-for-13 serving. Snohomish: Jessica Brennis 28 kills, 4 aces, 9 digs; Cyrene Hertzog 14 kills, 12 digs; Kyla Mellick 2 aces, 30 digs; Beth McBrien 19 assists; Allie Graham 14 assists. Records–Lake Stevens 4-4 league, 4-4 overall. Snohomish 5-3, 5-3.
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