Snohomish ekes out five-set win

Published 11:00 pm Thursday, September 30, 2010

LAKE STEVENS — Snohomish head volleyball coach Kris Jones was at a loss for words after watching the Panthers grab a dramatic 3-2 Western Conference North Division win over Lake Stevens Thursday night at Lake Stevens High School.

Senior outside hitter Megan Rice sliced the match-winning kill to an empty area on the opposite side of the court for the final point as Snohomish survived a seemingly insurmountable match-point deficit and rallied to defeat Lake Stevens 20-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 16-14.

Trailing 14-11 in the deciding fifth game, the Panthers (2-0 league, 6-0 overall) climbed to within one point, 14-13, following a kill from substitute outside hitter Julie Nelson that stopped a marathon rally between the teams. A pair of Vikings (1-1, 5-1) hitting errors allowed Snohomish to turn the tables before Rice, who finished with a team-high 18 kills, deftly placed the winning point in the near-right corner just out of the reach of Lake Stevens outside hitter Brooke Larsen.

“I used that spot earlier in the game and it worked so I figured I would do it again and get the same result,” Rice said. “I could see it in the corner of my eye, I was just going to go over there and trust that it works and it did.”

Snohomish, which exited the match tied for first place with Monroe in the Wesco North, grabbed crucial points on two long rallies facing match point to stay alive in the fifth game.

“I didn’t think that was going to happen,” Jones said. “When you’re down 14-11 in the final game and they’re sitting on game point, all you have to do is make one tiny error and it’s over.

“When it gets long like that, those are huge momentum changes for whoever can win that rally and the fact that it went our way was pretty lucky if you ask me because that’s the best Lake Stevens team I’ve seen in my coaching career.”

Senior middle blocker Taylor Richter finished with 16 kills for the Panthers, who played the final game without standout freshman hitter Lanesha Reagan after she aggravated a minor back injury late in the match.

Nelson stepped on for Reagan and made an impact, coming up with early points in the final game and keeping the match going with a late kill.

“(Lanesha) tweaked her back (against Marysville-Pilchuck on Tuesday) and didn’t really tell anyone (before aggravating the injury late in Thursday’s match),” Jones said. “It was really neat to see (Nelson) come rolling off the bench, who was cold, and play up.”

Reagan had nine kills and eight blocks and junior libero Karissa Lamphere added 32 digs for Snohomish.

In a match that featured 33 ties and 14 lead changes, Lake Stevens head coach Amy Wiklund was obviously disappointed with the win that got away.

“We let them back in and they took it,” Wiklund said. “… We just had random hiccups here and there and that tripped us up at the wrong time.”

Larsen, a 5-foot-8 senior, had a team-high 19 kills and middle blocker McKayla Huntley added 13 kills for Lake Stevens.

Brooke DalGleish had 28 digs and Marchelle Bostic dished out 40 assists as the Vikings dropped their first loss of the season.

Snohomish wrapped up a tough week with the victory. On Tuesday, the Panthers took down preseason Wesco North favorite Marysville-Pilchuck in three games and on Thursday Snohomish redeemed a 3-2 home loss to the Vikings dating back to last season.

“Last year, Lake Stevens beat us in our house in five (games) by two points and we just paid them back,” Rice said. “We played as a team, we came together in the middle — we kind of started off slow — and just worked from there, worked as a team and brought each other up.”