YAKIMA — King’s volleyball leaned on its seven returning players from last season’s 1A state championship team to help the Knights navigate a potentially treacherous opening-round match with 2016 champ Lakeside (9 Mile Falls) with relative ease.
The Knights (19-1) beat Lakeside in four sets, 25-20, 20-25, 25-18 and 25-20 at the Yakima Valley SunDome on Friday to advance to a quarterfinal matchup with La Salle late Friday night.
King’s then swept the Lightning to reach the semifinals, where the Knights will take on Charles Wright Academy on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a chance to defend their crown.
The quarterfinal set scores were 25-21, 25-18 and 25-16 in favor of the Knights.
The Lightning (15-2) beat La Center in four sets in their first-round contest.
“We came out great, as I would expect us to come out,” King’s coach Bart Foley said of the first-round match. “Our returning players from last year came out with fire, and Lakeside was a real tough draw for us and a very good test right away.”
Foley said that he tinkered with his starting lineup to begin the state tournament, and plans to stick with the changed alignment against La Salle.
“The lineup wasn’t entirely clicking, but give credit to Lakeside (14-4), which took us out of some things we like to do and we showed some composure in bouncing back,” Foley said.
Foley said the Knights’ depth paid dividends against Lakeside.
“We have kids on our bench that can contribute, and I played them all year long so when we got to this place, we could sub someone in and feel good about it,” he said. “They’re all capable kids.”
King’s took the court for its quarterfinal match at around 9:30 p.m., but Foley wasn’t worried about the late start time impacting his team.
“I can’t imagine any team prepares for a 9:30 match, but with the experience we have on our side I’m not worried about that at all,” Foley said. “Our team is just business-like when it comes to stuff like that.”
1B Quad-District Football
Quilcene 62, Darrington 24
BREMERTON — The Loggers wrapped up their first season of eight-man football as one of three Snohomish County teams still playing in Week 11, falling to the unbeaten Rangers in a 1B Quad-District winner-to-state game at Silverdale Stadium.
Lucas Reuwsaat rushed for 189 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns for Darrington (5-7) in defeat.
“Quilcene is a really tough team and realy well-coached, and when we got behind, we didn’t play with as much discipline as we’d like,” Darrington coach Dr. Buck Marsh said. “In the eight-man game it’s really tough to catch up when you’re behind, but we were able to battle back.”
Leevi Whittaker accounted for Darrington’s third touchdown with a 55-yard fumble return.
This was the first season the Loggers have been able to complete since 2015, and even that didn’t come easily. Marsh said Evan Couch, the team’s other rushing threat along with Reuwsaat, left the game during the first series and did not return.
“We’re all impatient and we want everything immediately, but in our post-game huddle when we stepped back and talked about how much we’ve accomplished,” Marsh said. “It’s the third year I’ve worked with our seniors, and they’ve really accomplished all of the goals they set out to when it comes to building a program. The seniors should be really proud of what they’ve built, and it’s up to the young kids to continue it and take it to the next level.”
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