Monroe volleyball holds off Snohomish in district quarterfinals

Published 12:30 am Wednesday, November 12, 2025

MONROE — Monroe volleyball had taken a 2-0 lead against Snohomish in the District 1 3A quarterfinals on Tuesday when the break between sets extended beyond the typical three minutes.

Snohomish intended to switch its libero, with senior Sawyer Mahler swapping into the jersey. However, since the libero number (3) did not match Mahler’s on the roster (1), it led to a deliberation between the officials and both coaches about the rules regarding the switch, which lasted roughly 10 minutes. In the end, Monroe started the third set with a 1-0 lead, awarded the point after Snohomish received an administrative penalty.

Ironically, the long break leading up to the penalty ended up being a bigger detriment to Monroe than the awarded point was a benefit. Rather than riding its momentum into the third set, Monroe came out flat, handing over points via errors as Snohomish cleaned up its defense and surged to a 10-6 lead before ultimately winning the set 25-17 to cut the match score to 2-1.

“I want to go back and look at the rule books, though. They have a different athlete wearing a different athlete’s jersey number, which is a little interesting,” Monroe coach Jami Walker said. “But yeah, I feel like it took that momentum out, and I wish in hindsight — you always do that in hindsight — that we had just moved on and kept that momentum of that second set and that really nice win.”

Monroe needed to find its game again. After building up a seven-point run to pull away in the fourth set and holding off a last-ditch comeback effort, the No. 4 seed Bearcats (13-4) secured a 3-1 victory (25-19, 25-14, 17-25, 25-20) to advance to the district semifinals, while the No. 5 seed Panthers (11-8) dropped into the loser-out consolation bracket.

“I think we got a little cold because we definitely started out a little weak,” Monroe junior Maddie Walker said about the third set. “But I think it was just like, our communication was really low, and we weren’t trusting each other, which was a big part of it. … So I think (in) the fourth set, we really needed to be a team, and it really helped after that.”

Junior Shannara Peebles had a game-high 18 kills, Maddie Walker had 19 digs and freshman Naia Atalig had 21 assists for Monroe. For Snohomish, seniors Heidi Chambers (13 kills, 15 digs) and Maggie Cavanaugh (19 assists, 15 digs) led the charge, while freshman Vera Miller had six aces.

After dropping the third set, the Bearcats huddled up and talked about how they felt they wanted to win more than the Panthers — especially in the seniors’ last game playing in their home gym — and they needed to show it by executing.

The score started out 6-6 as each side fought for momentum, but Monroe won seven consecutive points with contributions from all over the floor. Maddie Walker notched an ace, a block from junior Kiah Dunbar eventually turned into a point when senior Faith Fodge tipped it over the net, and kills from junior Kayla Wolford and Fodge made it 11-6 before the Panthers called timeout. The Bearcats continued to pull away with kills and blocks from Dunbar and junior Abby Delisle as well as a couple of aces from senior Elena Mitchell before a tip from junior Avery Ray set up match point at 24-12.

Backed against the wall, Snohomish didn’t go down without a fight, rallying for eight straight points with three aces from Miller and kills from freshman Brooklyn Rohrich and Chambers while also taking advantage of a couple of Monroe errors and blocks out of bounds to cut it to 24-20. However, a tip from Monroe senior Katelyn Cockrum over the net ended the rally and secured the Bearcats’ win.

“I’m really proud of the way they battled back. … It was an insane comeback,” Snohomish coach Morgan Doyle said. “I really commend my leaders, my captains — (Cavanaugh, Chambers and Mahler) — they really showed up and they had the right things to say. They were advocating for their team and no one let the ball drop, so I commend their hustle, their drive and their willingness to sacrifice their body, to be everywhere and just make sure that they make every point count.”

Following the delay prior to the third set, the Panthers pulled ahead after adjusting to Monroe’s attack, executing their blocks better along the net while the Bearcats started to unravel with several attacks out of bounds and serves into the net. By the time they regrouped, Snohomish held a nine-point lead, which was too much to overcome.

The first set opened with the two sides trading points before Monroe pulled ahead, with Peebles and Dunbar managing to strike the ball through the arms of Panthers jumping up attempting to block on several occasions. A joint block from Cockrum and junior Daphne Klang put the Bearcats ahead 16-8, and while Snohomish reeled the margin closer, Peebles had a few kills down the stretch to lead the charge in the 25-19 set win.

“I feel like our energy was really high and we were staying really positive throughout the entire set,” Peebles said. “I feel like that really helped us because energy is really important.”

Monroe carried that energy into a faster start in the second set, jumping out to a 9-1 lead with strong defense that fed into the attack. The back line covered plenty of ground as Maddie Walker, Ray and Mitchell executed digs to keep plays alive while the front finished plays off. With strong attention paid to the Snohomish hitters’ tendencies during film study this week, the Bearcats were able to anticipate which spots to cover on the floor and counter by attacking the weak spots on the other side.

“We just had a motto that we worked on all week that we worked on, which was ‘finish strong,’” Jami Walker said. “So every timeout, every play, every water break, we just ingrained that in our motto, in our mindset. Finishing strong because we struggled in that throughout the season where we’ll come out fighting, win the first two sets and the third set, we fall down. So we just kept trying to tell ourselves, ‘Finish strong, keep the momentum.’”

Despite seeing their momentum fade during an odd delay between sets, the Bearcats pushed back and lived by their motto, earning a spot in the district semifinals on Thursday against the top seed Stanwood. Meanwhile, Snohomish will play the No. 8 seed Meadowdale with its season on the line.