LC volleyball beats King’s to win district title
The Lynden Christian volleyball team’s state streak is alive and well — and coach Kim Grycel didn’t even have to sweat it out this year.
The Lyncs claimed a 25-20, 25-19, 26-24 victory over King’s in the championship match of the Class 1A Northwest District Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 31, at King’s and with it the program’s 19th straight trip to the state tournament.
Nooksack Valley also picked up a big win Saturday, beating Meridian 25-21, 25-17, 25-22 to earn a trip to the bi-district tournament.
The district title was Lynden Christian’s first since 2009.
“I was talking with one of my assistants, and I was saying it seems so early to already be qualified for state,” Grycel said in a phone interview. “It’s really relaxing. Recently, we’ve had to battle through a loser-out match — sometimes three or four of them.”
Last year, even though the Lyncs won their first state title, they fell to Bothell Cedar Park Christian in the championship match of the district tournament and had to survive an elimination match with Overlake.
But not this year. And there was never much doubt, as the Lyncs (14-2) led throughout the first two games and battled back in the third to grab the win.
Kara Bajema had a big match, recording 22 kills and 20 digs.
“She was just everywhere,” Grycell said. “They kept thinking they were getting a big hit, and she was just popping the ball up. It was one of the best defensive games she’s ever had.”
Hannah Rusnak added 12 kills, while Carli Tjoelker had 31 assists and five big blocks, Grycel said. Freshman Torina Hommes also had a nice match with four kills and three blocks.
LC next will play for the bi-district title on 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Overlake High School.
Nooksack Valley will have to win a pair of elimination matches on Saturday at bi-district to advance to state, as it will enter bi-district as the No. 4 seed after falling 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 to Cedar Park Christian in the third-place match later Saturday.
“It’s always extremely tough to advance to state,” Pioneers coach Katie Emmons said in a phone interview. “We’ll need to get tough for our first match. It will be tough, We need to play our best matches of the season.”
Brianna Turner led the Pioneers (6-12) with eight kills, 22 digs and two blocks in the win over Meridian, while Olivia Berkan had 12 well-placed kills.
“It was pretty close at times,” Emmons said of the elimination match. “My girls stayed steady and they played really smart. We knew we were going to have to serve really tough, and I felt they executed the game plan.”
Berkan had another 12 kills in the loss to Cedar Park Christian, while Katrina Gimmaka had eight kills, eight digs and three blocks.
Meridian wrapped up its season with a 4-12 record.
This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 8:18 PM with the headline "LC volleyball beats King’s to win district title."