Everett volleyball overcomes early deficit to beat Glacier Peak

EVERETT — When Glacier Peak volleyball won the first set 25-18 against Everett on Monday, it marked its seventh straight set win to open the season.

Everett knew it needed to make an adjustment. Glacier Peak had scored on three straight aces early on to build a 4-0 lead and never looked back. Everett coach Heather Turner wanted her team to shift into an attacking mindset going into the second set.

“I told them to stop hesitating on defense and to just go after the ball,” Turner said. “And they did that. They cleaned up their serve receive and their defense quite a bit, so we were able to run our offense at that point.”

Picking up their energy, stabilizing their passing and making key blocks at the net, the Seagulls (3-0) cruised to a 25-10 win in the second set before picking up wins in the next two to secure a 3-1 victory (18-25, 25-10, 25-18, 25-17) against the Grizzlies (2-1).

Everett junior Ava Gonzalez had 28 kills, eight digs and four aces, while fellow junior Ava Urbanozo had 45 assists, eclipsing 1,000 in her career to reach 1,018 total.

When she hit the milestone in the third set, giving Everett a 17-15 lead, the game briefly paused as a group of students carried out a poster and number balloons arranged together to read ‘1000’ while her teammates flooded around her.

The pre-planned ceremony was a complete surprise to Urbanozo. In fact, she was the only person among the Seagulls’ faithful — players, coaches, students and parents — that had no idea what would happen.

“I felt so good,” Urbanozo said. “I feel like after that, the energy was just in the room and really picked us up. … It was a very special moment for me. It was a dream come true— like, not a dream, but a goal that I really wanted to accomplish.”

As for the Grizzlies, junior Emma Nowak led the team with 14 kills and nine digs, while sophomore Sydney Dilling had 11 assists and five aces.

After taking the first set and letting Everett run away with the second, Glacier Peak kept things even in the third with the score reaching 13-13 at one point before Everett pulled away, riding the boost from Urbanozo’s 1,000th assist.

“We had to play our side of the net, control the ball, and not let No. 8 (Everett’s Gonzalez) go off,” Grizzlies coach Dave Thorn said. “Unfortunately, we struggled with both of those things. Everett’s a good team, and (Gonzalez) is a great player. (Urbanozo) is a great player. … That’s a tough two, and you need to play more error-free.”

Everett capitalized on Glacier Peak’s mistakes in the second set to take a significant lead. Thorn called a timeout after a shot into the net gave Everett a 13-7 lead. Feeding off the energy of the home crowd, the Seagulls players danced around in their huddle.

“Slowing it down, celebrating every single point,” Gonzalez said. “Whether it’s a free ball kill, we get an ace or it’s a tip kill, just get hype every single ball until honestly, fake it until it starts to become— fake it til you make it.”

They didn’t have to fake the energy for long. Out of the timeout, Everett sophomore Marley Lockey made a big block at the net, which freshman Elsa Breeden followed up with an ace. Another Everett block, and the Seagulls quickly made it 16-7. Dominating at the net, Gonzalez and Lockey traded kills down the stretch until Everett tied it 1-1 with the 25-10 set victory.

Gonzalez continued to impose her will down the stretch, securing the third-set win with a kill off a long rally between the two teams. The student section began chanting, “She’s a problem!” several times, an apt description of what the outside hitter represented to the Grizzlies.

Glacier Peak took a 5-4 lead in the fourth set before Everett pulled ahead 8-5 on a four-point run. The showmanship — or showwomanship, rather — was on full display. Two Seagulls laid out to do the worm in front of the bench when Everett took a 7-5 lead, and Gonzalez flexed both arms after an ace made it 10-6.

Several impressive digs from senior Jammy Thomas negated several opportunities for Glacier Peak to regain momentum, and Urbanozo helped the Seagulls pull ahead with two aces followed by a kill to build the lead to 19-11. Everett remained comfortably ahead and secured the match victory with a 25-17 win in the fourth set.

On a night with plenty to celebrate — between individual accomplishments and overall team execution — the Seagulls could feel their growth in real time. After falling to Stanwood in a ‘loser-out’ consolation game at last year’s district tournament, Everett feels primed to take the next step this season.

“We were so close to making it to state last year, I think we all have that drive and motivation that we just want to make it,” Gonzalez said.

“And we’re gonna make it to state.”