Snohomish beats Marysville-Pilchuck to earn a trip to the state volleyball tournament

MARYSVILLE — It’s hard to quantify how big a difference Lanesha Reagan has made for the Snohomish volleyball team this season.

This much is clear: The past two seasons, without Reagan, the Panthers were knocked out of the Class 4A District 1 Tournament by Marysville-Pilchuck. This season, with Reagan, Snohomish defeated M-P three times, including in the semifinals of the district tourney Tuesday, and now the Panthers are headed to state.

Snohomish swept Mariner in the first round and then won a hard-fought matchup with Marysville-Pilchuck 25-22, 17-25, 25-23, 25-15 at M-P to secure a spot in the Class 4A state tournament Nov. 11-12 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.

“It’s just awesome,” senior outside hitter Megan Rice said. “This is the only time (the seniors) have done it and to do it like this today (against M-P), nothing’s better than this.”

The win capped a remarkable run by Snohomish (15-1), which was picked fifth in the Wesco 4A North Division preseason coaches poll. Instead, the Panthers will play for the district title at 7 p.m. Friday at Marysville. And if Reagan, an explosive 5-foot-7 freshman outside hitter with remarkable jumping ability and a powerful strike, isn’t the main reason, she’s certainly one of them.

“She’s been a nice addition,” Snohomish coach Kris Jones said.

“She’s an awesome player,” Rice added. “It’s been really fun to have her on the team this season.”

Reagan had a team-high 15 kills and three blocks and sparked a run in the fourth game that virtually put the match away. Her kill with her team trailing by a point tied things at 14, starting a 9-0 run that Jalene Toy served and included kills by Taylor Richter and Cierra Short and a block by the duo that made it 22-14. Marysville (9-7) temporarily slowed the bleeding with a kill but three-straight kills — the final by senior Kai Matthews — ended things for Snohomish.

Reagan, who had kills on three of her team’s first five points of the final set, said she isn’t as nervous as she was at the start of the season, but doesn’t quite feel like a veteran yet.

“They still treat me like a freshman,” said Reagan, who consistently has been her team’s top attacker this season. “But everybody works so well together that they’ve helped me fit right in.”

Reagan wasn’t the only force for Snohomish, though. Rice had 11 kills and 20 digs and she and Reagan were set up well by senior Shelby Short, who had 42 assists.

“We needed to take them out of their offense,” Marysville coach Shelly Johnson said. “But it’s really tough because they have a few hitters who are so dangerous. I have who I think is the best defensive player in the league (Katie Peterson) and she tried and tried but there’s only so many digs you can make when they keep coming at you.”

The first game was tight, with neither team leading by more than four points. The Tomahawks — who beat Mariner in four games in the first round — tied it at 19 but Snohomish scored six of the last nine points, including five on Marysville errors, to take the game.

Marysville was much tougher in the second game as Reagan managed just two kills. The Tomahawks led 14-11 and went on a 4-0 spurt to really take control, taking the game on back-to-back kills by Samantha Minnig and Kate Vavrousek.

The Tomahawks maintained momentum, leading 21-20 in the third game on a Peterson ace but Snohomish scored four of the next five points, including one off a M-P attack error after a Reagan block, and Reagan finished the game with a kill to give the Panthers the 2-1 advantage.

“We tried to downplay the importance of today but I finally just said, ‘Do you realize we could finish today headed to the state tournament?’” Jones said. “We knew it would be tough and we knew it would be point-to-point, but we just kept pushing harder and harder and just fed off each other and got it done.”

Marysville will next play a loser-out game at 5 p.m. Friday at M-P. Kamiak, which survived a loser-out match with Mariner Tuesday, will play another elimination match at 5 p.m. Friday as well.