MARYSVILLE – They’ve won 11 straight, now all they need is four more.
With a state berth already in hand, the Kamiak Knights captured the 4A District 1 championship with a 25-18, 17-25, 25-14, 25-19 win over Monroe at Marysville-Pilchuck High School on Saturday.
With the win the Knights (14-3 overall) snagged their first district championship since 1999 and extended their winning streak to an impressive 11 games.
“I still feel like we’re moving on up. I don’t feel like we’ve played outside our box. We’re getting better every day,” Kamiak head coach Debra Crawford said.
The Knights were able to contain Monroe’s big two, sophomore Kylin Munoz and junior Kelsey Brennan, for most of the day using tough frontline defense and coming up with big blocks in key situations.
“Our main focus was on defending their big hitters. My girls adjusted well,” Crawford said.
Though the 6-foot, 1-inch Munoz still managed to get 15 kills, the Knights frontline rejected numerous more attempts and held Brennan to six kills.
“They did a good job blocking,” Monroe coach Dawn Hanson said.
Senior Nicole Bozek led the Knights with five blocks and also added nine kills. Julia Church added 18 kills for Kamiak and Jessica Fredericks, who was usually on the other end of a Munoz kill-attempt, had 18 digs.
“They were just a lot more fired up than we were,” Hanson said.
The Bearcats (15-2), who clinched a state berth on Thursday night, were looking for their first 4A District championship in school history.
Unfortunately, they ran into the only team that has figured them out this season. Both Monroe losses came at the hands of the Knights. The teams split their regular season matches 1-1.
Tarah Petrick led Monroe with 24 assists and Candace Peterson added 10 digs.
Monroe is making back-to-back state appearances for the first time in school history.
One team that is no stranger to the state tournament is the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks. The Tomahawks have made 10 state appearances and, after an intense, yet thrilling day on the court, they can now add another to that total.
The Tomahawks (12-5) clinched the third and final 4A District 1 state berth with a five-game win over Edmonds-Woodway. The Tomahawks defeated the Warriors 25-22, 27-29, 16-25, 25-21, 15-10, advancing to the state tournament for the first time since 2003 when they finished second in state.
“I think we’re kind of tired right now,” Tomahawk coach Shelly Johnson said after the game.
Ashley Kehler had 15 assists and the Tomahawks “go to girl,” according to Johnson, Nancy Couls, had 12 kills. Junior Jessica Masters added 10 kills.
Normally just a basketball player, Masters was convinced by Johnson and her players to try volleyball and has quickly become what Johnson believes, a clutch player.
“She’s clutch for sure,” Johnson said.
The Tomahawks defeated Stanwood 3-1 in the earlier game, winning the clincher 29-27 in perhaps the most thrilling game of the day. With no other games going on the entire gym was glued to the Spartan-Tomahawk clash and saw the teams trade points before Marysville-Pilchuck finally pulled out the win.
Edmonds-Woodway made its way into the state play-in game with plenty of excitement also. The Warriors defeated Jackson 3-2, but not before a nail-biting fifth game, which saw the Warriors come back from a 6-0 deficit and eventually win 15-12.
The Warriors played the comeback card again in their match against M-P. With their backs against the wall, trailing 24-20, the Warriors scored five straight points and eventually won 29-27.
But the Tomahawks took the final two games ending the Warriors (10-7) season.
Cailin Fellows led the Warriors with 24 kills, Sharon Kelley had 39 assists and Alex Storino had 31 assists.
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