Sports - Sports News

POSTED: Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

PREP VOLLEYBALL: Lynden, Sehome survive at district tournament

The dream of reaching the state tournament is still alive for the Sehome and Lynden volleyball teams, but the road got a little tougher after both teams split their matches on the opening day of the Class 2A Northwest District Tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at Lakewood High School.

The Lions knocked off Lakewood 25-14, 25-11, 20-25, 25-15 in the opening round before falling to Archbishop Murphy in the district semifinals in a winner-to-state match in three games.

Lynden now puts its season on the line in the consolation semifinals against South Whidbey on Saturday, Nov. 7, at noon at Lakewood High School. The winner wraps up a state berth and plays for the third and fourth seeds later in the day.

"We had a pretty good day," Lynden coach Angie Dallas said in a phone interview. "For a new group this can be a tough thing and they stepped up to stay alive. We played well against Lakewood and Archbishop Murphy is just a really good team."

Hannah Shine finished the day with 19 kills and six aces, and Carrie Starbuck had 10 kills and seven blocks to lead the Lions.

"Archbishop Murphy is a pretty well trained team," Dallas said. "They were able to serve to spots that gave us some trouble and dug a lot of balls and that forced us to make some errors we don't usually make. They were able to take advantage of some of the things we've been trying to work on."

The Mariners found out just how tough Archbishop Murphy is when the two met in the first round. Sehome lost 25-13, 25-6, 25-6 to the Wildcats to drop into the consolation bracket. There the Mariners downed Lakewood 25-23, 25-12, 25-17 to keep their season alive.

Sehome meets Anacortes at noon on Saturday also at Lakewood High School in a winner-to-state match. Anacortes beat the Mariners earlier in the season, but it took five games.

In the district championship match, Archbishop Murphy meets Burlington-Edison on Saturday at 2 p.m. for the district's No. 1 seed to state.

The Tigers swept Granite Falls in their opening round match at Squalicum High School and then beat Anacortes in the semifinals. South Whidbey swept Granite Falls in the consolation bracket to set up its showdown with Lynden.