Lynden Christian volleyball moves into semifinals
Even with an internal focus that steered clear of talk of a repeat state championship the Lynden Christian Lyncs were plenty good enough to keep the quest for that very thing alive on Friday, Nov. 13.
The Lyncs won their first two Class 1A State Volleyball Tournament matches at the Yakima SunDome and advanced to Saturday afternoon’s semifinals.
The Lyncs made short work of Montesano in the opening round, 25-11, 25-11, 25-15. They then polished off Burbank Columbia 25-17, 25-19, 25-22 in the quarterfinals to get into the semis for the fourth time since the WIAA introduced rally scoring and bracket play in 2003.
The Lyncs have won eight straight state tournament contests heading into their 1 p.m. semifinal against Kalama.
Lyncs coach Kim Grycel was a bit disappointed in her team’s effort in the quarterfinals. It was obvious the young Lyncs were distracted by the Kalama-King’s heavyweight bout being played out on the adjacent court.
“When we came out here our match started a little behind schedule and they were already playing,” Grycel said. “Knowing the winner would be our opponent if we won and the loud crowd was a little distracting to our girls.”
The Coyotes were just resilient enough to not give up easily. Their ability to keep the ball in play seemed to frustrate the Lyncs as well.
“I felt like we underestimated them,” Grycel said. “We made a lot of our own errors. We gave them a lot of points.”
Kara Bajema — the tournament’s dominant player in 2014 as a junior and the driving force behind LC’s title — continued to play at a high level. The University of Washington-bound hitter had 25 kills in the opener and 16 kills against Burbank.
Carli Tjoelker, the senior setter who has held things together while the youngsters found their confidence, did likewise. She had 39 assists in the first match and 29 against Columbia.
Grycel acknowledged after the second win that the hype of the semifinals will likely help her squad get its focus back.
“We’ve had the target on our back all along this season,” she said. “We’ve been reminding them that you don’t just go to Yakima and get into the championship.”
The Lyncs enter Saturday’s semifinals knowing they need one win to achieve that goal.
This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 10:17 PM with the headline "Lynden Christian volleyball moves into semifinals."