Columbia Bruins back in thick of volleyball playoff mix

WHITE SALMON — The Columbia High Bruins won, 3-0, at home Oct. 2 over the Stevenson High Bulldogs in WIAA Class 1A Trico League volleyball to solidify their fourth-place spot in the eight-team standings.

The Bruins (3-3 league, 4-3 overall), guided by longtime Coach Heidi Shultz, had hoped to get two wins last week. However, a Sept. 30 road game versus the Castle Rock High Rockets (3-3 league, 4-4 overall) was canceled because of a power outage at Castle Rock High School.

“We’re doing okay and we’re right in the middle of the standings and the top four teams advance to districts,” said Shultz, who guided the Bruins to a sixth place Trico League finish last year. “If we finish in fifth place, then we’ll qualify for a play-in round matchup in which the winner will go to districts. We’ll have to really battle though in the second half of the season to hold onto our fourth or fifth position in the standings so that we can advance to districts.”

At Castle Rock, the Bruins trailed 2-1 after three sets and they were behind 23-19 in the fourth set when the power outage happened. The contest has been rescheduled for Oct. 23 at Columbia High School in White Salmon.

“We played very well against Stevenson and we had some players who had standout performances to help lead us to the victory,” said Shultz of the win over the Bulldogs (1-6 league, 1-9 overall).

Senior outside hitter Sara Miller (11 kills), senior middle blocker Joella Posini (10 kills) and sophomore middle blocker Fiona Grabb (eight kills) provided solid hitting to help lead the Bruins to the 25-16, 25-7, 25-8 victory. Grabb had an exceptional performance at the service line with 10 aces, and she scored 19 points.

“We’re really working hard to improve our offense to help make it a little more diversified,” said Shultz. “We’re trying to hit from the right side and from the back row more often and we were able to execute that game plan against Stevenson.”

The Bruins were seeking to get a second straight win Oct. 7 at home versus the Seton Catholic High Cougars (5-2 league, 6-3 overall). The Bruins will play Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. versus the defending Trico champion and the league leading La Center High Wildcats (7-0 league, 10-0 overall) at La Center High School.