MUKILTEO — Back on track.
Three days after a disappointing loss to their hosts at the Monroe Invitational Tournament last Saturday, the Kamiak Knights bounced back with a 3-0 sweep of the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors in a Wesco South volleyball showdown Tuesday night.
With its convincing 25-16, 25-16, 25-12 victory Kamiak (5-0 in division, 10-1 overall) supplanted E-W (5-1, 9-2) in first place atop the South.
“We knew this was a big game so were focused and fired up,” said Kamiak outside hitter Julia Church. “We’re on fire right now, we were all playing together and our passing was good.”
Indeed, it was Church — announced as Kamiak’s homecoming queen on Monday — who held court, smiling throughout as she rallied her teammates and crowned the Warriors with 12 emphatic kills and six digs.
“Julia is tough physically and mentally, an incredible player and a big momentum player for us” Kamiak coach Debra Crawford said of the 6-foot-2 jumping jack. “Those kills she had tonight, we just hang on to that stuff and feed off of it.”
Church, as well as outside hitter Mahogany Dodd (10 kills) and 6-foot-3 middle blocker Jordan Keller, benefited from the precise work of setter Devin Larson who provided 32 assists.
“Devin just gives perfect sets,” Church said. “Every time I get a kill she gets me fired up.”
Game 1 was knotted early at 4-4, but a Church kill off a feed from Larson launched a 7-2 run by the senior-laden Knights.
The relatively young Warriors, who were led by junior outside hitter Cailin Fellows (12 kills, 12 digs) and sophomore setter Leigh Fishback (20 assists), closed back to within two points. But kills by Church and Dodd highlighted an 8-0 Kamiak run and built the margin to 19-9.
The Knights forged leads of 9-3 and 8-3, in Game 2 and 3, respectively, and were never threatened.
“(Church) was really playing aggressive,” E-W coach Mike Pittis said. “But, Devin just played a wonderful match. Their transitions were so quick and no matter where the ball was (Larson) got to it and always had plenty of options.”
“I love the feeling that if I set them up it’s going straight down,” Larson said. “It felt like we took it to a new level.”
Dodd — who had five kills in Game 3 — bedeviled the Warriors with four delicate tip-kills over the block or into the middle during the course of the match.
“Julia (Church) was calling those (tips) from the back row for us,” Crawford said. “And when Mo (Dodd) was swinging she had a size advantage (at the net) and was just eating that up.”
Meanwhile, with Church, Dodd and Kierra Riley flying high, Keller quietly dominated the middle.
“We had great ball control and were using all of our hitters on the net,” Crawford said. “(Keller) had quiet points, but they were big points.”
“We were on our heels almost from the start,” E-W’s Pittis said of his squad, which fell behind by double digits in each of the three games.
“(Kamiak) came out focused and firing the ball and we never got into a flow at all.”
Still, Pittis is confident the Warriors, who have four sophomores and four juniors on the roster, will learn from the loss.
“We got exposed and our young kids played like young kids tonight,” Pittis said. “We were hoping to play better, but it’s a great experience to play a quality team. If we want to be an elite team we’ve got lots of things to work on.”
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