MARYSVILLE — Edmonds-Wooday won the matchup Thursday night, and they got the matchup they wanted Saturday afternoon.
E-W defeated Snohomish 25-9, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23 on the second night of the Wesco 4A District 1 volleyball tournament semifinals at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
Each team went their separate ways in the bracket, and face completely different obstacles come Saturday.
The Warriors clinched a state berth and play Monroe for the district championship at 1 p.m Saturday. Monroe also has clinched a state berth. Meanwhile, Snohomish plays Marysville-Pilchuck at 11 a.m. The winner of that game plays the winner of the Kamiak-Stanwood game for the district’s third and final state berth.
E-W feels relaxed to be in state, but excited to challenge Monroe for the No. 1 seed, while Snohomish has to win back-to-back matches to take the final state berth.
“This is my sixth trip to state, but its the first time I’ve gotten in before that final day,” E-W head coach Mike Pittis said. “The neat thing is now we can just come out Saturday and just get after it.”
Kamiak, Marysville-Pilchuck, and Stanwood face the same scenario as the Panthers, all challenging and eager to make state.
“I think its like any team, if you get rolling a little bit and gain some confidence, and believe that you can compete and win, it can happen,” Stanwood head coach Erik Titus said, referring to his team’s chance of winning the remaining two games in districts.
In Thursday’s semifinal, Cailin Fellows led the Warriors in their victory, providing 25 kills and 17 digs.
“She has had four good years, but this year has just been great,” Pittis said. “She wants the ball in the big situations and makes the plays.”
Leigh Fishback contributed 50 assists, Marisa Wellington had 16 kills and 15 digs and Haley Scott and Alex Storino combined for 49 digs.
But Snohomish fought back and made things very interesting after falling behind 2-0. The Panthers played a solid third set and swung the momentum to themselves, and led in moments of the fourth set. Trailing 24-20, Snohomish went on a three-point scoring run, and trailed E-W by only a point at 24-23. But the Warriors went to their ace, Fellows, and she smashed a shot that bounced off three Snohomish players before finally hitting the ground.
“It was really nerve-racking because I knew that we could do it, but at the same time, they only are down a couple points,” Fellows said.
Snohomish was led by Larissa Dirks with 13 kills, Joanna Balin with 12 kills, Natalie Kaltbrunner’s 17 digs, and Karla Nelson’s 33 assists.
Earlier, Snohomish defeated Mountlake Terrace 25-18, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18. Also, E-W cruised past Stanwood 25-12, 25-22, 25-16.
In the other late game, Stanwood knocked Terrace out of the playoffs (25-22, 25-19, 25-14). Deanna Hoppe had nine kills, Kaci Jones had eight kills and Chelsea Campbell had 25 assists for Stanwood. Teammates Leah and Sarah Titus combined for 27 digs. Jenna Donohue had 10 kills, Christine Jensen had 17 assists and Stephanie McGee had nine digs for the Hawks. Stanwood faces Kamiak Saturday at 11 a.m.
Edmonds-Woodway looks forward to its rematch Saturday against Monroe in the District 1 championship. In the regular season, Monroe defeated E-W on September 25, winning 25-21, 20-25, 25-13, 25-17. The Bearcats cruised to a 8-0 record in the Wesco North and 14-1 record overall in the regular season. Their only blemish was a 3-1 loss to Kamiak.
“Our goal was to make it to state, but our main goal is to get first in the District, and to do that we have to go through Monroe,” E-W’s Fellows said. “We have never beat them, and we have played them like eight times or something. We are just really looking forward to playing them and we are coming off such awesome win.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
