Enough about football, right?
There's more to love about
high-school sports, and I'd like to talk a little about one of
my favorites -- volleyball. I've kind of become our high-school
volleyball "expert," and I use the term very loosely, since
Kentlake won those three state titles in 2000-01-02 behind the
efforts of eventual-All American Courtney Thompson, a key cog in
the Washington's national championship a couple of years ago
(although Kentlake also had a half-dozen other very talented
players, some of whom went on to enjoy successful college
careers).
I've covered the past five state 4A or 3A tournaments
(primarily 4A) and likely will be over in Kennewick for this
year's event (I'm still mad at the Tacoma Dome officials for
backing out on that all-classification tournament that was
supposed to be there last fall to instead host a Dixie Chicks
concert!). Mead of Spokane has been phenomenal, winning four 4A
titles in a row, but frankly I'm ready for a West-side champion
and we have some candidates in Kentwood of Covington, Rogers of
Puyallup and Kamiak of Mukelteo, to mention a few.
Some of the state's top teams were at Auburn Mountainview
yesterday for the Puget Sound Invitational. Kamiak, No. 6 in The
Times' preseason rankings, beat No. 4 Rogers in the title match,
25-23, 25-23. Auburn Riverside, No. 7 in 3A, wound up third. The
Ravens lost to Rogers in the semifinals, then beat Shadle Park
of Spokane (No. 5 in 4A) in their final contest. Mind you, that
third-place match consisted of one game, which Auburn Riverside
won 25-15.
Inglemoor played Kamiakin of Kennewick in the match to decide
fifth and sixth places, losing 25-22, 25-9. Kamiakin is rated
No. 4 in 3A. Mount Si, No. 5 in 3A, was a rather disappointing
12th in the field of 16. Host Auburn Mountainview wound up 10th,
beating Mount Si in a tight match along the way (25-22, 22-25,
17-15). Sumner was 13th and Bainbridge (ranked No. 8) took 14th.
We're going to see some great play in the South Puget Sound
League 3A this season. Four of the eight teams made it to state
last year (Auburn Mountainview, Auburn Riverside, Enumclaw and
Sumner) and it looks like another solid group.
