PREP VOLLEYBALL
Ocosta 3, Wahkiakum 1
It had been 13 years since Ocosta qualified for state, making it difficult for Ocosta coach Barbra Rasmus to express herself.
“I’m just ecstatic, I don’t even have any words,” she said.
The Wildcats defeated Wahkikum 3-1 at home on Saturday to earn their first trip to state since 2005, advancing to the semifinal round of the 2B District IV playoffs in the process.
The four-set battle featured a marathon first set that Ocosta pulled out 33-31 on a kill by Kylee Poirier.
Emily Snider, who set up the Ocosta offense with 36 assists, said her team was emotional after winning one of the longest sets they had ever played.
“Some girls were crying, some girls were excited and jumping and were just shocked and had no emotions because they didn’t know what to do,” she said.
The Wildcats had an easier go of it in the second set, winning 25-15. The Mules fought back in the third set to win 25-14, but Ocosta didn’t let things snowball and won the fourth set 25-19 to win the match.
The final point of the decisive set came from a kill by Kaylee Barnum, who had a team-high 22 kills in the contest.
Rasmus said it took a minor adjustment to put the match away in eh fourth after struggling to generate an attack in the third set.
“In the third game we kept serving to the libero (McKensi Fluckiger) and she’s a pretty good passer so in the fourth game I told them to stop serving to her. We needed to play our game, not theirs. It helped tremendously.”
The win against the Mules was the second match of the day after Ocosta’s win over Adna in the tournament’s first round.
Things went relatively smooth for the Wildcats in their first match beating Adna 3-0 with scores of 25-19, 25-13 and 26-24.
Snider and Barnum were a force in that one as well with the former putting up 27 assists and the latter scoring with 19 kills.
With a trip to Yakima secured, Ocosta will travel to Adna to take on Mossyrock on Tuesday at 7 p.m. for a chance to win a district title.
Looking up at Ocosta’s championships banners hanging on the wall of the gym, Rasmus said she is looking forward to putting a couple of new banners up before season’s end.
“When you look over there there are no volleyball banners so I’m excited for state,” she said. “Hopefully the district champ banner will be the next one up there.”
Ocosta’s Kaylee Barnum gets a kill against Wahkiakum in the second set on Saturday. Barnum led the team with 22 kills in the match. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Wahkiakum 31 15 25 19 — 1
Ocosta 33 25 14 25 — 3
Top Players — Ocosta: Barnum (22 kills), Kylee Poirier (15 kills), Snider (36 assists, 18 digs, 17-17 service), Lillian Barnum (12-12 service)
— Hasani Grayson, Grays Harbor News Group
2B District IV Tournament: South Bend, Raymond, Willapa Valley in consolation bracket
In other 2B District IV tournament games, the South Bend Indians, the No. 2 seed in the upper part of the bracket, missed a chance to advance to the state tournament after falling in the quarterfinals to No. 3 Toutle Lake in straight sets on Saturday at South Bend High School.
The Indians defeated Napavine 3-1 to advance to the second round. They’ll face Adna at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Napavine High School in the consolation bracket.
Raymond and Willapa Valley will face each other in the consolation bracket after each suffered a loss on Saturday.
Raymond lost it’s opening-round game to Morton-White Pass 3-0 before beating Rainier 3-0 in the consolation bracket.
Willapa Valley beat Onalaska in a first-round, straight-set victory but missed a chance to advance to state after losing 3-0 to Mossyrock at Mossyrock High School.
The Seagulls and Vikings will face off at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Onalaska High School.
PREP SOCCER
2A District IV Tournament: Hockinson 3, Aberdeen 0
Aberdeen dropped an opening-round district playoff game to Greater St. Helen’s league champion Hockinson 3-0 on Saturday at Hockinson High School.
“We were outshot by a substantial amount but played good defense and had great goalkeeping,” Bobcats head coach Larry Fleming said about his team’s first-half performance. “We hustled and for the most part played great defense against a very good team. The girls gave it a great effort and never quit.”
Aberdeen sophomore Amiah Leach deflected a ball headed for the Bobcats net safely away to keep Aberdeen within a goal a halftime.
But the Hawks added a pair of goals midway through the second half to extended the lead to 3-0.
Bobcats freshman goalkeeper Char Guitierrez made a one-on-one save followed by stuffing a penalty kick to keep the score at 3-0 at the final whistle.
Fleming cited Guitierrez, Emmy Walsh, who moved back to defense for most of the game, and Nayeli Morris on defense and Emma Green and Elizabeth Martinez in the midfield.
Aberdeen will will face Black Hills in a conslation game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Black Hills High School.
2B District IV Tournament: Ocosta 4, Napavine 0
Ocosta forward Ryann Raffelson was unstoppable in Srday’s 2B District IV opening-round game at Kalama High School.
Raffelson scored all four Wildcat goals in a 4-0 win over Napavine.
Originally starting on defense in the beginning of the game, Raffelson was subbed out a half-hour in by Ocosta head coach Mike King. She re-entered the game as a forwards and immediately made an impact, scoring five seconds later off an assist from Piper Furford to open the scoring in the 34th minute.
Raffelson made it 2-0 when Teal Mitby started a play on a forward pass the teammate Kennedy Merino one-timed to Raffelson with just seconds left in the half.
In the 72nd minute, Raffelson stole a pass, beat her defender to score the hat trick. She then deflected a Mitby corner kick off the crossbar and into the net for the 4-0 victory.
Ryann wasn’t the only Raffelson to have a great game, as sister Kristi made eight saves to keep a clean sheet in goal for the Wildcatsn her team-record ninth shutout of the season.
King noted defenders Piper Furford, Mercedes Denny, Kianna Battiste, Maia Soderlund and Abriana Ness with helping shut down any Napavine scoring chances and effectivley moving the ball through the midfield. Ness led the way with a 90 percent passing efficiency.
No. 3 Ocosta (13-4) faces No. 2 Kalama (14-2) in the district semifinals at 5 p.m. on Tuesday at Centralia High School.
PREP FOOTBALL
Oakville 58, Wishkah Valley 46
On Homecoming and Senior Day, Wishkah rallied to close to within two scores before falling to Oakville 58-46 on Saturday.
Joey Brenneman scored seven touchdowns for Wishkah — a 5-yard pass to Dylan Richart, a 14-yard run, a 50-yard kickoff return, a 61-yard kickoff return, a 59-yard run, a 74-yard run and a 62-yard catch-and-run from Owen McNeill.
Wishkah finished with a 1-6 record.
Oakville is 3-5 on the season.
Oakville 14 8 16 20 — 58
Wishkah 0 14 6 26 — 46
— Rob Burns, For the Grays Harbor News Group
