Prep volleyball: Monroe, Marysville-Pilchuck lose in 4A quarterfinals

Published 11:34 pm Friday, November 21, 2008

KENNEWICK — The 4A state volleyball tournament has been a graveyard for Western Conference teams of late. No Wesco team has survived the first day of play since Marysville-Pilchuck got to the final in 2003.

It was more of the same this year as Monroe and Marysville-Pilchuck lost in the quarterfinals and Edmonds-Woodway suffered a first-round defeat Friday at the Toyota Center.

"I honestly think that Wesco was pretty tough this year," Marysville-Pilchuck head coach Shelly Johnson said. "The Spokane area has some tough teams again but we’ve competed (well against them)."

District 1 champion Monroe (18-2 overall), making its fourth-straight state appearance, defeated Rogers-Puyallup 3-1 (25-13, 20-25, 25-16, 25-20) before losing 3-1 (25-14, 25-21, 17-25, 25-23) to Kamiakin in the quarterfinals.

"(Kamiakin) runs a very fast offense," Monroe head coach April Munoz said. "It took us two games to make the adjustments and that’s why we were able to win the third game. But they were able to exploit our age and size a bit."

Monroe’s Kylin Munoz had 34 kills and 11 digs, Megan Birch added 11 kills and 10 digs and Katelyn Drew had 37 assists against Rogers-Puyallup. In the Kamiakin game, Munoz had 30 kills, Nicole Reyling had 11 digs and Kaitlin Lebon added nine digs.

The Bearcats, who finished eighth last year, can still finish as high as fourth. They play Mead in a loser-out consolation match at 3:30 p.m. today.

Marysville-Pilchuck (13-7) plays Kentwood in the other 3:30 p.m. consolation match. The winners of those matches play for fourth place at 8 p.m.

After defeating Curtis 3-2 (24-26, 29-27, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12) in the first round, Marysville-Pilchuck fell 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 34-32) to Skyview in the quarterfinals.

"Skyview was really solid," Johnson said. "They didn’t make many mistakes and we made more than we should."

After losing the first two games against Skyview, the Tomahawks fought back in the third game in hopes of handing Skyview its first game loss of the season but fell just short in a 34-32 marathon.

Against Curtis, Brittany Fitzmaurice had 49 assists, Jenna Welsh had 21 kills, Emily Boerger added 20 kills and Jadelyn Thompson had 33 digs. The Tomahawks also served 100 percent. In the second game, Fitzmaurice had 34 assists, Welsh had 15 kills, Boerger had 11 kills and Katie Peterson had 21 digs.

Edmonds-Woodway (14-4) dropped its first-round match 3-0 (25-18, 25-8, 25-21) to Lewis &Clark and plays Issaquah in a loser-out consolation match at 9 a.m. today. The Warriors must win two loser-out matches to reach the fifth-place match.

Cailin Fellows and Marisa Wellington led E-W with nine kills each. Leigh Fishback had 21 assists and Alex Storino had 13 digs.

3A state playoffs: At Kennewick, Shadle Park blanked Eastside Catholic 3-0 in the championship match. Shadle Park won by scores of 25-18, 25-16 and 25-19.

In the third-place match, Bishop Blanchet got by Lakes 3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-14, 25-21). Lakes took sixth.

Mercer Island beat Mt. Spokane 3-1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18) for fourth place. Mt. Spokane settled for seventh.

Sumner bested Kennedy 3-1 for fifth place. Sumner lost the first game 20-25 then won 26-24, 25-18 and 25-21. Kennedy finished eighth.

2A state playoffs: At Kennewick, Archbishop Murphy was knocked out of title contention with a 3-1 first-round loss to Grandview. Murphy won the first game 25-16 then lost 27-25, 25-12, 25-13. Alyssa Smith led the Wildcats (16-3 overall) with 13 kills. Murphy plays Fife in a loser-out consolation match at 10:30 a.m. today.