Bruins still seek first Trico volleyball win

Columbia was 4-2 in the 16-team tournament of 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A schools. One of the losses was to 3A Prairie and the other was to host Mt. View (also 3A). Columbia had wins over 2A Mark Morris, 4A Battle Ground, 1A Tenino, and 1A College Place.

Columbia will have four more chances for a league win, starting Oct. 17 at home against second-ranked La Center (14-0 overall, 6-0 Trico) and Oct. 19 against visiting Stevenson.

Losses last week to Seton Catholic and Castle Rock left Columbia High having to win three of its four final matches to have a mathematical chance at a district playoff spot. The top four teams in the six-team Trico play against the top four teams of the Evergreen Conference for state playoff berths.

The Bruins (0-7 Trico) lost, 3-2, at home to Seton on Oct. 10, and 3-0 at Castle Rock on Oct. 12. Columbia played well in spurts against Seton Catholic, with the 25-23 first set score (in Seton’s favor) setting the tone for the closeness of the match.

“That was the best hitting game for all four of our hitters to have at the same time,” Shultz said of the Seton match.

“It’s discouraging, but at the same time, I applaud the girls for making such improvements. We could see it this weekend when we were playing the bigger teams, and we were winning.”

Outside hitter Sara Miller led the way on the weekend with 36 kills in the six matches and 11 kills. Jessica Polkinghorn added nine, and Claire Hayes and Kiana Chambers added seven apiece.

In addition, Bella Hamilton had 32 digs, Josie Dickey had 30, and Juliet Perez had 20. 

Columbia bounced back from the first set loss by winning an exciting second set. Set point, which followed a Seton timeout after Columbia had come back from a 24-20 deficit.

Columbia looked to be on the way to going down 2-0 late in the second set before rallying. Back-to-back aces gave Seton a 24-20 lead prompting Shultz to call a timeout. The Bruins earned a side out on a Seton service error and Columbia won the next five points. Set point came on a Polkinghorn stuff block.

The teams split the next two sets, with the Cougars winning the third, 25-17, and Columbia the fourth, 25-11.

“At moments we seem to have momentum killers,” Shultz said. “Playing as hard as we could but things weren’t just falling into place for us."

The Bruins likely will be without Perez this week, as she suffered a concussion at the weekend tourney. “It was a bummer to lose her her senior year and she’s such a good back row stabilizer. She passes well, she serve receives awesome, she serves awesome. She just does a really good job back there; she’s just so steady.

“We’ll just keep trying to get better and try and have fun.”