Bruins lose twice in Tri-Co volleyball

Columbia lost two 3-2 league matches — Oct. 1 against Kalama and Oct. 3 vs. Castle Rock. But on the weekend, Coach Heidi Shultz’s team won four of five tournament matches — over bigger schools. The Bruins beat Woodland, Shelton and Evergreen in pool play, beat Hockinson in the first round of bracket play, before losing to Tri-Co foe Seton Catholic, 2-1, in the semifinals. The latter match went 19-17 in Seton’s favor in the third, and deciding, set.

Shultz said her team is playing well at the net but is having some problems defensively — particularly serve receive. She said if the Bruins can clean up their game in that area, they can make a run at a district playoff spot during the second half of conference play.

“We are 0-3 this [past] week on games to 15,” Shultz said, hoping her players can stay relaxed in the expected close matches.

That included the five-set loss at home to Kalama, where the visitors fell behind 25-15, 25-21 before rallying to tie the match with 25-20 and 25-22 wins. Columbia led 7-2 in the third set, but Kalama closed with a 13-4 scoring run capped by a kill from Emily Capen.

“They started hitting and we had a hard time covering the back of the court,” Shultz said.

Columbia was sharp in the first two sets, each won by a Sara Miller kill — off sets from Bella Hamilton. Kalama led most of the third set, but Columbia jumped out to a 16-12 lead in the fourth. It was 17-14 when Kalama’s Capen went on an eight-point service run to swing momentum in the Chinook’s favor.

Columbia fell behind two sets against Castle Rock before rallying to force a fifth set. Shultz said the Bruins improved their court coverage against Castle Rock, but “not our serve-receive.”

Against Castle Rock, Miller was 26 of 27 serving with four aces. Josie Dickey was 17 for 19 serving with five aces. Miller added six kills, Fiona Grabb and Halle Kock each had six kills, and Kiana Chambers had 10 kills. “And Joella [Posini] had one of her best games, I think,” Shultz said. “She had 11 kills and four stuff blocks.”

As a team, the Bruins had nine stuff blocks to one for the Rockets. “Our offense is starting to come along,” Shultz said.

In the weekend tournament, Miller had 26 kills, Chambers had 22, and Posini 20 — plus 15 stuff blocks. Kock added 12 kills from the right side, and Dickey had 57 digs over the five matches.

“We played really well on the weekend, and the girls had a lot of fun. Everyone started clicking; Kiana especially had a great tournament," Shultz said.