All it took was one win for the Cheney High volleyball team to punch its ticket to regional play this Saturday against the Central Washington Athletic Conference.
The Lady Blackhawks got that, albeit not as easily as hoped, at the District 7 tournament last Saturday at Great Northern League champion Pullman High School.
Cheney had to grind its way to a four-set win over fourth-seeded Clarkston, taking the first two 30-28 and 25-23 before the Bantams made things interesting with a 26-24 win in set three. The Lady Blackhawks regrouped and held on for a 25-23 fourth-set win, taking the loser-out match 3-1 and moving on to regional action.
“It was rocky, but we made it happen,” head coach Heather Zorrozua said.
Shelby Draper led the Lady Blackhawks with 14 kills, with Peyton Stark notching 24 assists and three aces, Morgan Peace 18 digs and Abby Witt 18 blocks.
Needing a win to reach the finals against Pullman and a chance to repeat as District 7 champions, the Lady Blackhawks came up short against a surging East Valley squad. The second-seeded Knights knocked off Cheney 25-10, 23-25, 25-17 and 25-21 for a 3-1 match win.
Draper and Stark again led Cheney in kills and assists with 13 and 26 respectively.
Cheney ended up with the No. 3 seed to districts courtesy of what can only be described as an “old-fashioned donnybrook” of a match against the Knights in the regular-season finale last Tuesday at East Valley. Cheney earned a 29-27 set one win before losing the next two, 25-13 and 25-20, to the host Knights.
The Lady Blackhawks stayed alive with a spirited 26-24 set four win before falling in the final 15-10. The Knights managed to post a good run late in the set to seal the 3-2 win.
Draper had 15 kills for Cheney, with Stark posting 40 assists and five aces, Peace 31 digs and Witt four blocks.
Cheney (10-6) and East Valley await the outcome of the CWAC’s postseason tournament to find out who they will be playing. The only thing certain for the Lady Blackhawks is that they will be on the road at the CWAC’s No. 3 seed while the Knights host the No. 2.
District and GNL champion Pullman has qualified for state.
Zorrozua is happy with her team’s progress right now. Several players have made it out of their “learning curve” in their volleyball skills development, while others are close.
The Lady Blackhawks will continue their focus on perfecting fundamentals this week with the hopes the efforts will get them back into a good “groove” for the next post-season round. Zorrozua said the team has already proven themselves and gone further than some people expected, given the fact they lost a number of key seniors last year to graduation.
“We’re happy to be moving forward,” she said. “There were some skeptics at the beginning of the year, but I think we’ve done a good job of disproving that (belief).”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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