Columbia Bruin girls near district playoff berth in volleyball

WHITE SALMON — An important week awaits the Columbia High School volleyball team, as it closes in on a potential district playoff berth.

The Bruins (6-5 overall, 5-5 Trico League) swept two matches last week to work their way into fifth place in the eight-team league standings. Columbia won 3-0 at home against Fort Vancouver, and then 3-2 at King’s Way Christian in Hazel Dell.

Columbia has matches this week at Kalama on Oct. 21, and at home vs. Castle Rock on Oct. 23. The Bruins complete their regular season schedule on Oct. 28 at home against Stevenson.

The showdown against Castle Rock will begin with the resumption of their Sept. 30 match. Castle Rock was leading 2-1 in sets, and 23-19 in the fourth set, when the match was stopped because of a power outage. Castle Rock entered the week of Oct. 20 in fourth place in the Trico with a 6-4 league record.

Columbia survived a six-set marathon in Vancouver against King’s Way on Oct. 16. The win — 25-23, 25-20, 25-25, 23-25, 15-7 — gave the Bruins a sweep of the Knights this season.

The home victory over Fort Vancouver on Oct. 14 was by a more comfortable margin. A 9-0 scoring run, with Kiana Chambers serving, enabled the Bruins to pull away midway through the first set. Chambers had five aces during the burst.

The third set was closer until the Bruins’ depth enabled them to win six of the final seven points. Setter Julia Mullinix set up Sara Miller for a kill shot to make it 21-16. Joella Posini’s stuff block and a Chambers spike pushed the lead to 23-16.