KENNEWICK – Someday, the players on this year’s Battle Ground volleyball team will relish the strides the program has made because of them.
But Saturday, the Tigers dwelled on one hurdle they couldn’t clear.
For the second straight year, Battle Ground lost an agonizingly close semifinal match to the eventual champion at the 4A state tournament.
Battle Ground lost to Curtis of University Place in five sets, dropping the tiebreaker 15-13. It was a loss made more painful not just by its narrow margin but the way the Tigers had staved off defeat.
The Tigers withstood two match points in a fourth set they eventually won 29-27. In the fifth set, Battle Ground trailed 12-7 and 14-11.
And the winning point for Curtis was agonizingly close too. The referee ruled a Curtis dink hit the floor though it appeared Autumn Mayo might have gotten her hand under it. The point continued for about five seconds before Curtis heard the whistle and began to celebrate.
Battle Ground (20-3) eventually placed fourth, falling to West Valley of Yakima in five sets in the third-place match on Saturday evening.
“It’s annoying because we pushed ourselves to the fifth set last year and were so close,” senior Brooke Van Sickle said. “This year too, it was only by two points in the fifth. That was unfortunate, but oh well.”
Van Sickle is a big reason for Battle Ground becoming a statewide force and twice coming within a whisker of its first state title.
The Oregon-bound outside hitter rolled her ankle in the first set of the semifinal match, but missed only a few points. She wasn’t going to let a little pain keep her from the final chapter of a high school story that had been years in the making.
“My freshman year we only won one or two games,” Van Sickle said. “My junior and senior year we’ve really built a program. We’re state worthy. Unfortunately we didn’t do as well as we thought this year.”
Battle Ground played late into the night on Friday, winning a quarterfinal match that ended after 11 p.m. Saturday, the Tigers weren’t quite as sharp.
“I think if we had played today how we played Friday, it would have been a different story,” Tigers coach Cheyanne Knight said. “We didn’t have the energy we had on Friday and we made too many overall mistakes.”
CURTIS 3, BATTLE GROUND 2
28-26, 21-25, 25-23, 27-29, 15-13
WEST VALLEY 3, BATTLE GROUND 2
23-25, 25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 15-11
