Jackson volleyball team in semifinals

Published 11:36 pm Friday, November 11, 2011

LACEY — Winning a state championship is hard. Defending it can be even more difficult.

But on Friday at the Class 4A state volleyball tournament, the Jackson Timberwolves took the first steps to doing just that.

The Timberwolves swept through the state tournament a year ago claiming the first state championship in the program’s history and picked up right where they left off at this year’s state tournament. Jackson advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 victory over Puyallup. Set scores were 25-21, 19-25, 25-23 and 25-18.

Jackson looked as though it was going to cruise to an easy victory in the second set jumping out to an early lead and already having a 1-0 advantage in the match. Puyallup though, was not only able to comeback, but pull away late in the set to make it a match.

In the third set, the Timberwolves appeared up against the wall, trailing 23-22 when their coach Ashley Allen called timeout. Jackson responded with three straight points to take the set and reclaim control of the match. Allen stressed the importance of the third set win.

“Very important,” Allen said. “Especially against a team like Puyallup.

“They really thrive off of any sort of hope.”

The three point run wasn’t without a little luck, Puyallup served the ball long tie the set at 23 and Jackson’s Emmy Allen followed that up with a serve that hit the net, but somehow trickled over and the Vikings were unable to get to the ball.

“We’ll take a little bit of luck every once in a while,” Coach Allen said.

The Timberwolves controlled the majority of the fourth set in closing out the Vikings.

Allen had 23 kills and 13 digs, Miah Diirell had 16 kills and 18 digs and Haley MacDonald had 48 assists for the Timberwolves (18-1).

Jackson will face Olympia at 3:15 p.m. today at Saint Martin’s College in the semifinals.

“We are taking it one step at a time,” Coach Allen said. “Olympia is a great team, we watched them play Mead. We know they have a little bit of a home court advantage and they live off of lots of energy. Just like Puyallup it’s going to be one of those games where it is go, go, go.

“We are really focused on the Olympia game and if we get to the finals — awesome,” Allen added. “But, Olympia is our first focus.

The Timberwolves got to the quarterfinals by cruising to a 3-0 victory over Rogers High School in the opening round of the tournament. Set scores were 25-13, 25-19 and 25-15.

The Timberwolves were led by Allen with 18 kills and 12 digs, Payton Locknane with six kills, Hannah Hicks with five blocks, MacDonald with 25 assists and Diirell with six aces and nine digs in the match against Rogers. Diirell’s four consecutive aces to open up the match helped propel Jackson to the win.

Class 4A results

Kamiak dropped its opening round match to Kentwood 3-1 by set scores of 25-22, 25-27, 28-26 and 25-12. Bryce Larson had 21 kills and 21 digs, Ally Bowles had 45 assists, Sarah Cross had 12 digs and Carly Rohrenbach had eight kills for the Knights.

Kamiak (15-4) moved on to the consolation bracket, where they were eliminated from the tournament by Woodinville 3-0, set scores were 27-25, 25-23 and 25-20. No other information from the match was available.

Class 3A results

Meadowdale lost its opening-round match to Mount Si 3-2. The Mavericks won the first set in convincing fashion, but ultimately lost the match 12-25, 25-20, 25-19, 22-25 and 15-12. Lindsey Milner had 16 kills and 23 digs, Emily Denham had 12 kills and 16 digs, Payton Shrum had 35 assists, 15 digs and four block kills against the Wildcats.

The Mavericks (17-2) moved on to the consolation bracket to face Capital later in the afternoon, winning 26-24, 18-25, 25-17 and 25-10. Milner had 25 kills and 12 digs, Denham had 11 kills and 19 digs, Shrum had 49 assists and 13 digs and Amy Rickel and Carly Reece each had 14 digs against the Cougars. The Mavericks face Kennewick at 8 a.m. today at Saint Martin’s college, the winner moves on to face the winner of Glacier Peak and Timberline, who also play at 8 a.m. at Saint Martin’s, at 5:15 p.m. for fifth and eighth place.

Glacier Peak (13-7) fell to Auburn Mountainview 3-0 in the opening round of the tournament and the Grizzlies’ first ever state tournament match. Set scores were 25-23, 25-20 and 25-22. Ruby Mensing had two aces and nine kills, Taylor Rasmussen had 12 digs, Maria Darling had six kills and 10 digs, Taylor Lichfield had two aces, four kills and four digs and Amanda Burgess had 29 assists and one ace against the Lions.

“We had a lead midway through the first game and I think it was just nerves,” Glacier Peak coach Chris Pratt said. “Auburn Mountainview came back on them.

“The girls hung in there. They weren’t clobbered. They just gave up too many runs.”

The Grizzlies rebounded from the loss to defeat Mercer Island 3-1 in a loser-out match. Set scores were 25-19, 26-24, 15-25, 25-20. Mensing had 13 kills, one ace and 16 digs, Rasmussen had 19 digs, Maddi Ober had 16 kills and 31/2 blocks, Miranda Farrell had eight kills and Burgess had three aces and 49 assists against the Islanders.

“They jumped on Mercer Island and won the first two games,” Pratt said. “I don’t know what happened in the third game, I told them, ‘Mercer Island’s fighting not to go home.’

“In the fourth game, there was a momentum change and we took an 18-14 lead and were able to hold them off from there.”

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Read his live blogs at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/prepzone, follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at aaronlommers@gmail.com.