Columbia volleyball season ends at district

The Bruins lost to the Trico League’s runner-up, La Center, at the District 4 tournament at King’s Way High School in Vancouver. Columbia had advanced to Saturday’s second round at district by winning one of two matches Nov. 3 at Castle Rock.

The Bruins lost their opener to Hoquiam of the Evergreen League, 28-26, 25-16, 25-19. Columbia was missing starters because of illness, but despite that, the Bruins bounced back in their second match Nov. 3 against Tenino, 25-23, 25-13, 25-11, to move on to Saturday’s round.

At stake Saturday was the district’s No. 3 seed to this week’s state tournament at Yakima Valley SunDome. La Center ended Columbia’s season with a 25-16, 25-15, 25-18 win over the Bruins. La Center won its next match to advance to the state tournament. Trico teams Castle Rock and King’s Way will join La Center at state.

Columbia, which last qualified for the state volleyball tourney in 2003, was led this fall by a core of four seniors, playing their final season of high school volleyball: Hannah Polkinghorn; Chanele Reyes; Chloe Clifford; and Ella Wilson. Coach Heidi Shultz said her team performed admirably at district, in spite of the absence of key players.

“There was definitely a lot of adjustments the last couple of practices,” she said. “Let’s try this, let’s try that. I knew that we were going to have a hard time. It was a good end, I guess; the girls played really well.”

Shultz brought up a couple of junior varsity players to fill open spots on the Bruins’ district roster. Among them frosh setter Josie Dickey, who played defensive specialist and libero.

“She did so well,” Shultz said. “She was getting everything; was chasing everything down.

“We beat Tenino, which was good,” Shultz said, adding that her team had no answer for La Center’s strong outside hitters on Saturday. “I thought the girls played as well as they possibly could. They didn’t give up.

“The Montesano coach came up (after the match) and complimented our defense. I was proud of the girls.”