Montesano bows out of state volleyball tourney

Montesano drops four-set marathon to Naches Valley and is eliminated from the state 1A volleyball tournament

YAKIMA — Unable to sustain the momentum from a dramatic third-set victory, Montesano was eliminated from the state Class 1A volleyball tournament on Saturday.

Naches Valley outlasted the Bulldogs, 25-11, 25-17, 29-31, 25-20, in a loser-out match at the Yakima SunDome.

The Bulldogs went 1-2 at state and concluded their season at 17-3.

Monte staved off at least four match points before taking the marathon third set. The Bulldogs and Rangers were deadlocked at 13-13 in the fourth set before Naches Valley took six of the next eight points.

Senior Jordan Spradlin led the Bulldogs with 26 kills and three solo blocks. Shayla Floch contributed 18 kills, Hannah Hatcher 41 assists and 15 digs and Janessa Otterstetter 15 digs for Monte. Floch, Josie Toyra, Hannah Manley and Josie Talley enjoyed 100 percent serving nights for Monte, with Talley also bringing up 14 digs.

Following a split with Annie Wright and Kiona Benton on Friday, Montesano coach Debbie Gibson said Saturday’s match represented her team’s best performance of the tournament.

“I was really proud to take that game off them,” Gibson said. “We got beat by a better team.”

“We struggled a little bit Friday with consistency,” she added. “We definitely were not playing up to our standards. This morning, we came up against a great team. We played great, we just got beat by a better team.”

The tourney represented the volleyball swan song for seven Bulldog seniors.

“A great group of girls, a lot of big shoes to fill with seven seniors (gone),” Gibson concluded.