MONTESANO — One big mission accomplished, at least one more to go for Montesano’s volleyballers.

Jordan Spradlin hammered 56 kills in two matches as the Bulldogs clinched a state berth with a pair of victories in the District IV Class 1A Volleyball Tournament Wednesday night at Bo Griffith Memorial Gym.

Following a 25-20, 18-25, 25-17, 25-14 opening-round victory over White Salmon, the unbeaten Bulldogs swept Castle Rock, 25-10, 25-19, 25-19, in the semifinals.

Montesano (16-0) will face Trico League champion La Center in the championship match, scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at Castle Rock. Both teams are assured spots in next week’s state tourney in Yakima.

Despite multiple state appearances, this is only the third time the Bulldogs have advanced to the district title contest, according to Monte coach Debbie Gibson.

Incredibly, Monte’s 2006 squad is the only northern team to win a championship in a tournament traditionally dominated by the Trico League.

Shayla Floch put down 35 kills and setter Hannah Hatcher dished out 76 assists in the two contests. Josie Toyra, Monte’s leading server for the season, put all 40 of her serves (20-of-20 in each match) into play.

Gibson gave a large share of the credit to her team’s back-row defense, particularly that provided by Toyra, Josie Talley and Hannah Manley.

“When we’re passing, we have the capability of getting the job done,” the veteran Montesano coach said. “Everybody sees the attack, but they don’t see how the ball gets there.”

This was something of a Jekyll-and-Hyde night for the Bulldogs, with the good easily outweighing the bad.

After a lackluster opening 2 1/2 sets against lightly regarded White Salmon, the Bulldogs flipped the switch and were in top form against a Castle Rock team they had beaten in a four-set non-leaguer in September.

“Everything (came) together against Castle Rock,” Spradlin said. “Passing, setting, hitting, energy — everything was perfect.”

Montesano 3, Castle Rock 0

Spradlin had 27 kills and Floch 14 in this contest. Each also contributed three solo blocks.

The Bulldogs were on fire from the outset. Toyra served 10 consecutive points, with Spradlin delivering six kills during that stretch, to stake the hosts to a 16-2 bulge in the opening set.

After Castle Rock sliced a 19-12 deficit to 21-19 in the second set. Floch delivered a kill and a stuff block. Then Hailee Dierks knocked off an overpass and the Rockets could not return Janessa Otterstetter’s serve on set point.

The third set featured eight ties and five lead changes. Floch served four straight points, including an ace, to put the Bulldogs on top to stay at 22-17.

After her kill gave the Bulldogs match point, Spradlin blasted away a Hatcher set to close it out.

Hatcher dished up 34 assists while serving three aces. Talley brought up 15 digs, one more than teammate Toyra.

Montesano 3, White Salmon 1

Unable to put away their standard quota of hits while White Salmon was playing excellent defense, the Bulldogs were stymied for two sets by a Bruin club that entered the match with a 4-10 record.

“Honestly, I thought we might have been looking past White Salmon a little bit,” Gibson said. “We came out kind of tentative. We were playing afraid to lose instead of playing to win.”

The Bulldogs, however, found their rhythm late in the third set to survive five missed serves in the stanza. They closed out that set with a 7-2 run, then dominated the fourth.

Spradlin and Floch combined for 50 kills in this match.

Hatcher had 42 assists and 19 digs, Talley 27 digs and Toyra 14 digs.