Prep Briefs

The North Sound Christian volleyball team came up short of its goal of a state trophy but the Lions gained some valuable experience.

North Sound Christian opened the Class 1B state tournament with a 25-18, 25-18, 25-18 victory over Lake Quinault.

“That was a great game,” said coach Stacie Mahler. “We came up against an opponent we beat last year.”

The Lions then lost 25-9, 25-18, 25-8 to Moses Lake Christian Academy in the quarterfinals.

“They were just strong,” Mahler said. “We were outmatched. We hung in with them for a while.”

North Sound Christian lost 25-18, 25-18, 25-15 to Neah Bay in a match that the Lions simply didn’t play well.

“I don’t know what happened in that third game,” Mahler said.

This was the second straight year the Lions advanced to state. Mahler will return four juniors who will have had two years of state tournament experience next year.

“Overall we had a great time,” Mahler said. “It was a good experience. … I’m really happy with my girls overall.”

Two standouts who will be back were sophomore setter Maylisa Chung and junior middle blocker Chantelle Meeks.

North Sound Christian won the league sportsmanship award and also were named the academic state champions for Class 1B. The team had a 3.7 GPA.

The Lions will have six players back and will look to make a third run to the state tournament.

“They’re a great group of girls,” Mahler said. “They play real strong, I expect them to do well next year.”

E-W Jay advances to two finals at state

Edmonds-Woodway’s Ashley Jay advanced to a pair of the consolation finals at the Class 4A state swimming championships Nov. 15 at the King County Aquatic Center.

Jay finished 12th in the 500 freestyle and 13th in the 200 freestyle. Teammate Danielle Holstein placed 11th in the 500 freestyle.

Meadowdale’s Kina Ackerman was 13th in the 200 individual medley at the Class 3A meet.

Taloff hired as baseball coach

Hall of Fame coach Stan Taloff has been hired by Archbishop Murphy High School to be its new baseball coach.

Taloff most recently coached at Cedar Park Christian School, where he led the team to two second-place finishes at state and four state tournament appearances from 2001-2006.

Taloff has 421 career wins spanning a career that started in 1976 at Shoreline College. He also coached at Shoreline High School, Shorecrest High School and Heritage Christian School.

In 1991 he was inducted into the Baseball Coaches’ Hall of Fame. Taloff has won 12 championships. He’s led teams to 15 state playoff appearances and has won seven coach of the year honors.

Arch. Murphy heads to 2A state tourney

Archbishop Murphy is headed back to the Class 2A state volleyball tournament for the third straight year.

The Wildcats finished third at the Northwest District tournament, finishing with a pair of strong victories over Mount Baker and Anacortes Nov. 15 at Squalicum High School.

The Wildcats dispatched Mount Baker 25-11, 25-22 and 25-23 in a winner-to-state match and then defeated Anacortes 25-17, 25-20, 25-19 to take third place.

“I feel good. I like my team,” said coach Jim Hardy. “I’m looking forward to playing a bunch of good teams (at state). We’re one of them. I feel very confident.”

The state tournament is Nov. 21-22 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.

Hardy was pleased to have won three out of four matches at districts. Archbishop Murphy opened with a 25-17, 25-11, 25-16 victory over Sehome but then lost to eventual champion Burlington-Edison 25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 13-25, 15-8 on Nov. 12.

“They deserved to win the district,” Hardy said of the Tigers. “That put us in third. … I don’t like losing but they were a very good team.”

Hardy did some tinkering with his lineup against Mount Baker.

“A couple of games we were out of synch,” he said.

The Wildcats rebounded later in the day in the Anacortes match.

“We played pretty consistently,” Hardy said.

Archbishop Murphy’s offense came from all of its players as the Wildcats were very even on the ball.

“There wasn’t one person who carried the load,” Hardy said. “A whole bunch of them did. It was a good team effort for the district.”

Archbishop Murphy’s serving was strong throughout the tournament, Hardy added. “Our passing has been much better. … We were able to keep teams out of their system.”