2A State Volleyball: GSHL rivals Ridgefield, Columbia River to clash in semifinals

LACEY – One team, brimming with confidence, cruised through its first two matches at the 2A state volleyball tournament.

The other, resilient after a district-tournament stumble, dug deep to survive two long, tense matches.

Columbia River and Ridgefield might have traveled different paths Friday, but they ended up in the same place. The 2A Greater St. Helens League rivals will clash for a fourth time this season in the state semifinals on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Ridgefield is back in the semifinals after placing third last year. Columbia River last made it this far in 2015, when in reached the Class 3A title match.

“I’m excited,” said Ridgefield libero Emilea Stepaniuk. “I think we’re ready to win. It will be a tough game, but a fun one.”

River is also looking forward to facing Ridgefield. Two of their previous three matches went five sets, including the regular-season finale. The Chieftains say that match was when they realized they could compete with the state’s best.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” middle-hitter Alicia Wallingford said. “As much as it would be fun to play someone else for a change, we know Ridgefield best just like they know what we do.”

Having two semifinalists capped a strong day for the 2A Greater St. Helens League at Saint Martin’s University. Not only is the league guaranteed a team in Saturday evening’s title match, Woodland also reached the quarterfinals and could finish as high as fifth.

Ridgefield entered Friday having lost just once. But that loss to River in the district semifinals meant the Spudders entered the state tournament as the district’s No. 3 seed.

That meant a tough first-round match against Great Northern League champ Pullman, which likewise had lost just once. The Spudders prevailed in five sets.

In the quarterfinals, Ridgefield rallied to beat Burlington-Edison in four sets after losing the first.

Ridgefield viewed its tough early-tournament path as a challenge to embrace.

“We’ve been working really hard on our mental toughness,” Stepaniuk said. “That was one thing that showed in these matches.”

Against Pullman, Ridgefield rolled in the first two sets, winning 25-17 and 25-14. But Pullman punched back, winning the next two to force a fifth-set tiebreaker.

Ridgefield rebounded by simplifying its approach.

“The mentality for our team was at this point, we’re going to fight to the end,” middle blocker Alicia Andrew said. “We’re going to have energy. We’re going to work together as a team.”

Ridgefield won the fifth set 15-8. Delaney Nicoll had four of her team-high 29 kills in the final set.

Against Burlington-Edison, Ridgefield lost the first set 25-20, then bounced back in the second, 25-16. Ridgefield kept its nerve through two more tense sets, winning 26-24 and 25-23.

Ridgefield, which has seven underclassmen and just one senior, showed the maturity to reverse the momentum in both matches.

“This team has a mix of ages and we all balance each other out,” said Andrew, a sophomore. “We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses, but we pick each other up. The role models in our seniors and juniors always pick us sophomores up. It’s just great.”

Fresh off its district title, perhaps no team at the 2A state tournament entered with more confidence than Columbia River (14-5).

“Originally our goal for the season was to make it to state,” Wallingford said. “We checked that off at districts. Then it was ‘OK, let’s place at state.’ We got here and said you know what, let’s just win state.”

The Chieftains blitzed through their first match Friday, sweeping Kingston (13-8). The momentum didn’t stop in the quarterfinals against Blaine (11-8), as River also won in three sets.

River’s libero Emma Adams had three consecutive aces to end the first match.

“Our approach is to have fun when it’s time to have fun,” Adams said. “But once we get on the court we’re serious and down to business.”

Like Ridgefield, district No. 2 seed Woodland also faced a first-round opponent that entered with just one loss. The Beavers knocked off Olympic League champ North Kitsap in three tightly contested sets (25-23, 30-28, 26-24).

Woodland’s key was stringing together rallies of five or more consecutive points on multiple occasions. That helped the Beavers overcome a 20-12 deficit in the first set and turn a 15-12 second-set deficit into an 18-15 lead.

“We just have this momentum where every time someone would get a kill, we’d all get excited and pump each other up more,” said senior middle hitter Taylor Foster. “When we get that momentum, we want to keep getting points.”

Foster had five aces, which helped sustain those rallies, and 12 kills. Emma Swett had a team-high 17 kills.

But Woodland ran out of gas in the quarterfinals against Ellensburg (17-1). After winning the first set 25-19, the Beavers were stung by unforced errors and dropped the next three sets 25-21, 25-16 and 25-22.

Woodland (15-4) faces Prosser (15-5) in the fifth-place semifinal Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

First Round

RIDGEFIELD 3, PULLMAN 2

25-17, 25-14, 20-25, 18-25, 15-9

Ridgefield

Highlights – Delaney Nicoll 29 kills, 2 blocks, 18 digs; Kohana Fukuchi 3 aces, 2 kills, 25 assists, 9 digs; Emilea Stepaniuk 2 aces, 1 kill, 14 digs; Mackenzie Gilchrist 3 kills, 21 assists, 4 digs; Kameryn Reynolds 1 ace, 4 kills, 3 blocks, 1 dig; Emily Borgstedt 5 kills, 4 blocks.

COLUMBIA RIVER 3, KINGSTON 0

25-15, 25-21, 25-23

Columbia River

Highlights – Alicia Wallingford 2 aces, 11 kills, 4 blocks, 3 digs; Makenah Jackson 10 kills, 4 blocks; Maddie Sheron 8 kills, 3 digs; Lexi Williams 1 ace, 4 kills, 27 assists, 10 digs; Emma Adams 4 aces, 17 digs; Rylie Reeves 1 ace, 2 kills, 7 digs.

WOODLAND 3, NORTH KITSAP 0

25-23, 30-28, 26-24

Highlights – Emma Swett 1 ace, 17 kills, 3 blocks, 3 digs; Taylor Foster 5 aces, 12 kills, 3 blocks, 10 digs; Elyse Booker 17 digs; Nicole Guthrie 30 assists, 6 digs.

Quarterfinals

RIDGEFIELD 3, BURLINGTON-EDISON 1

20-25, 25-16, 26-24, 25-23

Ridgefield

Highlights – Delaney Nicoll 1 ace, 20 kills, 2 blocks, 10 digs; Kohana Fukuchi 2 kills, 25 assists, 10 digs; Mackenzie Gilchrist 3 aces, 5 kills, 21 assists, 2 blocks, 11 digs; Kameryn Reynolds, Morgan Harter 18 digs; Emilea Stepaniuk 2 aces, 20 digs; Emily Borgstedt 8 kills, 4 blocks.

COLUMBIA RIVER 3, BLAINE 0

25-18, 25-21, 25-14

Columbia River

Highlights – Alicia Wallingford 10 kills, 5 blocks; Maddie Sheron 1 ace, 9 kills, 3 digs; Rylie Reeves 4 kills, 6 digs; Makenah Jackson 4 kills, 1 block; Lexi Williams 1 ace, 22 assists, 8 digs; Emma Adams 2 aces, 2 assists, 7 digs.

ELLENSBURG 3, WOODLAND 1

19-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-22

Woodland

Highlights – Taylor Foster 1 ace, 22 kills, 11 digs; Nicole Guthrie 40 assists, 3 blocks, 6 digs; Elyse Booker 33 digs; Emma Swett 6 kills, 12 digs.