A young Edmonds-Woodway volleyball team gained some valuable experience at last week’s Northwest District 4A tournament.
But in the end, top-seeded Stanwood ended the Warriors’ hopes of moving on to the state tournament.
The Spartans knocked Edmonds-Woodway out of the tournament with a 15-4, 13-15, 15-1 victory in a loser-out contest Nov. 9 at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
Edmonds-Woodway coach Mike Pittis was pleased with his team’s effort in the two-day tournament.
The Warriors opened with a 15-7, 15-8 first-round loss to Snohomish on Nov. 8 but then rebounded for a 15-13, 15-12 win over Monroe the next day.
“You’ve never really happy when you think you could have moved on,” Pittis said. “The kids really stepped up at districts. All three matches we played really well. The defense was greatly improved. We really had a pretty good balance out of at least four players putting the ball down.”
But the biggest area of improvement was Edmonds-Woodway’s defense. It took some time for the players to become comfortable with each other and what Pittis wanted them to do.
“I felt toward the end, especially the tournament, they were understanding what we were trying to do,” said Pittis. “The communication got a lot better.”
Edmonds-Woodway’s goal at the start of the season was to play in the district tournament and the team accomplished it in spite of its youth.
“We were coming in as a real young team,” Pittis said. “We proved we belonged there (districts). We proved we can play at that level.”
The Warriors graduate only two full-time starters in co-captains Renee Olsen and Sara Motaghedi and will bring back four starters and four other players with varsity experience.
Edmonds-Woodway should be an improved team with as many players as it has coming back and this year’s experience at districts should serve as a big motivator, Pittis said.
Key returners include middle blockers Tiana Roma and Katie Trew, outside hitter Morgan Harter and defensive specialist Lindsey Kline.
Because of his team’s lack of experience, Pittis kept the Edmonds-Woodway offense simple. Next year, Pittis looking to add a little more complexity.
At this point, Pittis plans to return as coach. One of the reasons he wants to come back is that the Warriors are experiencing success at all levels in the program.
“This is going to be a real fun group to work with,” Pittis said. “I’ve got some other kids coming up. The JV team took the South Division for the second year in a row … our freshman kids would up 11-3.
“We’ve got a pretty full cupboard. I’d kind of like to take one more shot at it.”
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