Primed for the moment all season, the No. 1-ranked King’s volleyball team did not disappoint.
The Shoreline school claimed its first state volleyball title, taking the Class 1A crown with a 25-21, 26-24, 19-25, 25-18 sweep of Castle Rock, Saturday night at the Yakima SunDome.
“It was hard, it was tough. Our whole team knew we were the best out there,” said senior outside hitter Laura Friar, who led the Knights with 23 kills. “We had to prove it.”
Coach Steve Bain celebrated the championship and his 56th birthday. For the last six years Bain and his players have built the program into one of the finest in the state. The last two years King’s lost in the semifinals to Colfax, which dropped down to 2B this year, and captured that classification’s title.
“We have been knocking on the door the last few years and we finally made a breakthrough,” Bain said. “We played really well today. I thought we played well through the tournament. I think the thing that kept us going through the whole tournament was our defense.”
King’s cruised in the first game, but trailed 23-17 in the second game before going on a 9-1 run to complete the comeback.
The Knights battled back in the fourth game as well, trailing 13-10, before rallying behind the serving of Rosy Boggs and four kills by Dionna Kirton to take an 18-13 lead they would never relinquish.
Setter Anna Cesari finished with 50 assists in the final.
“That connects everything together,” Bain said. “She made our hitters look good.”
Defensive specialist Meagan Foote had 28 digs against Castle Rock.
“I thought Meagan Foote anchored that back row on defense,” Bain said.
Earlier in the day, King’s dropped the first game of its semifinal match against Cascade of Leavenworth but came back to win 17-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-20 to earn its first trip to the state final.
King’s finished the season 20-1.
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